Conference Agenda

Construction industry faces many challenges as socio-economical needs evolve and Building Information Modeling (BIM) disrupts practices. BIM processes and solutions are mainly suited for the design stage of a project and experts are currently working to bridge the gap with the construction stage. Improving on BIM practices could be done by creating a more industrialized way of handling construction operations by learning from other industrial fields. This could help to manage quality, delay, and cost more precisely, while considering new indica-tors (e.g.: GHG emissions). BIM could be improved by developing a construc-tion stage specific data structure inspired by Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems. This requires to dynamically manage data for different stake-holders before and during the operations. This paper presents a conceptual data framework to develop a BIM-based decision support system to plan and manage construction operations. A 4D digital mock-up is gradually enriched to support construction processes studies resulting in a As Planned view of the building. Process engineering work is carried through iterative loops and sup-ported by knowledge-based indicators. A cross-disciplinary workflow allows the use of new production methods (e.g.: off-site modular construction). An As Built view of the mock-up is concurrently created as operations advance and changes occur, feeding back the knowledge-based indicators

Design change (DC) which refers to any type of design or construction modification made once a contract is awarded is an important issue in today’s construction industry. DCs usually would lead to an increase in the cost and time overrun of the project. It is thus important to manage them by using an effective management process. Various design change management processes (DCM) have been proposed by different research studies as well as different DCM processes are used in practice (real world). In addition, IT tools have an important role in the DCM process that could provide various functionalities to facilitate the DCM process. However, according to the scientific literature, there is still a need for improvement/offer of a collaborative platform in the construction industry. This article aims to evaluate whether a platform, typically categorized as a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) tool, is capable of meeting the collaboration requirements of DCM. 3DExperience is a cloud-based collaborative platform that is used in PLM-supported industries. This collaborative platform is a connected online environment where all the design, collaboration, and data management capabilities are stored in a single user interface. More precisely, this article investigates how 3DExperience functionalities could address the needs of the DCM process in the construction industry. By assessing the research findings of this article, it is demonstrated that PLM platforms have the potential to be utilized for DCM. Such an evaluation could lead to improved productivity in the DCM process within the construction industry.

A design change can be considered a modification in a specific part of this design that has already been released and delivered (production phase) or in its design and development phase. Depending on the complexity and stage in the product life cycle where the change process is triggered, such changes can consume from a few hours to several months for the readaptation of said design. With the application of concepts such as parallelism, concurrent engineering, or, more recently, digital manufacturing, it has become imperative to ensure that the information resulting from the design changes is correctly propagated, reaching all the actors involved, and in due time. Concerning information and knowledge management, the emergence of technologies such as cloud computing, web services, or, more specifically, BIM (Building Information Technology) has driven ways to integrate all project information into collaborative online environments. This article explores the possibilities of using BIM (Building Information Modeling) to organize and collaborate data and knowledge generated with design changes in the product lifecycle.