Besix: Building Information Modeling
At a glance
By combining Systems Engineering and BIM with BESIX, designers gained clearer requirements, a cohesive dataset, higher quality, and fewer resources, improving their outcomes.
Challenge
Systems Engineering and BIM were applied in isolation, causing duplicate data capture, hard-to-read requirements verification, and poorly coordinated quality reviews.
Solution
The integration of Systems Engineering and BIM was carefully designed so that requirements are linked to the objects they apply to within a single, unified dataset, enabling clearer compliance and better control.
Results
There are fewer manual steps, compliance with requirements is achieved visually, and quality improves while using fewer resources.
The challenge
Two powerful methods, working in isolation
BESIX is a leading international construction and engineering group, and it carries out complicated projects in the AEC sector. Like many others in the industry, BESIX uses both Systems Engineering and Building Information Modeling, two methods that aim to control complexity and reduce time and cost.
But if Systems Engineering and BIM are used separately, that potential is lost. Data capture involves excessive and duplicated work. Requirements become difficult to read and trust, making verification harder. Coordination of digital quality reviews among the various engineering processes is poor.
The result is more effort with less confidence, the opposite of what both methods are intended to achieve. We see this pattern throughout the AEC industry and in wider asset-related sectors, and we know it can be changed.
Our approach
Carry out the two methods properly
We helped BESIX combine Systems Engineering and BIM, ensuring the two methods were
properly integrated rather than left to run alongside each other. Here is a step-by-step account
of how we achieved this.
Fewer steps to capture data
To begin with, we combined the two methods, so metadata is recorded only once rather than entered repeatedly, saving time and reducing duplication.
Requirements you can see
Then, by effectively integrating Systems Engineering with BIM, we developed a visual representation that shows how the requirements relate to the BIM objects, making compliance easier to understand.
One cohesive dataset
We combined the information from both methods into a unified dataset, giving teams a more comprehensive overview, greater control over requirements, and a clearer way to use the engineering processes.
Consultancy and tools
In the end, we provided both the consultancy and the tools necessary to carry out the integration, incorporating it into BESIX’s projects and structure, so the benefits could be put into action.
Systems Engineering and BIM, finally working as one
With the two methods working together, the projects gained greater clarity and control, making the benefits more explicit as the value continued to grow over time.
Requirements front of mind
Designers are now more aware than ever of the requirements they must meet, so compliance is built in rather than checked at the end, saving time and reducing rework.
Quality control everyone agrees on
Modelers use a single agreed-upon quality-control method, making digital reviews consistent and much simpler to coordinate within the team.
A complete and connected dataset
The project data is more explicit and complete, creating a cohesive dataset that can be extended across various projects and entire business units for better utilization.
Jan van Steirteghem
“Semmtech was able to advise BESIX (and BESIX clients) on the importance of Information management in the AEC industry and how it can help organizations to perform better (i.e. higher compliance/quality with less resources / cost). Their knowledge of data semantics and data structuring in combination with very hands-on use cases and tools is unique in the industry. I have not found, to date, a competitor that is able to provide a solution like Semmtech that is scalable across projects and entire business units / companies.”
Are your engineering methods working together or apart?
Make sure Systems Engineering and BIM don’t move in different directions. Let’s discuss how integrating them can give your teams clarity, control, and greater quality while using fewer resources, and let’s work together to pioneer the future of connected assets.