The Future of BIM & Pre-Cast in Malaysia
Earlier this month, Gamuda IBS hosted two pre-cast industry experts — Werner Maresch, Managing Director of Precast Software Engineering (PSG) and Richard Hellrigl, Managing Director of Progress Software Development (PSD).
They shared their insights on the current status and future prospects of BIM and IFC4precast adoption. Both Werner and Richard have been instrumental in providing Gamuda with system solutions and setting up of Malaysia’s first digital Industrialised Building System plant in Sepang.
Their visit allowed Gamuda IBS staff to understand the full potential of BIM available to the pre-cast industry, which we think will be valuable in helping us achieve our business targets.
How far is Gamuda IBS from operating at BIM Level 3 and what initiatives from PSG and PSD are being used to fast track this process?
Currently we are more or less at BIM Level 2 whereby we use a collaborative tool to tie in our processes. We’re also operating with PSD’s erpBOS® program as the backbone of our factories. With this we can move towards BIM Level 3 quickly when the time comes.
After talking with Gamuda Land, we have found that our processes from design into production into implementation are quite linear. Although our design is completed in BIM at Gamuda IBS, a lot of data is lost when it is transferred back into the original design drafted by the architects.
With the introduction of IFC4precast as presented by Werner and Richard, we are now able to sync the data seamlessly from the final product back into design for a robust ecosystem where design integrity is preserved.
How will the second Gamuda IBS factory expand our business opportunities?
We are currently building a second IBS factory in Banting to be ready year end. Our increased product range will allow us greater flexibility to meet our client’s needs for different building types such as luxury homes, high rise buildings, schools and hospitals.
There’ll also be a higher level of automation in our production process with the use of erpBOS®. Besides decreasing our reliance on manual labour and foreign workers, it will allow for a very efficient and robust operating environment at Gamuda IBS where back office processes are also digitialised.
We believe that through our continued partnership with PSG and PSD, we can achieve a seamless process in realising the client or architect’s vision from design, precast engineering, production management and project delivery.