On the 27th of February 2024, Visabeira R&D, as a member of the consortium for the development of the platform BIMCer - Plataforma Pública e Aberta de Modelos Digitais de Produtos Cerâmicos [Public and Open Platform for Digital Models of Ceramic Products], was present at the Workshop "BIM and its importance for the Ceramic Industry", held as part of the Agenda ECP | Ecocerâmica e Cristalaria de Portugal.
The workshop was attended by a number of key players within the national BIM scene and it aimed to discuss the importance of BIM (Building Information Modelling), as well as the main challenges and opportunities for the ceramic sector.
Throughout the event, several speakers emphasised the importance of integrating companies into the new BIM paradigm. Not just as a trend aiming at digitalising the sector, but as a crucial element for competitiveness, both nationally and internationally.
Visabeira I&D, as the leader in the development of the BIMCer Platform, had the opportunity to present the main purposes to be achieved with this result:
1 Render an open, unique, national library of digital models of ceramic products available to the public.
Based on the use of standardised methodologies which facilitate the development and implementation of BIM, taking into account information throughout the product's life cycle, with an emphasis on information in terms of carbon footprint.
2 To be a tool supporting professionals and the general public in terms of choosing products with a lower carbon footprint.
As such, reducing dispersion among various types of information sources which currently are unlikely to include carbon footprint information. This promotes choices among the general public which reinforce the decarbonisation of the building sector.
3 Be another channel through which manufacturers can able to advertise their products, highlighting their sustainability features.
In particular, the carbon footprint acts as a marketing tool for the sector, helping to reduce the cost of creating BIM objects.
4 To be a solution with high scalability potential.
With the possibility of evolving in order to include other sectors and other types of products.
5 Provide manufacturers with access to data analytics.
In order to enable global benchmarking with their competitors, thus boosting competition on the basis of sustainability attributes.
6 Facilitate the creation and standardisation of a set of rules for building digital models using BIM technology.
Essential for creating, updating and sharing accurate data, using standardised models, so that information can be understood by both humans and machines.
As part of BIMCer, Product Data Templates (PDTs) will be developed to address the market failure related to the lack of standardised processes and protocols and interoperability between tools and data sources.
These developments will be aligned with other national initiatives within the scope of PDTs, developing the Digital Passport for Construction Products, IFC, buildingSMART, as well as other national developments of the CT197 - BIM technical commission, among others.
