With the explosive growth of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in recent years, an increasing number of companies are recognizing its potential and striving to integrate it into their operations. However, the current outcomes remain less than encouraging. This is partly due to a late start, misunderstandings, and the absence of industry-wide standards, but the challenges also lie within the companies themselves. Drawing from my personal experience, I would like to share some insights on how companies can effectively implement BIM.
1. What is BIM used for?
Many companies acknowledge the benefits and advantages of BIM and recognize it as a major trend shaping the future of the construction industry. Consequently, they have begun introducing BIM into their businesses. However, after some time, they often find that BIM does not live up to their initial expectations. Why is this the case?
I believe this stems from companies overlooking the fundamental question: what is the primary purpose of using BIM? In reality, we could design and construct projects successfully even without BIM. So why do certain issues arise only after BIM is introduced?
Many companies focus too much on what BIM can do rather than what they actually need. BIM offers a wide range of capabilities, such as collision detection of pipelines, net height inspections, main material statistics, and animation simulations of complex process nodes. But are these features aligned with your company’s specific needs? Have you thoroughly considered this?
I fear that many companies have been dazzled by the external hype surrounding BIM’s advanced technologies, causing them to lose sight of practical application and deviate from the true purpose of adopting BIM.
In my view, successful enterprise implementation requires a practical and feasible plan that takes into account multiple factors, including the unique characteristics of the company’s projects, business structure, and organizational setup. Companies should avoid blindly chasing cutting-edge technologies without evaluating their applicability or feasibility within the enterprise context.
Instead, businesses should focus on how BIM can be applied to solve real challenges. What aspects of BIM can help overcome difficult problems? Can BIM help elevate the level of information technology and clarify hierarchical relationships within the organization? Answering these questions is crucial to putting BIM into effective practice.
2. Who will implement BIM?
Once a company understands the purpose of BIM and has developed a series of specific measures, the next question is: who will be responsible for executing it?
There are generally two options. The first is to develop talent internally by selecting employees for relevant training and then applying their knowledge in projects to gradually promote BIM adoption. However, this approach requires the company to bear certain costs and temporarily accept a loss in productivity. It also demands a period of practice before tangible results become evident, which can be a concern for many companies.
The second option is outsourcing. However, outsourcing presents challenges such as difficulty in assessing the vendor’s abilities and experience, limited control over the process, and often high costs, which can be a headache for companies.
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