Ross & Baruzzini is Revit Ready..
Ross & Baruzzini is in the process of making a major change in our Computer Aided Design (CAD) system. In years past, our firm has been utilizing CAD. We’ve seen it grow and have adopted and customized the system created a very streamline and powerful tool. When we began with CAD, it was basically an electronic drafting board of lines and boxes. We still drew every line, in every detail, every time it was seen. The return on investment or ROI is surfaced when the time for revisions was greatly reduced making it quicker than the traditional graphite or ink. The next big breakthrough was the addition of connecting drawings together through x-referencing. This allowed the end user to attach an architectural background to his work without having to add the information to his sheet. This also allowed for disciplines working in-house to drastically reduce the size of each sheet and maintain updated information without having to update their drawing. When a change is made to any drawing it is reflected on the other users' referencing the data as well. Since the early 80s Ross & Baruzzini have adopted the Autodesk technology. We are currently in the process of switching to a new BIM based technology by Autodesk called Revit.
What is BIM and why would I want to change my primary design tool?
Building Information Modeling (BIM) entered the market about ten years ago to move from the traditional 2D drafting to 3D modeling solution. By introducing the 3D aspect we are able to give variables and intelligence to all sides of and object. This was a big leap forward in the creation of BIM. Now you could drop in blocks or "Families" to interact with another discipline's object to perform automatic tasks such as scheduling, calculations and checks and QC. BIM was brought into the industry not only to increase efficacy while also reducing design mistakes and change orders resulting in less overhead cost to the owner or client. According to Autodesk you can save 33% on total design time for every project life cycle. While many other organizations have taken a wait-and-see attitude about BIM, Ross & Baruzzini is dedicated to being a leader in the Midwest region. We are in our first year of implementation and will be tracking our manpower and project cost so we can trend the data and get a real life analysis. Customers using BIM will save time and money, see fewer design errors, experience improved productivity, and have access to new business opportunities. BIM is not a technology, but it does require suitable technology to be implemented effectively.
Change is never easy, make the transition as smooth as possible
It is never easy to change you primary design process. Most users have been using the Traditional Autocad software for so long that they could not imagine learning a new way to think. However, our users have had a very positive attitude though the entire training process. We trained all of our users in-house though an online web meeting with all of our offices. We are now identifying potential projects to move forward. We plan on being a Midwest leader in the Revit realm providing our clients with clean BIM documents. We are dedicated to moving forward and championing this process for all of our clients and partners.