BIM Automation: Why is it important and what tools exist?

The industrialization process in which the construction sector finds itself has given way to the use of new methodologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), which is a collaborative work methodology for the creation and management of a construction project. Its objective is to centralize all project information in a digital information model created by all its agents.

The maturity of the BIM implementation in many of the construction projects has led to the standardization of project information and has allowed more and more information to be added to the model. This information is very valuable since it allows analyzing times, costs, infrastructure, etc. But despite being very valuable and adding value to the project. It has become a tedious and repetitive job, which is why the BIM automation of processes is one of the solutions that seeks efficiency and reduction of operating costs. But to start talking about automation, we first need to understand what automation is and why we need to automate.

What is process automation?

When we hear the term “automate processes” we imagine robots in a factory carrying out laborious or repetitive activities that would take time for man to do, this concept can be applied to many areas, but in the construction sector this can be done through the BIM methodology in construction with artificial intelligence that will allow us to be more productive and spend less time on all those tasks that are repetitive.

Then, automating processes in the execution of projects refers to generating processes within the development of the project, which can be systematized and repeated. These processes can be configured for all those tasks that are repeated and waste time, and this same configuration can be used in other projects, making it a powerful tool to reduce project execution times.

Why automate processes?

Automating processes helps to optimize them, eliminating tasks that generate waste and thus also increasing their performance. The project will be much more profitable if process automation is adopted, but to be able to automate an investment of time and money is also needed, for example there is a daily activity that is to search for project folders that takes 2 minutes to complete, since that many times there is no order standard, but there is the possibility of reducing it to 15 seconds if we automate it, generating an order standard that allows us to find the folder much faster, to achieve this we would have to invest a time of 5 days to implement it and in other cases it would also be necessary to invest money. With this very basic example it is understood that automation needs an investment, which will be worth it because later better results will be obtained than before.

Added to the reduction of time and costs, there is also the importance of identifying repetitive processes through a diagnosis which will lead to constant continuous improvement. Whether it is an architectural, structural, or MEP BIM Modeling project.

BIM tools for process automation

Within BIM there are tools that help us optimize these processes, some of these are:

Revit

This intelligent 3D BIM Modeling Design software for architecture and engineering facilitates the design tasks of a project and helps with the planning and control of work processes. Revit is considered as a software that allows us to automate some processes unlike CAD, for example, in the documentation of plans, a lot of time was spent with CAD, since each one had to be solved separately: plants, sections, facades and now with the help of Revit you can automatically solve these parts. In other words, the software automatically solves us based on what is being designed.

Dynamo

According to Autodesk, the company that developed this tool, "Dynamo is a graphical programming interface that allows you to customize the construction information workflow." In other words, Dynamo is a visual programming environment that can be associated with different BIM software in order to facilitate geometric and mathematical design.

This tool complements Revit very well, since it is an open source program that facilitates the use of the Revit tool by providing a simple, intuitive and fast interface. With Dynamo for Revit you can automate BIM processes, such as repetitive tasks or streamlining workflows in a Revit model.

Python

Python is a high-level programming language that, thanks to its versatility, power and simple code, is used to develop applications of all kinds.

This tool is very important as it is a necessary plugin for Dynamo Revit.

Dynamo is a visual scripting environment in Revit, but it is severely limited if you don't use Python scripts to directly access the Revit API. So in this way you can get more out of Dynamo Revit for process automation.