Final VDC Report Example

The document summarizes the benefits of fully integrating virtual design and construction (VDC) elements on a large concrete project. Key benefits included reducing rebar detailing and fabrication duration by 83% and variability by 95% through weekly digital design sessions involving key project stakeholders. This collaborative process using building information modeling (BIM) and production planning methods eliminated clashes and allowed 75% of rebar to be prefabricated, reducing on-site installation time from 10 to 2 days.

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Final VDC Report Example

Uploaded by

Angel Paredes Portales

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Note that this report is for educational purposes only; the information given may not reflect the

actual situation on the project.

VDC reduced rebar detailing and fabrication learn to use the digital tools and collaborate to
duration by 83% and variability by 95% produce constructible designs that everybody
agreed on.
Name: Martin Fischer
Role: Project Manager Key parties involved
Company: T5 Contractors Structural engineer, cost estimator, rebar foreman,
Project: Concrete Work for T5 fabrication manager, and site manager.
Audience of the report: Project Managers of owners
and contractors Metrics

Summary Main metrics used

Overall message: The benefits from deploying all  % of rebar that is designed for prefabrication
VDC elements in an integrated way far exceed the (target: 50%, achieved: 75%)
benefits from deploying VDC elements in a partial or  Cycle time of rebar installation on site (target: 3
fragmented way. days, achieved: 2 days)
Summary statement about the VDC application:  Duration of detailing and fabrication for a
Confirming the constructability in a weekly one-day weekly batch of rebar (target: 5 days, achieved:
ICE session, called Weekly Digital Build, by the 5 days)
structural engineer, cost estimator, rebar foreman,  Variability of the detailing and fabrication
fabrication manager, and site manager eliminated all duration (target: 1 day, achieved: 0 days 90% of
the clashes, allowed fabrication of 75% of the rebar the time, 1 day 10% of the time)
off-site (vs. 0% before), reduced rebar installation
cycle time on site from 10 days to 2 days, reduced Decisions or changes made on the basis of metrics
the duration of rebar detailing and fabrication from Each week, the site management team decided
30 days (with a +/- 10 day variability) to 5 days (with which rebar to pull from the detailers and
a +/- 1 day variability. fabricators.
Each week, the detailers and fabricators decided on
Motivation for and focus of the VDC application the structural components to pull from engineering.

Most relevant client or project objective(s) VDC Framework

The opening date for Terminal 5 of March 27, 2008
had to be met. To enable the client to open T5 then, Summary of VDC application
100% of the milestones for concrete work were met. All VDC elements were needed to meet the client
objective with reliability (Fig. 1). PPM established the
Role of VDC in meeting the objective(s) target process and showed the project participants
The main role of VDC in enabling the client objective how and why the new practice differs from
was to create a repeatable and reliable process to traditional practice. BIM was essential to enable
produce the rebar for the largest concrete project in efficient and effective collaboration between the
Europe at the time. engineers and builders to create weekly
constructible batches of rebar in the weekly digital
Major gaps between today’s performance and the build sessions (ICE).
performance necessary to meet the objective(s)
The engineers and different functions of the builder
(estimating, site management, fabrication
management, crew management) were not used to
collaborate, but rather worked in silos.
The information they used and produced was of
insufficient quality and timeliness to enable a
reliable and repeatable process.

Main challenge(s) in meeting the objective(s)

Fig. 1: VDC application overview
The project leadership was worried whether the
participants in the weekly digital build process would

1
Note that this report is for educational purposes only; the information given may not reflect the actual situation on the project.

Key details of the VDC elements constructability of the rebar that had to be installed
in the week starting 10 calendar days after the ICE
PPM session was confirmed, all clashes were resolved,
The traditional and new processes were modelled and the final detailing tasks and fabrication were
collaboratively by the all the key parties. The new launched.
process was set up as a target process, i.e., it
established the timeframes for the various tasks that
had to be accomplished.

Fig. 2: Conventional vs. applied new process to

produce rebar

Production management was also used to send pull Fig. 4: Weekly digital build session
signals from the site to the detailing and fabrication
process and from detailing to engineering so that the Main connections and integration between the VDC
appropriate amount of inventory of engineered elements
components was available for detailing and sufficient The start of the VDC framework section above
detailed structures were available for fabrication, explains the main connections between the VDC
without clogging the system with too much work-in- elements.
progress.
Insights, learnings, recommendations
BIM
Every component that a worker touches during Main failures and successes
assembly of the rebar was put into a 3D model. In the first month, the process did not work because,
Libraries were developed by a 3D modelling expert for two ICE sessions, a key person was missing and
to enable rapid modelling of rebar in 3D. for two other ICE sessions, the BIM was not ready.
Once the BIM was ready reliably and once all key
parties prioritized the weekly digital build meeting
over other commitments, the process achieved the
remarkable results shown above.

Recommendations for the audience based on the

experience of deploying VDC
 Ensure that the capabilities for a weekly digital
build process are available.
 Design the process and collaboration and
technologies needed collaboratively and on the
basis of real challenges on the project.
 Rapidly incorporate weekly learning into the
Fig. 3: 3D model of rebar cage detailed for pre- process.
assembly  Don’t be afraid to set ambitious targets and
introduce a totally new work method to meet
ICE the target.
In weekly ICE sessions called Weekly Digital Build
with the structural engineer, cost estimator, rebar
foreman, fabrication manager, and site manager, the