Hilde Sevens, CEO of SCIA, looks at the future of BIM workflows
The world is changing more rapidly than ever before and we are constantly pushing ourselves to exceed existing limits yet still, certain things haven’t changed much over the years.
Hilde: “Years of experience in the industry taught me that, no matter how intricate or straightforward construction projects are, they maintain difficult to manage as it takes collaboration and team effort from all BIM participants in the workflow.
“Architects, draftsmen and engineers continuously need to exchange data to deliver outstanding results. Often, these workflows are inefficient, time-consuming and silo oriented. The lack of fluency causes tedious duplication of models, design conflicts and, moreover, inefficiency and frustration on both the architectural and engineering side of the coin.”
What future do you see for BIM, specifically for engineers?
Many engineers already practising BIM at an advanced level are frustrated with incompatible software and exchanging information between different software systems. At SCIA Engineer, we always pushed the limits, striving to be a frontrunner in BIM and now we have accomplished to bring the engineer and other BIM stakeholders together for the first time ever! Because, in my opinion, the future of BIM is one where agile teams seamlessly can exchange data, shortening their project time, reducing errors and enabling them to make better decisions. In turn resulting in a reduction of costs and of course, on company level, a visibly increased RoI.
SCIA has recently launched SCIA AutoConverter and SCIA Integrated Design solution. Will these solutions overcome the hurdles currently facing the BIM workflow?
Years of development at SCIA has led to solutions that truly bring engineers into the overall BIM workflow for the first time ever, bridging the gap between the structural and analysis model. We have collaborated with our sister brands at Nemetschek to come to market with a set of solutions addressing any workflow the engineer needs. Early June last year, we launched SCIA AutoConverter, in alliance with Allplan Bimplus, automating conversion of a 3D structural model from ANY CAD software into an accurate analysis model.
How exactly will this help engineers in their daily workflow?
SCIA AutoConverter is a unique open application. Any uploaded structural model from any CAD system, like for example Tekla, can be converted into a structural analysis model without having to start the model from scratch, using a controlled automated process. Tedious and bothersome tasks are avoided and structural engineers regain considerable amounts of time to do other work.
You also mentioned the SCIA Integrated Design solution?
Correct. Another groundbreaking alliance is the Integrated Design Solution, released in July of 2020, in partnership with Graphisoft, which allows architects and engineers to work with one team on ONE single model.
What would you say are the most important benefits for engineers using the Integrated Design solution?
The collaborative platform allows every team member to have access to the latest information, just like the AutoConverter does. Both solutions allow, based on authorisation parameters, to share comments and suggestions and modify the model. Every change is tracked so every team member can understand the genesis path of the project. With the Integrated Design, we allow you to build trust between architects and engineers.
Both solutions, Integrated Design and SCIA AutoConverter, have only been possible through the hard work of our great teams at SCIA, Graphisoft and Allplan and I am very proud of these accomplishments.
Bottom line, we are taking the lead in revolutionising BIM for engineers by allowing all engineers to step into the future where collaboration throughout the entire BIM workflow is enabled for ANY solution and ANY type of workflow. This is a milestone for SCIA on our journey to bring innovative solutions to our customers and truly move the needle for their business in every way possible.
For more information about our BIM solutions, please visit: www.scia.net/en/software/bim-solutions.
Hilde Sevens 
Chief Executive Officer
SCIA nv
Tel: (+44) 01530 448 000
Twitter: @scia_official
YouTube: Nemetschek SCIA
Please note: this is a commercial profile.
