Still Fired Up About BIM? Many Say Yes, They Are
May 7, 2009

"This is definitely the biggest thing to happen in my career and I've been in this business almost 30 years." That's what Steve Jones, senior director for McGraw-Hill Construction, said about building information modeling (BIM) when he talked to USGNN.com last year. Not long after, BIM presentations were showing up at just about every industry association meeting and company after company announced that their products were now available in the different BIM libraries. Indeed, it seemed the majority of companies felt that BIM was the one thing that would revolutionize the way construction projects and specified and built. Now, a year later, does the industry still feel the same way about BIM?

Jerry Kern, vice president/division manager for Trainor Glass Co. in Riviera Beach, Fla., thinks so.

"BIM is still a truly revolutionary product that will eventually change the way projects are designed, estimated and project managed," says Kern. "My feelings are that for the glazing industry, there are some instrumental changes that need to be made in the way the models are virtually constructed for it to be a more accurate representation of the product. However, even in its current level of development, it is a tool that will help efficiencies in design and budgeting of projects."

Devin Bowman, national sales manager for Technical Glass Products (TGP) in Snoqualmie, Wash., agrees and says even last week at the AIA Show there was a very big BIM presence.

"Since we started our own BIM initiative, we've seen a steady increase in requests from the architectural community for BIM files on our range of fire-rated and architectural glazing products," he says. "We continue to modify and improve our BIM content for the design community."

Oldcastle Glass® announced last week that it is now offering BIM objects for some of its architectural aluminum products.

"BIM is absolutely becoming more relevant as more and more construction professionals are adopting it," says Deep Bhattacharya, vice president, development and technology for Oldcastle Glass. "Fundamentally, constructing a building from beginning to end is an inefficient process, which has lead to billions of dollars in wasted costs." He says the industry is starting to realize that these inefficiencies can be solved through tools, such as BIM. "As we move up the learning curve I expect the use to increase," he adds.

Others in the industry, more skeptical about BIM, who have spoken to USGNN.com in the past, decline to comment at this time.

CLICK HERE to read part one and HERE to read part two of USGlass magazine's two-part series on BIM.

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