Publications / 2017 Proceedings of the 34rd ISARC, Taipei, Taiwan

IFC-Based Cut & Bent Rebar Supply Chain Integration

Alex Maciel and Fabiano Correa
Pages 140-147 (2017 Proceedings of the 34rd ISARC, Taipei, Taiwan, ISBN 978-80-263-1371-7, ISSN 2413-5844)
Abstract:

Despite the growing interest towards Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption by the Brazilian construction industry, the use of this process in a way that permeates all stakeholders of the entire construction life cycle stages are still incipient. In general, the use of BIM is typically limited to the design phases and some planning and construction activities, but it is not properly used, in an integrated manner, with suppliers and manufacturers of custom build components. A conducted survey indicates that BIM-based digital fabrication of Engineer-to-order building components could be one of the main beneficiaries of the BIM process; however, this use proves to be underutilized. This fact can be related to the lack of solutions that allow the effective reuse of information contained in the BIM model, especially in supply chains arrangement wherein key information are provided by distinct stakeholders. This is the case of the Brazilian cut & bent reinforcing bar supply chain in which the interface between the fabricator and the engineering firm, responsible for both design and rebar detailing, is carried out by a General Contractor. Although the current standards allow the digital interface and reuse of design data by the fabricator, directly on automated CAM controlled cutting and bending machines, these standards do not support the contractor requirements, such as reinforcement schedule. Focusing on the cut & bent rebar supply chain for Cast-in-place concrete industry, this article explores the use of the IFC kernel extension to hold the process and control requirements provided by the reinforcement contractor. Based on the IDM concept, the contractor's exchange requirements were identified and presented the way in which this information can be mapped in the IFC schema. Alongside, the information required by the fabricator as well as the data requested by its Production Planning Scheduling (PPS) software was analyzed in order to describe how this information could be reused in an industrial environment. Finally, some recommendations are suggested to improve the integration among the agents that act in this process.

Keywords: IFC, Reinforcing bars, Supply Chain