e-Mail

Print

The discussion around IPD reminds me of the debate over building information modeling (BIM) five or six years ago. Back then, few projects were designed completely leveraging BIM or harnessing all benefits. Rather, design teams — or individual team members — implemented BIM more modestly; choosing to use 3D, intelligent design processes for just the structural frame, or only for the cladding. While the whole project did not need to be participating to glean benefits from individual BIM efforts, a similar process is occurring with IPD. Currently, there are many degrees of IPD being implemented. Referred to as IPD-ish or IPD-lite projects, designers and builders are leveraging the IPD process for specific project aspects where it makes sense. One example of a partial-IPD process could include electronic shop drawing creation and approval: where a construction-tolerance level BIM is created by the design team for downstream use by fabricators or contractors. The builders add more details to the BIM and push it back upstream to the designers for approval. Modified contracts enable customized processes, which reap benefits of schedule and cost.

Structural Engineering & Design recently hosted a webcast during which presenter Matthew S. Trammell, P.E., structural engineering manager at TRC Worldwide Engineering, Inc., discussed how his team successfully leveraged BIM technology and an IPD process to develop the structural steel shop drawings concurrently with the development of the structural construction documents, a process known as early steel detailing. In one of the case studies presented, Trammell estimates that — once the design and construction team agreed on the process — the team saved at least two months of construction time. If you missed this informative webcast titled “BIM Structural Design Series: Efficient Structural Workflows for Design and Collaboration”, it is posted on our archive at www.gostructural.com/webcasts. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn how other firms are leveraging parts of IPD process to the benefit of the project.
 

Similar to BIM, our discussion of IPD will be quite different in five years as the industry learns and more practitioners gain experience. Join the conversation, learn from your peers, and shape the dialogue; now that you're here read articles, find out about projects, and participate in polls. Also, email me at jgoupil@stagnitomedia.com with your thoughts, I want to hear from you.

Jennifer Goupil, P.E., Editor of Structural Engineering & Design