How Victaulic made global BIM collaboration in Revit a reality

From innovative products to their home-grown software add-in for Revit, you’ll find Victaulic, the leading producer of mechanical pipe joining solutions, driving innovation in the industry. Victaulic is known for being on the forefront of construction technology, so it is no surprise that Victaulic was an early adopter of Revit, transitioning their 80-person global Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) team to Revit in 2014.

Connected BIM: An efficient process that enables global teams

Victaulic’s VDC team quickly realized the benefits of Revit, with workflows and efficiencies improving almost immediately. Revit helped improve efficiency in modeling and reduced reaction time to changes in the system. They also developed Victaulic Tools for Revit to streamline MEP pipe routing, among other efficiencies.

The one pitfall though, was global collaboration. With BIM teams operating in four continents and touching over 1000 projects each year, file sharing, data management, and collaboration with teams in different locations and time zones proved to be a pain point.

This is why, in 2017, Victaulic VDC embraced the idea of “Connected BIM” and the cloud.

Effective global collaboration depends on connectivity

When Victaulic initially adopted Revit in 2014, they were using the free server hosting (“Revit Server”) provided by Autodesk, which meant that each regional server had to be properly configured by an IT team, and all files were stored locally, which caused a slew of problems.

Sharing files from one office to another was a time consuming process, and if a team member tried to access Revit from a remote location, they were likely going to experience connectivity issues. With a team of 80 collaborators worksharing and collaborating throughout the day on BIM projects, moving to a more connected process was paramount.

Anytime, anywhere BIM access, seconds vs minutes — powered by the cloud

In 2017, just 3 years after their initial implementation of Revit, Victaulic VDC set in motion a new BIM collaboration strategy. It began with adopting new collaboration technology made for Revit to connect their global teams. BIM 360 Design was instituted on the VDC team, which meant that all Revit files were now in the cloud. This reduced many of the pain points associated with file sharing and connectivity.

Today, through the use of the software, all projects are visible within one window when signing into Revit, and opening files takes seconds as opposed to minutes. Victaulic’s BIM teams can access files from any location, and managing user permissions on each model is a breeze with cloud-based file access.

The implementation of Autodesk Desktop Connector has helped take this to the next level. This service eliminates the need for quick links, as all necessary files and software can be stored in the cloud but accessed via Desktop Connector, giving the team ONE shared location to access all of the tools they need. Desktop Connector is streamlining document management workflows and allows for efficient implementation of BIM processes on a global scale.

Cloud-based file access and connected BIM workflows not only benefit Victaulic’s internal VDC team, but also their customers. Prior to BIM 360 Design, project files were shared via file sharing sites like Onehub or Dropbox. Version control was published within Revit itself, and Victaulic’s clients had to wait for files to fully download before they could access their project documents. With cloud-based file sharing, customers can quickly review progress on Revit models via a browser. All changes publish directly inside of Revit making version control seamless.

And now, with cloud Revit worksharing in the next generation BIM 360 platform, the possibilities to enrich and use BIM design data for construction purposes are promising.

Victaulic embraces Connected BIM

At Autodesk, we often ask ourselves, “What can we do to help make our customers’ BIM processes more efficient and connected? What do we mean by connected BIM?”

Victaulic’s use of cloud-based technology and collaboration practice among global teams is an exemplar of Connected BIM in action. This, coupled with their in-shop and in-field product and systems solutions, helps them drive global innovation in MEP system design and delivery.

Learn more about Victaulic’s transition to Revit here. And be sure to stop by Victaulic’s booth at Autodesk University in Las Vegas in November.

Learn how BIM 360 Design can help your team accelerate cloud worksharing and collaboration in Revit.

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