Streamlining the Preparation for Renewal Work — Lead Time Reduction of BIM Model Creation by 50 Percent | TONETS Corporation

TONETS Corporation has established a new method to streamline their equipment replacement/installation work.
TONETS deploys 3D scanners, InfiPoints for preprocessing of obtained point cloud data, and BIM (Building Information Modeling) software for working drawing creation. In comparison to the conventional method—create drawings manually based on the on-site physical measurements —, the lead time for BIM model creation has been reduced by 50 percent, and they achieved to provide more efficient and better quality service.

TONETS Corporation designs, installs, and maintains heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. For the replacement or new installation of equipment, they create working drawings from scratch based on on-site physical measurements due to drawings usually not existing. Even when drawings do exist, the specifications are inaccurate or do not match the actual equipment after years of modifications.
On-site physical measurements are both time-and-cost consuming because they require scaffolds to measure high places or unreachable areas. In many cases, TONETS needs to visit the customer site again to aggregate all the missing information.
TONETS launched a project to save on labor costs and streamline the process of preparing work drawings.

This new method utilizing 3D scanners and BIM software have directly led to a reduction in time necessary for replacement/installation work. Through the introduction of these new processes, TONETS has dramatically improved the process of preparing work drawings.
The advantage of 3D scanning is the accuracy of the obtained data, which can be utilized to create drawings in BIM software.
However, an issue emerged soon after — it is essential to have a tool to generate CAD models from obtained point cloud data, otherwise, TONETS would still have to create drawings from scratch.

Shifting to a new method: Creating working drawings utilizing 3D scanned data

TONETS introduced InfiPoints to handle huge amounts of point cloud data with high performance. InfiPoints enabled accurate measurements of distances and angles in the virtual environment and extract planar/cylindrical shapes from the point cloud and generate CAD models. They were able to reduce a considerable amount of time-consuming manual work which facilitated the reduction of 50 percent lead time for drawing creation. TONETS was able to not only maintain, but even improve the quality of output drawings by the new workflow utilizing the CAD modeling functionality of InfiPoints. This was achieved by importing 3D scanned point cloud data to InfiPoints which then automatically generated CAD models for equipment and piping systems. These CAD models were later imported into Rebro, a BIM software developed by NYK Systems. Finally, the BIM model was created in Rebro modifying the imported CAD model from InfiPoints.

Furthermore, TONETS also utilizes the 3D simulation functionalities of InfiPoints. These features include conducting simulations of carry-in/out routes, previewing the state after an installation, and more. This dramatically improves work efficiency because the work plan can be shared and clarified in advance.
TONETS continues to work on improving their process and the addition of InfiPoints has streamlined the process of replacing/installing building equipment in previously unimaginable ways.