25 November 2020
BIM.B masters the design of complex wooden structures This engineering firm, based Montauban, France, which specializes in complex projects, calls on the full power of TopSolid’Design to offer its customers a genuine industrial process and personalized solutions, thanks to the ADS (Application Development System) platform.
“Our family’s long tradition in carpentry, a passion for wood and a qualification in civil engineering led me to set up this specialized engineering company in 1975.” Founder Bernard Batut’s convictions were reflected by the firm’s exceptional development, right from the outset. “The technical development of our engineering firm, which concentrates on the highly specialized discipline of the design of wooden structures in the construction industry, can be characterized by our determination to permanently remain in the forefront of the latest information technologies,” confirms Vincent Batut, the Manager of BIM.B (Bureau Ingénierie Modeling Batut), who took over from the founder.
Located in Montauban, close to the industrial city of Toulouse, France, the company logically adopted the design tools used in the aerospace sector. This pioneering firm invested in an IBM PC way back in 1980 for calculations, and replaced manual drawing with computer-assisted design (CAD) when it acquired three HP Me10 licenses for Unix workstations. It entered the world of high-level CAD in 2000, with the acquisition of a Dassault Systèmes Catia V5 license. Thanks to the combination of this determination to remain in the vanguard of technological innovation and a mastery of wood acquired through its original creations, the skills and expertise of this exceptional engineering firm are recognized by even the most demanding customers. “We can meet the complex specifications of numerous contractors, architects, carpenters and companies specializing in wooden constructions,” explains Vincent Batut. “We offer complete service packages, including design, structural calculations and the production of drawings, for the construction of new buildings, extensions, upward extensions, renovations of listed buildings and much more. We operate in mainland France, the overseas French territories and other countries, when the opportunity arises.”
Several top-flight engineers design the increasingly complex wooden structures. Examples include these 12-story towers in Paris or the headquarters of the FCBA technical institute in Bordeaux. The specialist observes that, “The spectacular growth of wood is being driven by the ecological movement, and the solutions are becoming more advanced and accessible.” He gives an example. “We can now use large, complex-shaped wooden panels, like the ones found on the Center Parcs sites. A real challenge.”
A genuine industrial process
This trend has prompted the company to opt for new design tools that are better adapted to this complexity and the changes occurring in construction technologies, with the adoption of the BIM (Building Information Model) standards. “Catia did not follow this trend and does not offer the functionality specific to our trade,” explains Nicolas Dunet, a design engineer at BIM.B. In 2017, after closely examining the existing CAD solutions on the market, the Montauban-based firm opted for TopSolid’Design.
“The TOPSOLID SAS solution can do it all. It is a real solution to the specifics of the wood trade,” continues the expert, who goes on to list its advantages. “This software meets our needs by enabling us to develop a genuine industrial process, which has now become essential in the construction of wooden structures. The power of its settings facilitates the development of programs adapted to our areas of activity and easy integration into the recommended solutions in the BIM process. Not to mention the document management functionality, which is a real bonus when it comes to tracking the iterations of the design of a complex CAD model. We make significant economic savings by shortening the length of the design process.” Another bonus that helped to convince the experienced design engineers at BIM.B was the broad range of TOPSOLID SAS tools available as part of the ADS (Application Development System) platform. “A solid basis for the development of our own programming routines,” points out Nicolas Dunet, who also appreciates the spirit of true partnership with the specialists from the local TOPSOLID SAS branch office. “They are always quick to react and available when we need a helping hand,” he concludes.
The strengths of TopSolid’Design:
- An economical and user-friendly solution that is well adapted to complex wood applications and to integrating themselves into the BIM process.
- With its broad configuration options, the software covers every step of a project and contains a product data management (PDM) tool that keeps close track of any changes. The result is a significant reduction of the design cycle and, therefore, of costs.
- The ADS (Application Development System) platform constitutes a real bonus for this engineering firm in the forefront of information technology, because it allows for the development of complex personalized programs.
Nicolas Dunet sums up: “The TOPSOLID SAS solution can do it all. It is a real solution to the specifics of the wood trade that enables us to develop a genuine industrial process, which has now become essential in the construction of wooden structures.”
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