Rihter: AGACAD framing solutions for BIM help stay at the cutting edge
This Slovenia-based international producer of prefabricated buildings says the ever-evolving advanced technology in AGACAD’s Wood Framing suite and other BIM software for Revit® has boosted its throughput and lowered its costs.
Client Profile
RIHTER Prefabricated Houses makes low-energy homes as well as commercial and holiday buildings. Tailoring designs for every client and using the best current technologies have helped the firm, established in Slovenia in 1990, expand to Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Croatia.
Business need
When it comes to technology, Rihter never stands still. The company had long been using BIM tools for wood-frame building design and automated production but knew more powerful and efficient solutions were now available.
In particular, data was being lost moving between architectural and structural models and CNC machines, forcing the team to duplicate a lot of work, says Marcel Kuferšin, head of BIM coordination and development at the company. The goal was to bring all the pieces of the process together in Autodesk® Revit®, the industry leader for smooth collaboration among different BIM actors.
“We wanted to optimise our workflow and use a single BIM environment to do it. We still lacked framing software based in Revit that was at least as capable as what we were then using with some additional benefits to justify the transition,” Kuferšin explains.
Solution
With that need, Rihter turned to AGACAD, whose BIM software they had noticed a few years before and knew was getting big attention in the market. They ultimately chose AGACAD’s full Wood Framing package of BIM solutions for Revit along with a customised BTL-format CNC Exporter.
“AGACAD offered the best overall package for our needs,” the BIM Manager says. “Seeing how fast their software was continuing to develop and grow, we decided we wanted to be a part of that growth,” he adds.
The AGACAD Wood Framing Suite is powerful BIM software for constructions with multi-layer timber-frame walls, floors, and roofs. Advanced automation and built-in best practices help BIM professionals make optimal choices, move much faster, and avoid errors at every stage – from design and documentation to fabrication and construction. It’s easy to quickly batch add, modify, or mark just the right elements or parameters, distribute details, flexibly manage openings and connections, and find clashes. Frames dynamically update and adapt, ensuring that shop drawings and cut lists are always accurate.
AGACAD’s Weinmann BTL/BTLx Exporter lets manufacturers directly in Revit predefine operations and rules for exporting walls, floors, roof members, trusses, and individual framing elements to CNC machines – including the sawing, drilling, trimming, and marking for every framing member.
Results
When Rihter’s team started using the AGACAD software, they immediately noticed that it was much easier to manage architectural changes.
“Interoperability is the word. It solved the core problem of model redrawing, loss of data when going from the architectural to the structural phase, work duplication,” Kuferšin says, stressing that the company “could now build a project in its entirety in just one model from start to finish.”
“The main benefits are reduction in mistakes, better data flows, less time used for repetitive tasks. That means higher throughput and lower cost.”
Rihter also highly values how the software enables customisation: “It’s not one-size-fits-all, you can shape things to the customer’s specific needs.”
Finally, the European producer of prefabricated homes praises AGACAD’s customer service and how it continues intensively developing its software.
“Support is quick and reliable, far exceeding expectations,” Kuferšin stresses, adding: “Training wasn’t just a ‘how to’ presentation but rather an in-depth explanation of how the framing software and Revit actually work. That allowed us to further tweak the process ourselves.”
The company appreciates AGACAD’s “eagerness to incorporate customer software wishes,” he says. “We constantly change and improve, and it’s great to have a partner that evolves with us and even spurs us to evolve.”
Prepared by Bryan Bradley of Textus Aptus.
This client relationship exemplifies the AGACAD ideal of “Building BIM Together!” After 30 years creating AEC technologies, AGACAD today is the developer of the world’s widest range of true BIM (Building Information Modeling/Management) software for Revit® professionals, with 13,000+ users in 130 countries. Its three areas of focus are BIM Content Management & Classification, BIM for Prefabricated Construction, and Digital Asset Inventories & BIM for Facility Management.
Related client stories:
- Build SMART boosts CNC performance for walls with switch to AGACAD BIM tools
- Scottish firm’s DfMA-level CLT Revit models benefit greatly from unique BIM software
- AMV House thanks AGACAD for efficiency and customization gains in its prefab timber homes
- Bela calls AGACAD metal framing and CNC solutions the “lifeblood” of its building design business
- U.S. preconstruction expert: “My productivity rose 60% with AGACAD’s framing tools”
- A-BET gets competitive boost in panelling, framing, BIM to fabrication with AGACAD solutions
- UBS: “AGACAD framing tools let us confidently take on more complexity”
- Thorson • Baker & Associates: “AGACAD software has given substance to our models”
