Thorn Engineering values AGACAD as a partner in its timber framing work

This Northern European design firm specializing in timber buildings finds great value not just in AGACAD’s powerful Revit® framing add-ons and exporters, but also in its ongoing support as a BIM technology partner.

Client Profile

Thorn Engineering OÜ provides technical support and timber-frame building design services for architects, prefabricators and construction firms. Based in northern Estonia, it is part of the Harmet Group of production, construction, design and sales companies active mainly in the Nordic region.

Business Need

Timber is just as potent a building material as concrete and steel but with a smaller carbon footprint. Proving that to clients day-to-day, with design and technical solutions that meet even their most challenging demands, is how Thorn Engineering defines its mission. Thus, cutting-edge wood framing is key.

“We start with the client’s vision and end with final drawings. Hand-over of CNC data files to the group’s factories is where the next phase begins,” Ott Raigla, CEO of the company, says. “We wanted proven and powerful BIM software with an emphasis on process automation.”

For easy collaboration on models, among disciplines and with clients, Thorn’s team strongly prefers working in an Autodesk^® Revit^® environment, ideally on Autodesk’s BIM 360™ platform connecting project teams and data in real-time.

Raigla specifies that the firm “was looking not for just another software distributor, but for a partner in designing timber solutions who could provide support and development tailored to our specific needs, who could evolve as fast as Thorn Engineering.”

Solution

After exploring its options, Thorn chose AGACAD with its well-established Wood Framing package of BIM solutions for Revit along with exporters for Weinmann CAD/CAM Production Lines and for Hundegger CNC machines.

“We were introduced to AGACAD by one of our core employees who had used the programme previously,” the company’s CEO says.

That recommendation, the fact the tools were Revit-based, and the developer’s reputation for working with clients to incorporate new functionality in its software all suggested AGACAD was the partner Thorn Engineering was seeking.

The AGACAD Wood Framing Suite of BIM software provides advanced automation and built-in best practices for constructions with multi-layer timber-frame walls, floors and roofs. It’s easy to batch add, modify or mark any desired 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 CAD/CAM Production Line (WUP) Exporter lets you predefine in Revit the operations and rules for timber-frame module production, including all sawing, drilling, trimming, and marking for every framing member. Similarly, AGACAD’s Hundegger (BVX) CNC Exporter generates files for the automated production of walls, floors, roof framing members, trusses, and separate framing elements on Hundegger CNC machines.

Results

Thorn felt the benefits of using the AGACAD software immediately in terms of efficiency and more effective collaboration among project participants.

“It’s now quick and easy to get a good overview of projects, giving project managers and designers alike a detailed understanding even early in the design process. That permits fast feedback, and since our clients and subcontractors use Revit, we can build on their input with ease,” Raigla says. “Switching to a program that supports BIM 360 also eliminated the need to import our architectural model into other programs,” he adds.

What are the solution’s most valuable features?

“Process automation –which saves a lot of time and prevents errors– and flexibility in tackling complex designs,” the CEO says without hesitation.

He also praises AGACAD’s “personal approach” to training and support, its fast responses to queries and helpfulness in finding ways to do specific things, and its active encouragement of suggestions for adding functionality.

In short, Thorn Engineering is happy to have AGACAD as a technology partner and sees competitive advantage in being an early adopter of its BIM solutions.

“The most significant competitive advantage we have is our skilled and knowledgeable design team, but every hunter needs a good bow. That is where AGACAD comes into play,” Raigla concludes.

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.

For more information, contact us at info@agacad.com or +370 618 55 671.