Development and implementation of advanced IT in the North American precast concrete industry
We report on a large-scale effort to integrate advanced design and engineering information technologies (IT) in the North American precast/prestressed concrete industry. The effort has been undertaken by a consortium of precast producer companies formed specifically for the task. The effort involved significant process modeling work, using a unique method and set of tools. It led to the development of a specification for an advanced precast concrete design and engineering parametric application platform, which is currently being implemented by a major building modeling software company. The problems and lessons learned are reported. The project reported is on-going. With the first phase now well established and underway, the groundwork for the second phase – development of a Precast Building Product Data Model – will soon begin.