IFC4precast officially recognized as „Final Standard“ by buildingSMART International. The aim of the project was to create an international standard for data exchange between software systems in the field of industrial prefabrication. Due to the increasing complexity of the components and the advancing plant automation, the previous interfaces have reached their content related limits. With this in mind, renowned partners from the industry have joined forces to develop an industry-specific solution based on the IFC4 interface.
This now results in the following added values:
- Complexity in planning is reduced because production-specific settings are embedded and managed in the MES system. The previously time-consuming scheduling of information for the respective production sites can thus be almost completely eliminated.
- The clean separation of planning and production also results in greater flexibility in the choice of production site. This leads to better utilisation in the case of multiple locations and thus enables further savings potential.
Open standards are enabling the 4th industrial revolution
Open standards such as IFC4precast and BCF (Bim Collaboration Format) are enabling the industry to embrace the 4th industrial revolution and allow the associated potential to be fully exploited in the future:
- "Model-based" communication and visualisation based on IFC prevent misunderstandings and errors in work preparation, production, logistics and assembly
- "Lossless transfer" of information between CAD, MES and ERP
- Interdisciplinary data exchange based on a standardised data format such as IFC4precast & BCF reduces additional sources of error due to multiple confusing and redundant setting options for export & import
- Potential for technical improvements in all areas (GUID, complex reinforcement in 3D, formwork interpretations, ...)
- IFC4precast allows "plant-independent" planning and enables flexible choice of production site
- "Smart Factory" based on 3D model opens up new possibilities and reduces planning effort
- Technologies such as VR (Virtual Reality) or AR (Augmented Reality) only become possible through the use of suitable data formats (model access on construction site, ...)
More information on the project group and technical details can be found here: