VDC in the Cloud – Journey to LEAN Construction

This article by Chris France, former CIO of Little Diversified Architectural Consulting and President of Advance2000, follows up on his popular AECbytes’ articles on BIM and the Cloud by looking ahead to what he sees as the logical next step in AEC technology — VDC in the Cloud. Unlike BIM, which is primarily focused on design, VDC (virtual design and construction) addresses means, methods, schedules, costs, safety, logistics, inventory, manufacturing, etc. This article discusses the key business benefits of VDC in the Cloud, including Lean Construction, Agility & Mobility, Collaboration, Cost Reduction and Leveling the Playing Field.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2013/VDC_Cloud.html

2 thoughts on “VDC in the Cloud – Journey to LEAN Construction”

  1. I agree that drawings are not the product of design. However, I don’t think it is fair for the design team to claim the finished building as their product. The design is the design team’s product. Since that design has, heretofore, been embodied in drawings and specifications for which the design team is also responsible for, it is understandable to regard it as the design team’s product. If that documentation comes in the form of a file, or a collection of files (hopefully related and inter-linked), then that is the designer’s product. The design documentation certainly makes a major contribution to the finished building, but the two are obviously not the same thing. The finished building is the product of a much larger collection of entities than comprises the design team.

    There are those who would quibble with Mr. France’s distinction between BIM and VDC – in particular the observation that BIM focuses mainly on design, but I will let others address that. I happen to prefer the term “VDC” myself.

    I was looking for a few more specifics on what BIM in the cloud looks like and works like – either in the article or on the Advance2000 website – beyond how great it is, or will, might, or could be. Does it look like Revit? OPS? Bentley Architecture? Something else? All of the above? Some of the above? None of the above?

  2. A vision for the small firm, renting clever and expensive software per-project as-needed, in the cloud. The playing field leveled at a stroke – how revolutionary is that! We’ll love it, but VDC, or even BIM, are way out on the fringe of all the great possibilities enabled by the cloud -really a different story.

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