g more and better data in the specification of products is that designers can better match the systems to make better use of energy, and building managers can make better decisions on maintenance and upgrades, says Jim Lewis, NEMA's manager for high-performance buildings.
The next generation of BIM applications, “will contain very specific information about manufacturer products at the heart of the solution. Having more information than exists today, so that not just the architect and designer but the building manager and owner will have the information to build the building, to operate and maintain it, and also to dispose of it at the end of its useful life,” Lewis says. “It will allow them to match specific needs with specific products. For example, we understand that many building owners and designers use outdated formulas so that they tend to oversize the air-conditioning units because they don't really know the heat output of the lighting system. So if appropriate and useful data is provided then they can more accurately select the air conditioning unit based on the specific output of a product — a motor or a light or whatever. This has huge ramifications for construction and retrofit projects if it's handled in the right manner.
“Our goal is to make that data available in a standardized format so any of the estimating or specification tools, BIM design tools and costing tools can access it through a standardized format via a common interface. We intend to work very closely with those folks in order to design a world-class template for electrical industry data,” he adds.
IDEA, the joint venture NEMA and the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) created to enable electrical manufacturers and distributors to standardize, synchronize and exchange electronic product data, has been working on preparing the electrical industry's data to meet the SPie standards.
NEMA and IDEA were among several groups presenting a demonstration at the NIBS annual meeting, held in conjunction with the Ecobuild America conference in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6. The demonstration showed how they are implementing the SPie standards and illustrated how SPie can extend into electronic purchasing, operations and maintenance, take-offs and submittals.
IDEA and NEMA were there to share their experiences coordinating the population of BIM-specific data attributes and discuss how the electrical industry is leveraging its position as one of the few vertical industries in the construction market with industry-wide, top-to-bottom systems for managing product data.
“NEMA's part is gathering the consensus, building the process around how we're going to be validating the various attributes that are going to be required for BIM compliance,” says Nick Manzo, director, Business Development and Integration, for IDEA. “Where IDEA is playing its role is we're looking at the data we're already managing for the manufacturers and then performing a gap analysis to see what data we still need. We've been working on this data management platform and creating a module off that which will allow the manufacturers to manage BIM-specific attributes in conjunction with managing all the attributes” that IDEA hosts in the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW).
“We're not just showing them the application, we're showing the collaborative process. It's NEMA and IDEA helping manufacturers become prepared to provide BIM-compliant data. It's the channel coming together to prepare something that will help the supply chain,” he adds.