Strohm Teka, a brand that focuses on complete bathroom solutions, is placing its trust in BIM&CO for the modelling, diffusion and publication of its objects on the BIM&CO public platform. The company wanted to offer its various stakeholders the possibility of collaborating more effectively.
Supporting stakeholders right from the beginning of the process
With more than 90 years of history to look back on, the Strohm Teka bathroom collections adapt to customers’ varying lifestyles. Simply a pleasure to be in and conducive to relaxation, the brand’s bathrooms transform everyday hygiene routines into special moments.
With ensuring its customers’ wellbeing considered a core value, Strohm Teka is also seeking to facilitate teamwork between its internal employees and stakeholders.
In the knowledge that interaction between all of the parties involved in the various project phases minimises the risk of conflict between the various execution phases, the company elected to call in BIM&CO.
Juan José Rodríguez, Strohm Teka architect and Head of the Construction Division: “As a manufacturer, we wanted to be, and indeed are, part of this solution, right from the beginning of the process, assisting all those involved and providing them with support when they need it.”
A partnership marked by regular progress
BIM&CO kept this partnership ticking along with weekly meetings, enabling Strohm Teka to gain an understanding of what a BIM object is, and of the challenge involved in structuring its team internally in order to make faster progress and establish its data heritage.
The two companies first defined the list of priority products to be modelled, based on customer demand and Strohm Teka‘s commercial strategy. With this in mind, this first project phase consists of 76 objects, corresponding to 153 different products. Next, Strohm Teka intends to grow this library, and thus continue its digital gamble.
It was through the private group on the public platform that BIM&CO was able to share ideas collaboratively with Strohm Teka, who could in turn track the development and definition of their library. Thanks to the online viewer, Strohm Teka had access to the geometry of the object, without going through a native software application, and could also consult all of the parameters and values associated with each object online.
Sorting of objects and linking of stakeholders: challenges encountered
For Strohm Teka, the main obstacle encountered when adding its objects to bimandco.com was understanding which information was essential and necessary, and which was useful for all project phases or for during the execution of tasks. Actually having to gather together all of this information and to “say” what their products are, thus proved a challenge.
Furthermore, it was not immediately clear how to link together the various departments and their needs within the scope of this methodology.
Beyond identifying and defining the parameters required for the Teka Strohm library, one of the issues and difficulties of the project was the compilation of all of the 3D and 2D information in order to launch objects for modelling. This is where Strohm Teka took the initiative, in launching its PIM (Product Information Management) project in parallel, in order to compile an inventory of all data and to supply the BIM objects. Incidentally, it is now difficult to say which project was the driving force behind the other: in actual fact, BIM objects also allowed us to dictate the information to be mapped within the PIM.
A positive experience for both companies
During the course of the project, Strohm Teka learned that the digitalisation process is essential in order to belong to a specialist and highly professional working group. For the company, this methodology has now become a necessity, and their team has learned to adopt it quickly and effectively.
For Strohm Teka and BIM&CO, the simplification of projects using the platform made this partnership a success: “As in any project, there are some more complex phases in which the support of specialists such as BIM&CO is essential, allowing you to progress and finished everything off on time. The experience was positive and we will continue to press forwards“, says Juan José Rodríguez.
Regarding the selection of BIM&CO, Juan José adds: “More than just a solution, we opted for a team who convinced us that this project was as important to them as it was to us, that was involved and that ensured that our requirements were satisfied…“
A final tip for other manufacturers
When Juan José wants to offer advice to other manufacturers who have decided to take the digital leap, his advice is that it is best not to wait: “Any leap forwards or change in a production process implies a degree of effort and complete commitment, however, first and foremost, it is important to define a reasonable and realistic schedule and to establish continual communication – a road map, which will be vital to this digitalisation – however, my advice is this: the earlier the better.“
If you are manufacturers and would like to follow in Strohm Teka‘s steps, click here to find out more about the digitalisation of your product catalogue with integrated tools and services.