Autodesk started out as a design company. Now our focus is on design and make. For product design, that includes manufacturing. For media and entertainment, that includes movie, film, tv, and game production. For architecture and engineering, that includes construction (AEC). Since the Autodesk portfolio includes several products related to construction, with the help of my colleagues, Manager of Construction Customer Success, Scott Johnson, and Construction Business and Sales Development Senior Manager, David Wilkinson, here is some information about that portfolio.
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Span the AEC Lifecycle
Our construction solutions were created specifically to connect the office, the trailer, and the field across the project lifecycle.
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Portfolio to Address AEC Lifecycle
We're "all in" regarding the future of the construction industry, so we’ve made huge investments to bring together a powerful portfolio of construction management solutions.
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Assemble Systems
Assemble Systems changes the way contractors interpret design information and makes that information immediately useable for preconstruction workflows like model conditioning (corrections to allow accurate counting), quantity takeoff, and model-based estimating. Quantity takeoffs are an important aspect of the construction estimating process. Preconstruction and estimating leaders translate the project scope from drawings and specifications into cost and schedule. This is typically a manual, time-consuming process, but with Assemble, they can quickly perform the takeoff function with a model without having to be an Autodesk Revit expert — saving time and ultimately helping to manage the project’s cost envelope more successfully.
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BuildingConnected
For bidding, qualification, and risk mitigation, the BuildingConnected network connects companies and projects to a robust network of more than 800K construction professionals, and it is growing every day.
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BIM 360
BIM 360 is a comprehensive construction management platform that connects design and construction workflows and addresses the needs of diverse project teams. Teams share Building Information Models created using Revit, and BIM 360 allows data to be derived and augmented from those models to drive project workflows.
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PlanGrid
PlanGrid provides a single source of truth for all construction data — including drawings, photos, and other critical construction documents. PlanGrid allows entire project teams to collaborate with current information at their fingertips. They can respond to assigned tasks, create and track field reports, attach progress photos, etc. using just about any modern mobile device (e.g., Android, iOS, Windows). At turnover, teams handoff complete living as-builts with all project data for the owner and building operations team. This critical information helps facilities teams effectively operate and maintain the asset throughout its entire lifecycle.
In our discussion as part of preparing this blog post, two of my colleagues noted:
"You use Assemble Systems to prepare bids, BuildingConnected to find contractors to present bids to, PlanGrid to provide on-site blueprints etc. to the contractors and subcontractors, and BIM 360 to tie the whole design/validation/execution process together — acknowledging that there is some overlap between the products."
— Warren Schrey, Team Lead, Principal Software Engineer, Autodesk Research
"The overlap in between is actually a good thing because it allows for integrations between the products and ultimately creates a seamless process from start to finish for general contractors and subcontractors alike."
— Nik Witowski, SDR Team Lead, Autodesk Construction Solutions
Autodesk has always been an automation company. Today, more than ever, that means helping our customers automate their design and make processes. We help them embrace the future of making, where they can do more (e.g., efficiency, performance, quality), with less (e.g., energy, raw materials, timeframes, waste of human potential), and realize the opportunity for better (e.g., innovation, user experience, return on investment). Our design and construction solutions provide the opportunity for better.
Product classification is alive in the lab.