“The Norwegian market has started on an exciting journey towards a digitised infrastructure, and Pipelife Norway wants to take a lead also in this development, with regards to plastic pipe solutions. We see the implementation of common, industry-agreed data models as instrumental, both in terms of providing complete and standardised information to a variety of customers, and to meet the demand for accurate product data as part of Building Information Modelling.”
Pipelife Norway implements data templates to digitise their product data
Pipelife Norway develops and adopts standardised data templates to improve internal processes and the quality of their product data.
Pipelife is Norway’s largest producer and supplier of plastic pipe systems, and is part of Wienerberger AG, a leading international supplier of building materials and infrastructure solutions.
Need
Pipelife Norway identified the need to improve their digital readiness and respond to the growing market demand for high-quality data for Building Information Modelling.
Challenges
One of the main challenges for Pipelife Norway was that most of their product information was stored in siloed systems and file formats that hindered the flow of information.
In addition, their web-catalog was maintained by the respective Product Managers responsible for the different product lines, which sometimes led to inconsistencies in the quality and richness of the product information.
The customers of Pipelife Norway often rely on product information available in various industry databases, which is provided and managed by merchants and in many cases contains inaccuracies. Therefore, being able to control and provide up-to-date product information that is machine-readable and consistent is essential for Pipelife Norway.
Solution
To tackle these challenges, Pipelife Norway decided to implement the data dictionary Define and develop standardised data models, called data templates, to structure their product data. This way they can ensure that their product information is in compliance with all relevant Norwegian and international product standards and can cover the information needs of their clients. The data templates are also specifically developed to enable free information flow and ensure that the data can be used in different systems and BIM tools.
- 1. Through Define, Pipelife Norway gained access to relevant data templates that are based on harmonised European standards and Norwegian standards.
- 2. Experts from Pipelife Norway created additional properties and data templates to meet their specific data management needs.
- 3. The manufacturer gained access to the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) content in Define. The environmental indicators are available as standardised properties and will be added to their data templates, enabling Pipelife Norway to provide structured environmental data for each individual product in their product catalogue. This will allow their clients to compare, select the right product and perform accurate environmental impact analyses based on trusted manufacturer data.
- 4. To digitise their product information, Pipelife Norway implemented the solution for manufacturers Cobuilder goBIM. The solution is integrated with the data dictionary Define, and Pipelife was able to implement their data templates to create a digital product data repository.
- 5. Pipelife Norway implemented the new product data repository internally as a single source of truth. It is also integrated into their product catalogue that is available to clients on the website of Pipelife Norway. This will allow the users to search and select products based on relevant properties. The catalogue will display all the product data, documentation and CAD objects, which can easily be shared and distributed to different BIM authoring software.
- 6. Pipelife Norway is currently using the data dictionary Define and their product data repository in Cobuilder goBIM as a PIM system.
Expected results
The implementation of standardised data templates allowed Pipelife Norway to structure all their product information, ensure data quality and compliance with all relevant industry standards. By centralising their data management, Pipelife Norway has improved their internal processes and reduced the efforts spent in maintaining various internal databases.
Pipelife Norway are now able to provide their customers with accurate and interoperable data that is mapped to relevant classifications and can cover the different information needs of the many different stakeholders that are typically involved in a construction project. By providing structured environmental data, Pipelife are prepared to meet the gowning market need for implementing sustainable practices in construction.
