How Polytek Is Improving Collaboration and Connectivity with Autodesk Build

Polytek, an engineering services company that supports a variety of customers, aims to find the best solutions to help its customers achieve their desired outcomes. From 3D scanning to engineering to construction management, Polytek’s team of experts manages every aspect of a project from start to finish, down to the finest detail.

Using Technology to Keep Data Secure and Foster Collaboration

Werner Herbots, CEO of Polytek, discovered the value of connected construction processes in early 2020 when the company adopted BIM 360 within Autodesk Construction Cloud™. With BIM 360 in place, Polytek could connect design to construction and ensure that every project stakeholder, including external collaborators, could easily access up-to-date and accurate information. In addition, teams could quickly and safely store files electronically, complying with security standards for several sensitive projects for pharmaceutical and food sector clients in Belgium.

Before implementing BIM 360, Polytek relied on using internal sites like SharePoint to grant access to external parties – with no natural way of managing the permission levels of individual team members.

“The benefits of using BIM 360 meant that everyone involved in a project – including our customers – could access a single source of truth. Access could be granted to certain files and documents individually, and the risk of sensitive data being lost or seen by colleagues without the correct approvals was instantly minimised,” says Werner.

As the team became more familiar with BIM 360, they began exploring other products within Autodesk’s portfolio that would benefit them and their customers.

“When we heard about Autodesk Build and the way it could connect data, workflows, and teams, we knew we needed to try it. The benefits of using a common data environment were evident in the way our collaboration and communication improved drastically. And being able to go one step further and use technology on site in real-time was something that we knew would be invaluable to our ways of working.”

Werner Herbots
CEO

Connecting The Office to The Construction Site Digitally

Polytek commenced a trial of Autodesk Build, which resulted in them implementing the solution on all of their current projects. They have been able to replicate the workflows from BIM 360 in Autodesk Build to manage data in one environment regardless of whether the team is on a construction site, in the office, or working remotely.

“Most of our team was able to adapt to working this way quickly. We have a mix of colleagues with various tenures and experiences working with different tools,” says Werner. The focus for the team at Polytek is how they’ll roll out using Autodesk Build iteratively – exploring the functionality further.

“Collaboration has been instantly improved using Autodesk Build – whilst we collaborated well internally and externally before, we’ve been able to take this one step further by incorporating our workflows that we conduct on site,” says Werner. Before working in this way, the team relied on manual and laborious methods to share data with internal and external collaborators. Werner recalls, “To share large files like images, we’d send via WeTransfer, download them to a device, and upload them into our document storage areas. Now our team members and partners can take photos directly on site and save them to our project area in Autodesk Build.”

Better Collaboration Leads to Better Outcomes

Autodesk Build enables seamless collaboration between the office and the construction site whilst providing customers and external collaborators with access to real-time information. Further, having an account-based pricing model has proved invaluable to Polytek by allowing them to grant access to stakeholders on an as-needed basis.

“Our experience over the last year with the global Covid-19 pandemic has shown that there is absolutely a huge place for technology in design and construction,” states Werner. “What is important now is that the appetite to work more digitally isn’t lost, and that construction companies continue to encourage their employees to engage with these new ways of working. Remote working happened at speed for us at Polytek, and technology played a vital role in keeping our projects moving in the face of adversity.”

Looking to the future, Polytek plans to explore how they can take advantage of additional features and functionality in Autodesk Build. By optimizing additional workflows, including project closing activities like mechanical walkdowns, Polytek can experience further efficiencies than they’ve already gained and educate their customers on the benefits of standardising the use of technology across projects.