I enjoyed reading a recent, brutally honest and candid post by Luke Johnston (not me 🙂 over at Britex. Here are a few pertinent points:
“You only have to scan the room at the various ‘BIM groups’ that exist both online and in person to see that manufacturers are by all definitions underrepresented.

Having been on my own ‘BIM journey’ for the past four years, I think manufacturers are scared. They’re scared by their own ignorance. They’re scared of investing great amounts of time and money into a process or software format today that may be superseded by something else tomorrow. They’re scared of investing in the creation of BIM content only to be told by their clients that they won’t use it for one reason or another.

There have been plenty of times I have been deliberately made to feel out of place by ‘BIM Geeks’, times where I have had to ask stupid questions in a room full of my peers


More than anything right now, I think manufacturers need encouragement and education. Lots of education…

let me convey a personal thank you to all those ‘BIM people’, from all around the world, who have taken then time over the past few years to educate me in all things BIM…”

If anything, I think that some of the points above should give us pause as BIM professionals – are we being inclusive and helpful to manufacturers and non-BIM people? Or are we perhaps trying to preserve an exclusive “BIM club”?

Read the whole post:
BIM Communities: Where are all the Manufacturers?