Innovative Application of AR Technology: Solving Schedule and Quality Management Pain Points in Complex MEP Engineering

This article is reposted from the WeChat official account of Onesight Technology (Yijian Keji) for learning and exchange purposes only. All rights belong to the original author.

The full article is about 2800 words and takes roughly 7 minutes to read

Keywords | M&E installation, progress management, AR verification, quality management

01

Complex M&E Installation Processes

BIM Value Hard to Bring to the Site

As an important part of building construction, M&E engineering involves many disciplines, numerous pieces of equipment and complex scenarios, and has long been a challenge in project management. Although BIM technology helps engineers better understand the design intent to some extent, the BIM model is confined to the screen, and the practice of glancing alternately at the model and at the construction site still leads to problems such as embedding errors, crossing routes, and deviations between design elevations and actual structural elevations on site. With BIM modeling now fairly mature yet the full value of BIM still unrealized, how can we better support M&E engineering?Onesight Technology leverages AR technology, deeply tailored to M&E engineering scenarios, to solve the difficulties and pain points encountered during construction one by one.

02

Visual Construction Progress Management

Managers Adjust Schedules and Coordinate Efficiently

It is especially important for the general contracting company to coordinate overall construction progress and to conduct construction briefings to subcontractors quickly. In building construction, M&E installation is usually the last stage of the project and also the most time-critical, which places higher demands on M&E installation works. The general contractor must fully allocate resources and put in place optimal arrangements for subcontractors to enter the site, and the coordination and division of labor involved consume a great amount of design communication effort. To help the general contractor assign tasks as soon as possible to the specific designers, subcontractors, construction supervisors and construction personnel, and tokeep the construction schedule under control during M&E installation and ensure subcontractors complete their work on time with the required quality and quantity, Onesight Technology uses the Yijian® AR Construction Assistant (hereinafter the Construction Assistant) to visually assist the general contractor with overall coordination during the briefing stage, reducing communication costs caused by difficulties in understanding, and to check subcontractors' construction progress with visual evidence during the construction stage.

△ Visually check construction progress by painting or box-selecting

Enter the project schedule plan into the Construction Assistant web portal in advance, and on site you can automatically generate a progress demonstration animation; by selecting different dates, you can view the current or future construction progress schedule, providing reasonable and accurate construction guidance for structures in complex areas, achieving refined management of the construction schedule, strictly controlling construction progress and responding quickly to schedule deviations.Project team members from different crews can easily understand the work sequence and plans of other crews, facilitating communication and collaboration across disciplines and improving the realism and interactivity of the pre-construction simulation stage.

△ Pre-construction M&E schedule simulation

Meanwhile, on-site visual construction simulation can provide managers with stronger and more intuitive data support, helping managers identify potential construction bottlenecks and conflicts faster, so as to better optimize construction plans and resource allocation.

03

Precise Matching and Overlay of Reserved Openings

AR Verification Reduces Checking Errors

Reservations and embedments constructed in sync with the main structure are an important foundation for later M&E construction. If the quality of this work is not properly controlled, it will bring a large amount of rework to subsequent construction, adding economic, time and labor costs. When large numbers of reserved openings need to be verified on site, relying only on drawings or on measuring axis positions and elevations easily leads to problems such as misplaced crossing embedded pipelines, improper opening sizes, missing quantities and positional deviations.

The Construction Assistant provides a more efficient and precise way to verify reserved openings. Simply project the BIM model onto the actual site through AR technology, and the positions, dimensions and quantities of reserved openings are clear at a glance; any issue can be uploaded as a work order for rectification at any time, greatly shortening verification time, improving verification efficiency and ensuring verification accuracy.

△ Civil works verification of reserved openings

The Construction Assistant can also deliver a visual briefing of the M&E model together, simulating the completed result and further checking the matching of reserved opening positions. The same applies to embedded pipeline construction: a visual briefing and verification is carried out before the embedded pipelines are backfilled, ensuring the backfill is correct.

△ M&E simulation of reserved openings

04

AR Briefings Deeply Clarify M&E-Structure Relationships

BIM 1:1 Visual Verification Simplifies Complexity

Cross-discipline overlapping construction of M&E works in EPC projects is a major difficulty for general contractors in construction management. M&E subcontractors must work closely together in real time, both among themselves and with the general contractor. Rework caused by poor coordination is the biggest cost drain faced by M&E general contractors, so timely and proper process coordination and verification are the focus during implementation.

Before M&E Pipeline Installation

On-site personnel conduct a visual briefing of M&E pipelines using AR technology, restoring the M&E pipeline model 1:1 at the construction site. This helps project workers intuitively perceive the relationship between components and the real space during construction; by adjusting the transparency of pipelines from different disciplines, they gain a deep understanding of construction sequences and clarify structural relationships, enabling BIM to play a real and effective guiding role during construction, reducing subsequent construction errors and fully improving the efficiency and accuracy of construction briefings.

△ Complex M&E briefing

During M&E Pipeline Installation

Use the Construction Assistant to conduct construction process inspections, visually overlaying the M&E BIM model onto the site so that M&E layout and quantities can be compared directly and clearly. Batch acceptance by discipline helps construction quality personnel quickly find errors that occur during construction and push issues to the relevant responsible persons for rectification via rectification orders.

△ Complex M&E verification

It is also possible, on site with the Construction Assistant, to view the BIM attributes of components; installation guidance documents can be attached in advance to complex M&E or specialized equipment models to guide installers at all times, eliminating the need to carry large numbers of drawings or extra devices on site.

△ Complex M&E verification

After M&E Pipeline Completion

Given the professionalism and complexity of M&E engineering, the Construction Assistant effectively and intuitively implements the plans of all M&E disciplines in EPC projects, quickly completes the handover of reservations and embedments, and verifies precisely and efficiently during implementation, coordinating all parties to complete their tasks with guaranteed quality and quantity and making handover to the project owner easier, achieving a win-win outcome for the project.

05

On-Site & Remote Management Working in Tandem

More Transparent Quality Management

For on-site quality managers, how can quality problems found at the site be quickly documented and handed over to the responsible person, with continued follow-up on rectification progress and results?

During acceptance, the Construction Assistant allows on-site personnel to take screenshots, annotate problem points and create work orders at the same time, associating and reminding the relevant responsible persons with one click, enabling traceable problem rectification and turning construction site problems into data, which facilitates future follow-up and review.

△ On-site screenshots during construction verification

For remote quality managers, if they cannot reach the site or need to be responsible for multiple projects at the same time, how can they supervise the construction site remotely at any time?

Viewing site conditions remotely can greatly reduce managers' supervision costs. Guided by the concept of highly refined engineering site data management, Yijian® 360 Mirror Reality features 360-degree panoramic roaming combined with the BIM model, helping project teams achievepanoramic video data recording of the entire construction process, making it convenient for managers to supervise remotely.

△ Mirror Reality verification work order

06

Straight to the Project Sites

General Construction Contracting & M&E General Contracting

China Construction Third Engineering Bureau East China Company —

Cooperation on 20 Key Projects in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai Region

From project pilots to regional-level annual cooperation, China Construction Third Engineering Bureau East China Company has expanded the AR Construction Assistant to 20 key projects across its Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Suzhou companies. China Construction Third Engineering Bureau hopes to use the Construction Assistant to address M&E construction progress management, quality management, and verification of reserved openings in civil construction.

They believe that construction personnel have to deal not only with internal parties but also with external ones, which is a cumbersome process; through trials of visual applications, the Construction Assistant can effectively improve general contracting management capabilities, bringing great help to projects during the general contracting M&E installation management stage, and improving familiarity with the design logic and construction logic of M&E installation as well as drawing-reading skills.

△ On-site training of the Construction Assistant at China Construction Third Engineering Bureau East China Company

Fengsheng M&E Engineering Group —

Hangzhou Hang Lung Plaza / Shanghai Shangxianfang / Tianjin Kerry Centre

As the general contractor for M&E engineering, Fengsheng M&E needs to manage numerous projects simultaneously. Through cooperation with Onesight on BIM+AR+360 technology, it has not only strengthened its ability to coordinate multi-project management, but also promoted the deep integration of BIM with on-site applications, covering key engineering milestones such as structural clear-height re-checking before installation, visual installation briefings, comparison during installation and rapid acceptance after installation. It reduces costs and increases efficiency to high standards, delivering high-quality projects.

END

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      Zhuwei Architectural Technology is a new-type technical services company specializing in integrated design optimization, BIM consulting and prefabricated construction design consulting. Our team brings together senior engineers from leading design institutes, former executives of real-estate companies, BIM engineers and prefabrication engineers, delivering integrated design optimization, refined drawing review, BIM consulting with MEP detailing, and prefabricated design services.

      Design optimization consulting: Positioned as an extension and complement to the design management of real-estate developers, we focus on consulting and optimization for civil buildings. Across the whole process — or at key stages required by the client — we control the economy, rationality and safety of the design, eliminating unnecessary cost while measurably improving drawing quality, achieving "lower cost, higher efficiency".

      BIM consulting: Through digital construction technology we help designers reduce errors and improve quality in the design phase, help contractors save cost and plan high-quality MEP installation in the construction phase, and extend BIM models into facility management for the operation phase — in collaboration with mainstream software vendors.

      Prefabricated design consulting: Whole-process design on BIM platforms, using Revit and Tekla for PC detailing. Component geometry and reinforcement are linked parametrically — what you see is what you get. We deliver Industry 4.0-ready drawings with cut-length data for every rebar, and IoT-enabled support for production, storage, transport and installation of PC components.

      Our expert team comes from leading design institutes, with deep technical grounding and extensive experience in dual-track design and optimization; its technical capability and control are industry-leading.

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