Marubeni Arch-LOG, a holistic BIM service provider for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, is the much-needed game-changer. It compresses a hundred hours of construction project design planning, operations, and maintenance work into five minutes.

The firm achieves this by offering Japan’s first comprehensive building material search and rendering B2B cloud platform, Arch-LOG. The platform enables manufacturers, architects, engineers, builders, and contractors to access a catalogue of BIM objects and effortlessly transform 2D CAD drawings into lightweight, photorealistic models with relevant product information.

Free of charge to users, the proprietary cloud service enables AEC professionals and construction companies to save time and effort executing each phase of the construction lifecycle.

Unraveling the Industry Challenge

The Asia-Pacific AEC market is valued at a massive $117.59 billion. Innovations like CAD, BIM, and 3D software modeling solutions have positively influenced the quality of construction projects. However, organizations in the sector still have a long way to go in fully leveraging digital technology to streamline workflow.

Based on this premise, Marubeni Arch-LOG provides solutions to improve stakeholder efficiency by integrating building material manufacturers into a construction project lifecycle. The Arch-LOG platform bridges the gap between building material manufacturers and users such as designers, construction companies, and their end customers, orchestrating a win-win relationship.

This relationship is developed through the platform’s prime feature—project management, which comprises a catalog of building materials and its BIM objects. Through this feature, users can quickly navigate and search for the desired product using categories or keywords like generic product types and specific manufacturers.

Designers can discern and compare information between materials offered by various manufacturers, determining those best suited for a project. It enables them to select products faster than perusing through endless print catalogs. The platform implements regulations to ensure all BIM objects strictly adhere to parameters such as drawing standards, naming conventions, and data structures. Arch-LOG currently has two million registered products and about 60,000 BIM objects, making it the largest digital data platform for building materials.

“We primarily manage the monumental database according to varied construction projects and relevant building material,” states Sosei Kazuki, technical division director at Marubeni Arch-LOG.

Stakeholders can easily add the selected product to a new folder and request its samples from manufacturers. The platform also allows users to tag the chosen material with any desired information about the builder, contractor, salesperson, maintenance dates, etc.

Each manufacturer is responsible for updating product data such as price changes and discontinuation status through their admin pages, reflected in the catalog in real-time.

The platform sends notification emails to those using the product, enabling them to work with the latest information and preventing confusion during each project phase.

The finish schedule also reflects the dynamic data. It first assigns a generic name to the product and converts it to brand designation, once all the materials are finalized. The schedule enables users to change product status based on approval and delivery by authorized personnel. This allows stakeholders to use finish schedules throughout the project lifecycle and possess the complete building database for future maintenance operations.

The cloud-service platform also facilitates the seamless integration and collaboration of players on the project, allowing users to share project data instantaneously. This factor comes into play when using Arch-LOG’s material board. Invited and authenticated project stakeholders can view and participate in the development of virtual boards by dragging and dropping selected building materials. These products, embedded with all relevant BIM data, can be directly imported into designers’ BIM software. Once imported, designers can utilize Arch-LOG’s cloud rendering service to generate instant photorealistic renders, thus fostering a more complete understanding of the building model.

With The Increased Use Of Our Platform, We Hope To Accelerate The Visualisation And Use Of Bim In Japan, Which Is Known To Be Slow In The Field Of Integrating And Deploying The Technology

“As every registered BIM object shares specific universal parameters, it facilitates easier interoperability between manufacturers and stakeholders who use various building modeling tools,” explains Kazuki.

Real-Time Rendering Capability

These BIM objects can be integrated free of charge into Revit, ArchiCAD, and SketchUP through two universal plugins. This includes the Arch-LOG plugin to download BIM models and the render plugin that produces photorealistic rendering on the cloud.

However, the use of proxies is the defining feature of Marubeni Arch-LOG’s BIM cloud rendering capability. The platform allows users to download a lightweight proxy version of the BIM object or material, which contains all relevant BIM data and accurate dimension information. This proxy is linked to a high-detail, photorealistic render model or material stored in Arch-LOG’s cloud rendering service. Integrated with AI DeNoiser, these high-detail models enable users to detect design conflicts and ensure coordination and quantity estimation. The platform also includes functions that simulate luminance and illuminance, generating physically accurate images in real-time.

Arch-LOG stores the detailed model on the cloud in highly secure, IP-protected digital files. It empowers original manufacturers with product data to protect intellectual property while proxies can be shared via internet, and participants can edit the project design.

Various demonstrations showcasing the platform’s effectiveness have proved its ability to streamline and improve the efficiency of BIM operations. It also increases productivity and decreases the time required to produce high-quality design, laying the groundwork to reform the AEC industry’s workflow management.

Alliance with Construction Conglomerates

The B2B platform currently has approximately 5,000 registered companies and hosts 3,000 to 5,000 new projects annually. The firm formed strong alliances with more than 60 large conglomerates and various industry stakeholders, including general contractors, developers, and small house builders. These alliances ensure that the AEC sector adopts Marubeni Arch-LOG as the de facto standard in construction data and product information.

“With the increased use of our platform, we hope to accelerate the visualization and use of BIM in Japan, which is known to be slow in integrating and deploying the technology,” says Kazuki.

One such successful alliance is with one of Japan’s biggest general contractors, Obayashi Corporation. The developer of smart BIM standard (SBS) and key user of Revit leverages Arch-LOG as the unified platform that offers its SBS models and information to third-party or internal users for free.

Nishimatsu Construction is a client that takes pride in their efficient SDG/ESG management using the Arch-LOG platform. The customer previously presented a scaled-down physical building model that led to waste and environmental degradation as a consequence. They now use the platform to create a digital room where 3D building designs are developed and presented, holding steadfast to its commitment to being sustainable.

Looking Ahead into the Future

Marubeni Arch-LOG envisions further improving the platform’s user experience and extending utilization beyond the design phase of a construction project. A feature the firm plans to integrate is enabling stakeholders to lock in product information updates from manufacturers once construction begins. This gives building managers access to the complete building database for efficient facility management and maintenance.

The cloud platform provider also aims to launch the maintenance alert system in conjunction with the lock-in feature, facilitating the system to send notification emails to stakeholders on each product’s service life and maintenance date. Not directly related to BIM, the alert system ensures the building’s long-term sustainability through timely renovation of bathroom products, exterior/interior walls, roofs and HVACs, etc.

Marubeni Arch-LOG aspires to become an e-commerce giant in the construction industry. The firm plans to disrupt another long-standing issue in the AEC sector—a multi-stage distribution. It actively continues to form business alliances with construction companies, mainly of housing builders across the country and is beginning to solidify its future distribution of building materials while fulfilling its role as a B2B platform. Once accomplished, the disruption will reduce the current cost of material purchase and delivery caused by the industry’s lengthy supply chain.

Championing Innovation and Resilience in the AEC Industry

Marubeni Arch-LOG has encountered and solved unprecedented challenges. Its diverse workforce, comprising IT and visualization experts, general contractors, and architects, contributes to keeping up with market trends and innovates solutions that redefine the norms of AEC industry.

Marubeni Arch-LOG thrives under the umbrella of its parent company, Marubeni, the nation’s leading conglomerate with a stronghold in diverse industries like construction and aerospace. The parent company’s support has provided Arch-LOG with a fertile ground for development and growth. The guidance offered continues to prove vital for the firm’s small yet firm steps in digitally transforming the construction industry through its game-changing platform.