Complete solution with integrated freeform calculation unique in the industry
Modular design enables scaling and expansion
Flexible versioning allows project editing in any release version
Schöck Bauteile GmbH from Baden-Baden is the heart and headquarters of Schöck AG. The internationally active group of companies currently employs around 1,100 people at 19 locations and is active in 40 markets. With six decades of experience in the construction supply industry, the company focuses on the development and manufacture of products to reduce thermal bridges on cantilevered components, solutions to prevent impact sound, thermally separating façade fastenings and modern reinforcement technology.
Load-bearing thermal insulation element: the Schöck Isokorb®
(Source: Schoeck Bauteile GmbH)
Schoeck's digitisation strategy is to digitally support the positioning of physical Schoeck products. For this purpose, the products and their use are to be virtually represented and simulated. The challenge here: Schöck products require explanation, and their design depends heavily on the specific construction scenario. You can't just buy them off the shelf.
Schöck's best-known product is the Isokorb®. These are standardised thermal insulation elements with two functions: On the one hand, they support components that protrude from the building envelope, such as balconies. On the other, they reduce the thermal bridging that occurs there - in other words, they decouple the balconies from the rest of the building. The catch with the standardised product line: Not every balcony is the same, and the load-bearing function makes it extremely important to install the right Isokorb® models. The structural engineer makes the choice. He has to calculate the forces acting on the balcony. Once he has determined these forces, he can select the appropriate Isokorb® models.
Although Schöck already supports structural engineers with a desktop application, this is static software that cannot be centrally versioned. As a result, updates or new Schoeck products can only be added at great expense.
In addition, users have not been able to calculate arbitrary balcony layouts. If an architect does not plan a balcony at right angles, the structural engineer cannot calculate it with the existing software. As a result, he has to switch tools and calculate the intermediate forces using commercial structural and FE programs. The product selection is then done manually, using the available technical product information. There is a media break, which leads to extra work and an increased risk of error.
The Isokorb® is just one of the Schöck products that are to be measured using Scalix®. The diverse requirements for the application can be summarized in one word — Flexibility:
To meet the many requirements for flexibility, we developed Scalix® as a web-based, modular cloud application. Working hand in hand with Schöck in an agile team, we were able to implement the following key features and benefits:
The entire web application runs in Microsoft Azure and can be used directly in a browser via the intuitive web interface. There is no need to install the software locally and users always have access to the latest version. This makes it easy to integrate new Schoeck products as well as new features or updates. To make things even easier for users, Scalix® has an additional feature: A project is automatically loaded in the release version in which it was originally created. Particularly in the case of lengthy design projects, this often eliminates version-related rework and helps to ensure the traceability of project details.
Scalix® allows any shape to be represented by a force model using the finite element method. Complex shapes are broken down into many small but geometrically easy to calculate sub-areas (finite elements), which ultimately allows the physical forces for the entire shape to be calculated. The values obtained in this way are fed into the solver, which uses a specially developed heuristic to select Schöck products in terms of statics and efficiency. In this way, Scalix® enables structural engineers to carry out a wide range of applications automatically using a single tool. This not only saves time, but also avoids media breaks. Such a complete solution with integrated freeform calculation is currently unique in the industry.
Freeforms can also be calculated using the finite element method (Source: Schoeck Bauteile GmbH)
Furthermore, the calculation core of the design module is designed to be integrated with other design software solutions in the future. This means that structural engineers working with commercial structural and FE software can use the Scalix® features and remain in their familiar working environment. The back-end and front-end are clearly separated from each other, providing even more flexibility.
Scalix® has been designed to allow for the addition of other modules in the future. It is currently possible to measure thermally separated balcony connections and shear force pins in expansion joints. The vision is to display almost the entire Schoeck product portfolio via Scalix® in the future. CDO Nora Legittimo sees this in a positive light: "For us, this is all a kind of residential community: Scalix® is the apartment, the balcony and expansion joint modules are the first roommates. Gradually, other residents will move in". In addition to other products, Scalix® will also be able to serve other countries in order to take into account country-specific building permits.
The Scalix® design software has a modular structure (Source: Schöck Bauteile GmbH)
Firstly, the Scalix® project demanded quick results. CDO Nora Legittimo recalls: "The hands-on mentality right at the start of the project - when it came to developing an MVP for the digitalBAU trade fair - showed us that our companies fit together. " But it is not only this maker attitude that unites Schoeck and generic.de.
When it comes to sustainability, there is a further congruence of values. Durability and high quality standards have always been the hallmark of Schoeck components. Since 2010, we have also been committed to sustainability by consistently developing our software solutions according to the principles of clean code development. This value system helps our developers to write source code that is characterised by high readability, traceability and flexibility in development. This approach also impressed Schoeck during the course of the project. CDO Nora Legittimo: "During the beta phase and the launch, we never had to deal with the issue of 'this doesn't work'. It was more about what additional features we would like to see. The classic banana software problem - the software matures as it is used by customers - did not apply. Focusing in advance on the quality of the code that comes out afterwards helped us enormously. "
Holistic project management hits a similar note. It was never just about writing code. It has always been about the customer journey. "We now use a web interface - in the past it was a completely different technical solution. That is why it was so important for us to work with the UX team to extensively test the usability of the solution and its acceptance by our customers. "Nora Legittimo recalls. The beta phase provided the perfect framework for this and helped our UX team to get to know and understand the users even better. This knowledge enabled us to optimise the release version and also provided valuable experience for the development of subsequent modules.