A very interesting discussion about innovation in engineering, seismic analysis and safety in construction took place at the headquarters of Vipa in Rolo (Reggio Emilia, Italy). CAEmate SRL was proud to represent the young and innovative hi-tech companies from South Tyrol, giving an insight on newly available online structural analysis techniques.
Vertical Innovation event
A selected group of companies, research institutes and experts from the construction world joined the Vertical Innovation Event of IDM.
The discussion started with the greetings of VIPA partners and IDM representatives. After the intro, Stahlbau Pichler, international steelworks company based in South Tyrol and builder of the new anti-seismic VIPA storehouse, presented the construction project. The main target has been to enhance safety and ensure that another earthquake will not compromise the safety and stop the facility works.
Massimo Penasa, co-founder of CAEmate, presented CAEmate’s revolutionary cloud structural analysis tool WeStatiX. In his talk, he explained how this application completely changes the approach to structural design, enhancing safety and efficiency.
Once structural analysis is available to everyone, through a common web browser, he explained, everything changes. Engineers can collaborate, share and much more easily access knowledge and information.
Stefano Avesani, from the South Tyrolean EURAC Institute for applied research, introduced several applied research projects and advanced modelling techniques. The aim is to enhance comfort, to precisely model ventilation through the buildings and therefore to develop more sustainable and energy efficient constructions.
Visit of the fully automated VIPA storehouse
The participants at the event had the opportunity to visit the fully automated VIPA facility. Several robots work in the storehouse. These machines automatically weigh, check and store packages with great savings of time and resources.
“After the Emilia earthquake of 2012″, explained the facility coordination manager, “we had to reduce the height of the storehouse, in order to make it safe. By doing this, we lost a relevant part of our storage capacity. Therefore, we decided to expand the facility and to build it in a completely anti-seismic way. Our most important request to Stahlbau Pichler was that, in case of another earthquake, the structural safety will be guaranteed. But we had even more stringent requirements: the processes in the facility should stop under no condition.”
This construction project is an example of well managed construction work, which combines innovative structural design, efficiency and delivery on time. Therefore, we consider it an excellent reference for South Tyrol construction.
