"Advanced tools that allow us to work most efficiently and deliver the best quality, is crucial for us to succeed”, says Stefan Wallin, one of the founders of EQC Mälardalen, one of 10 subsidiaries comprising the EQC Group.

“The combination of Novapoint discipline design applications, the modelling tool Novapoint and the model collaboration solution Quadri means that we can streamline our work processes and deliver better products”, he explains.

Resilient growth 

EQC´s core values of efficiency, quality and competence, combined with their tools commitment, form the backbone of their business. The company established year-end 2010/2011 has developed rapidly. After just three years EQC counts about 120 employees split on nine subsidiaries in Sweden and one in Oslo, Norway.

“We have a clear ambition to grow by attracting competent people who fit into our corporate culture”, says Mattias Berggren, who works as a project manager at the office in Jönköping.

He says that the company attracts a lot of expertise from the large consulting firms. Professionals who have gone a little tired in the big enterprise environments, and who would like to join something smaller and more flexible.

Large, but small and agile 

“Here with us you can be yourself and influence your own situation, in a more independent, small environment, without bureaucracy. In addition to our value vision our philosophy is that we first and foremost shall have fun and make money, without rigorous central requirements”, points out Stefan Wallin.

“The strategy is to get big through being small”, adds Berggren. “We´ll act like the big ones, only better. And we want to be at the forefront, using new technology.”

Common support functions such as IT and finance are assembled in EQC Group AB in order to create a cost effective business. The actual work takes place in the regional subsidiaries acting more or less independently, but who help each other project-wise.

“In large projects we often work several EQC offices together to accomplish the mission. That way we can serve the market both locally and regionally”, explains Mattias Berggren.

Why was Novapoint selected? 

“It´s simply the tool we know”, says Berggren short, but quickly adds: “It was natural for us to carry on with Novapoint as this was the tools skills we had, plus that Novapoint is the industry leader.”

After having upgraded their tools portfolio EQC is now well equipped with Vianova´s BIM solution Novapoint and Quadri, in addition to the discipline design applications Novapoint Road, Landscape, WS, Bridge, Road Marking, Signs and Virtual Map.

“We are always curious about new products and want to stay ahead. Therefore, as part of the agreement with Vianova, we chose to test the new Novapoint directly after its launch in the late summer of 2013”, continues Stefan Wallin.

Real test project 

Not only that, EQC also chose to try it on an ongoing real project that the company was engaged in, namely the construction of a 6 km stretch of Road 27 between Viared and Kråkered outside Borås. When the road is completed in late 2015, it will provide better accessibility in the area.

“There are of course advantages and disadvantages by doing this”, admits Wallin. “We have exposed ourselves to certain risks and we have encountered some problems. But for the most part we have resolved these through close dialogue and rapid maintenance from Vianova´s side.”

“The actual discipline design tools are just as easy to work with as before. Tasks such as line construction or road and WS design is done the same way you are used to. The differences are mostly in the organization of the underlying data and the collaboration process of the project model.”

No problem 

“The design modelling using Novapoint Base and Quadri is no problem”, expresses Mattias Berggren. “The biggest challenge has been learning to work in a new structured way, using the Quadri collaboration model shared over the Internet. The thing is to plan well how to build up activities and reserve tasks to work on.”

“We were a little uneasy for a period because of long response times in retrieving and sharing work data sets over the Internet, but this has also been resolved by good support from Vianova. It is Vianova´s responsibility to operate the model server in the current project.”

“We have made all our deliveries on time, despite short design engineering deadlines and moments of hassle and annoyance”, says Berggren.

Safer deliveries 

“Novapoint 19 and Quadri in fact make us feel more confident about what we deliver”, says Stefan Wallin. “Everything is notoriously much easier to understand in 3D than in 2D, so when everything is assembled into one common model, it eases the design process considerably.”

“In the model we immediately see if everything is correct, something which contributes to quality assurance and good control. It is much easier to see what you do in 3D and see the consequences. Errors and conflicts are much easier to detect, saving you time by reducing the number of elements in quality control. This without risking poorer quality of what we deliver.”

“All in all, modelling gives you a sense of control. It´s super. In fact we feel more confident that our deliveries are correct”, claims Wallin.

Important learning 

“It has taken some time and resources to learn all new, but the benefits clearly outweigh the downsides”, he continues. “We had probably avoided some mistakes and some frustration by doing some more training before the start of the project. Yet you never will get all the way by just taking courses. It´s up to ourselves to learn how to best use the tools in practice.”

Sees only advantages

“Learning to use Novapoint and Quadri is no problem. You just have to invest some time in learning the appropriate work methodology.”

“Today we see only advantages, both solution-wise and business-wise. We just need to plan better. We rely on Vianova in terms of software solutions and project model operation. So long as there is a common determination to meet challenges, most issues can be resolved”, concludes Stefan Wallin at EQC Mälardalen.