As an international engineering and technical consulting company, Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc. focuses on finding new solutions to clients’ biggest challenges across the globe.
“For more than 35 years, our team has provided solutions to our clients’ complex questions and problems with industry-leading customer service,” says Thomas W. Young, Vice President, Rimkus Fire Practice. “Our most important asset is our knowledgeable, dedicated team of employees. Providing our consultants with technology, like Matterport, to help make them more efficient benefits both our consultants and our clients.”
Using Digital Twins to Efficiently Capture Damage
The Rimkus Fire Practice adopted Matterport in 2018 to create highly accurate 3D digital twins of buildings or structures after they have incurred damage. Documenting and preserving the state of these inspections is invaluable for forensic consulting and technical services. Since many of these cases require a fast turnaround for restoration or demolition purposes, creating digital twins of the sites cuts downtime and streamlines the process while accurately preserving important scene details. Following the success of Matterport within the fire practice, Rimkus expanded utilization throughout practices including biomechanical, property, and architectural, engineering, and construction services.
Before using Matterport, Rimkus utilized traditional digital photography media, drones, and more costly and labor-intensive laser scanning technology to capture inspection details. Though they still use these technologies as additional tools, Matterport enables them to precisely capture spaces and review, measure, and add inspection notes where needed. Employees and clients can walk through a space without visiting in person, accessing immersive 3D imagery and spatial data.
The results are transformative across Rimkus’ practice areas: more accurate measurements, faster and more conclusive forensic inspections, reduced site visits and increased speed and productivity.
The Future of Engineering and Technical Services
Within the engineering and technical services industries, photography is often used to document an incident scene for future analysis. Although helpful, photos may not accurately capture all elements of a loss scene. Investigations may require excessive hand measurements that necessitate additional site visits.
For example, in the case of a smoke event associated with a kitchen appliance, the digital twin supplies measurements of the distance between that appliance and the HVAC return air grille, which is integral to analyzing the impact of the smoke on the rest of the residence.
“Regarding fire inspections involving structures, it’s often said you typically get one chance to document,” says Young. “Matterport not only gives you the advantage of that critical ‘one time,’ but it provides clients and further potential parties access to the site virtually in case they may have not been able to visit the site for various reasons.”
The immersive 3D walkthrough, as well as the 2D floor plan which can be generated directly from a digital twin, helps Rimkus employees and clients see what a property looks like from every location and angle. In addition to 3D imagery, the digital twin includes precise measurements of everything in a building.
By fully capturing spaces with Matterport, Rimkus can ensure that engineers and consultants have comprehensive information to analyze matter details, memorialize sites, and provide additional support to clients.
ABOUT RIMKUS
Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc. is a worldwide provider of forensic consulting and technical services to insurance companies, law firms, corporations, and government agencies. Rimkus assists clients in the responsive and timely resolution of claims and disputes, as well as restoration design services, facilities risk assessments, due diligence property condition assessments, and other architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) services. For more than 35 years, the company’s team of professional engineers, architects, scientists, and technical specialists has been recognized for its commitment to service excellence by local, national, and international business communities. Rimkus operates more than 100 offices worldwide.
https://rimkus.com/
HEADQUARTERS
Houston, TX
INDUSTRY
Engineering Consulting; Technical Services
CHALLENGE
Document and preserve site details
PRODUCTS
Matterport Pro 2
SOLUTION
Use Matterport to create highly accurate 3D digital twins of sites to enhance engineering consulting and technical services.
RESULTS
- Expanded utilization of Matterport from 25 to more than 100 users, ranging from fire and biomechanical to property and architectural, engineering, and construction services
- Strengthened productivity by reducing inspection time while maintaining thorough and accurate data collection
- Allowed Rimkus experts to examine details of loss scenes after site remediation/cleanup
- Facilitated collaboration across practice areas by reducing need for multiple inspections and enabling accurate measurements of buildings and structures post-inspection
- Provided value-add to clients by creating virtual walk-through capabilities
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