Regretfully, ENR did not make it to CIFE's summer program this year, which is under way now. But a quick report just received from director Martin Fischer, offers exciting news.

CIFE  the Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering at Stanford University, in Stanford, Calif., has been the pre-eminent think tank and lab for virtual design and construction since the 1988. Its academic researchers and their industry partners take an organized and methodical approach to analyzing and demolishing barriers to increasing the efficiency and quality of project delivery, investigating innovative technologies, philosophies and processes to get the job done.

Fischer reports on June 21 that "We are having a breakthrough CIFE summer program yesterday and today...every single presentation given by owner, design/engineering, construction, and technology companies from the U.S. and overseas about a wide range of project types, from small homes to large hospitals and science centers, has measured and reported dramatic improvements in project performance."

Fischer gives brief examples of metrics reported by industry partners and projects:

Owners:
62% reduction in energy use for data centers (Autodesk)
73% reduction in space needed for data centers (Autodesk)
300% energy efficiency improvement on a fuel basis for district-scale power plants (Disney)

Designers/engineers:
30% reduction in project schedule from phase to phase, for a total of about 50% reduction from phase 1 to phase 3 (GPLA)
33% cost reduction (Sera)
60% reduction in design time (Sera)
67% reduction in construction time (Sera)
50% reduction in RFIs (Sera)
51% reduction in email (Sera)
62% reduction in change orders (Sera)
99.98% reduction in design cycle time for a structural (3 seconds vs. 4 hours) (Arup + CIFE)
328x increase in number of design versions considered for a structural design (Arup + CIFE)
99.99% reduction in design cycle time for conceptual design of apartment buildings (11 seconds vs. 34 hours) (Beck + CIFE)
7,120 increase in number of design options considered for conceptual apartment building designs (Beck + CIFE)

Design-Builders:
48% reduction in man hours for project components that were coordinated in 3D and prefabricated (Beck)
60% reduction in field staffing with an increase in quality of the performance (Beck)
30% reduction in cost (NCC)
50% reduction in project schedule (Eco Offsite, NCC)
50% reduction in design duration (Eco Offsite)
35% reduction in cost (Eco Offsite)
100% reduction in change orders (NCC)
>99% reduction in batch size of design information (Gehry Technologies)
1,000x increase in frequency of information exchange, i.e., 30,000 small exchanges vs. 30 exchanges of big batches of design information (Gehry Technologies)
90% reduction in cost estimating effort (Gehry Technologies)
50% reduction in unique building components, e.g., from 80% unique precast facade components to 40%, while maintaining design intent (Gehry Technologies)
90% reduction in construction duration, i.e., 1 month instead of 8+ months for a 1,323sf home (DCHGlobal)
25% reduction in material costs through standardization (DCHGlobal)
75% reduction in design coordination effort (Optima) 
85% reduction in effort to track supply chains (Optima) 

Builders:
95% reduction in field rework (DPR)
20% improvement in field productivity (DPR)
0% reduction in scope (DPR)
36% reduction in erection duration (Yau Lee)
58.5% reduction in energy consumption for a hotel (Yau Lee)

The program is still going on and Martin promises further updates, adding, "but I wanted to send you this info asap, since I'm rather excited about the work we are seeing in industry. The cruces behind all these improvements are:
• clear definition of purpose of BIM 
• collaboration with a "we solve problems together" attitude 
• strong attention to managing interfaces and integration between technical systems, organizations, and project phases

We may have missed the CIFE summer program this year, but we will be seeing Martin Fischer, and many other leading technologists and thinkers, at the ENR FutureTech Conference in San Francisco on July 10. Fischer will moderate a panel of owners who will discuss their expectations and visions for the role of technology in future project delivery. 

It is shaping up to be a great conference. See the agenda here:
http://construction.com/events/2012/FutureTech/
Follow on Twitter @ENRFutureTech