How Metroplan Uses BIM Methodology to Lay the Foundation for Future-Ready MRO Facilities
The aviation industry is experiencing a historic period of growth. At the same time, demands for efficiency, flexibility, sustainability, and shorter turnaround times (TAT) in engine maintenance are on the rise. Today, modern engine MRO facilities are much more than mere production buildings: they must be designed as highly integrated, scalable, and data-driven value-creation centers.
This is precisely where the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) comes into its own.
Metroplan combines in-depth experience in factory planning with comprehensive expertise in the cross-disciplinary application of BIM methodology and the technical use of AutoDesk Revit as a leading planning tool. This results in digital factory models that not only represent buildings but also integrate walk-through assembly and office environments, technology requirements, and infrastructure needs into a single, centralized data model.
BIM as the Foundation of Modern Engine MRO Projects
Metroplan is currently supporting several planning projects for MRO facilities, each with more than 50,000 m² of gross floor area, over 1,000 employees, and approximately 300 different types of equipment. Even in the early planning phases, comprehensive digital factory models are created for these projects, in which production areas, logistics and office spaces, equipment, utility requirements, and building structures are modeled in a consistent Revit environment and linked together on both geometric and informational levels.
In the context of complex engine and component repair centers, this includes, among other things:
- Production areas for disassembly, assembly, and testing (DAT)
- Component repair (engine repair)
- Logistics and warehousing concepts
- Technical infrastructure and utility supply
- Operating resources and manufacturing equipment
- Material flow and transportation concepts
- Expansion and growth scenarios
Autodesk Revit as a Central Data Platform
For Metroplan, Revit is much more than a 3D CAD system. The 3D model serves as a continuously evolving digital representation of the design process and integrates all relevant information into a single central model.
- Building geometries
- Spatial structures
- Equipment
- Layouts
- Utility connections
- Area metrics
- Technical attributes
- Usage requirements
This provides a decisive advantage, particularly in the MRO sector: assembly and disassembly planning, as well as building design, are not developed separately but are synchronized from the very beginning. This allows for the early consideration of infrastructure requirements for machinery, test benches, heat treatment facilities, electroplating areas, or cleaning systems, before costly changes arise during the construction phase.
Our Added Value: BIM Meets Factory Planning
Individual organizations already possess strong BIM or factory planning expertise based on their past experience. Metroplan brings these two worlds together and supports them.
1. Factory Planning Directly Within the BIM Model
Together, we not only model buildings but also integrate production logic, material flows, and equipment structures directly into the digital model. This creates a robust basis for decision-making regarding space sizing, facility concepts, layout development, expansions, and investment decisions.
2. Integration of Equipment and Production Systems
As early as the initial planning phases, supplier models are integrated, operational resources are modeled, equipment attributes are defined, and technical requirements are documented. The factory models thus evolve into a central information platform for planning, construction, and subsequent use.
3. Early Determination of Building Services and Utility Requirements
A key factor in planning speed is the early identification and integration of building services. By linking equipment and infrastructure, electricity requirements, compressed air needs, process gases, utility connections, ventilation requirements, and water and wastewater systems can be identified early on and integrated into the planning process.
4. Collaboration Among All Project Stakeholders
BIM creates transparency. All stakeholders—operators, factory planners, architects, general planners, MEP designers, logistics experts, and equipment suppliers—access the same database, which reduces coordination efforts and allows planning changes to be implemented much more quickly. This creates a robust interface between factory planning, MEP planning, and general planning.
5. Added Value Beyond the Factory Planning Phase
Digital planning also offers two key advantages. First, BIM-based planning allows for future expansions and renovations to be prepared today: reserve areas are identified, expansion options are evaluated, utility systems are pre-dimensioned, and growth scenarios are simulated. Second, the BIM model is not static; rather, it must be used as a foundation and further developed in parallel with the factory’s life cycle. This also makes future adjustments significantly more efficient, since all the necessary data is already available in a central data source.
From Land-Use Strategy to Digital Twin
In factory planning, we use 3D modeling from day one. Typically, in the early stages, we already create space-requirement models that include rough layout modules for assembly and logistics areas, ideal layouts, real-world layout variants, infrastructure concepts, BIM-relevant data, and representations of user requirements (elevation profiles, areas with cranes, etc.).
The results are presented in a digital model and form the basis for further building and construction planning. This creates a solid foundation for the subsequent development of the future digital twin as early as the conceptual phase.
By applying BIM methodology in the engine MRO environment, we create far more than just a digital building model. Production and logistics processes, floor space, equipment, and infrastructure requirements are consolidated into a consistent digital factory model and made available across all trades. This enables us to optimize decision-making processes regarding workflows, layouts, and investments, and to prepare for operations in a targeted manner.
The key advantage, however, lies not in the methodology itself, but in its practical application. At Metroplan, we combine in-depth MRO experience with technical expertise in the areas of supply chain, factory planning, logistics planning, and general planning, as well as application-oriented BIM expertise. As a result, this approach leads to scalable and future-proof MRO sites through improved planning quality, reduced project risks, and a robust operational foundation.
About the Author
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Simon Vehof
Manager Business Development
Klaas A. Klonz
Director Fabrikplanung
