KW-Component Ltd was established 2011 in Raahe, Finland. We produce wooden elements and modules. Our turnover has been steadily growing and was 12 million Euros at the end of 2017. Currently we have about 90 employees.

My own work in the company started with introduction of ArchiFrame and continues with structural and element design as well as developing quantity takeoffs from the ArchiCAD-model to be used for production and element installation. I have used ArchiCAD since 2011. I am especially fond of the system’s ease of use, logicalness and flexibility.

To get good results, 3D modelling is an absolute must. It is easy to check detailed connections from the 3D model. BIMx-model is a great help in production and installations at building site. The biggest advantage in ArchiFrame compared to competing products is its ability to edit the model also in the 2D element drawings. ArchiFrame’s basic tools are better than in competing solutions and allow doing all exceptional cases also. Every update brings more automated tools to increase the design efficiency and quality. For example, originally we did the chamfered window sill manually but now there is a single click option to have it in the wall elements. In my design work I have two main principles: no 2D line drawing, and quantity takeoffs are taken directly from the model without using calculator. ArchiCAD and ArchiFrame enables doing this perfectly!

In future our plans include adding automation for production and manufacturing of the raw parts. ArchiFrame’s CNC-connection is a good base for that.

Risto Lehmonen
Structural engineer, KW-Component Ltd