YIT

Company: YIT Suomi Oy
Industry: Timber element production
Location: Hämeelinna, Finland
Year founded: 1985

Background

YIT Suomi Oy is a circa 30 person factory building timber elements for YIT, operating within the Finnish construction conglomerate. YIT wants to put timber at the forefront of construction and encourages people to choose wood when selecting construction materials.   

Harri Alanen, Factory Manager, works closely with Sami Hirvonen, Commodity Manager, and Element Designer, Petteri Rauhamaa – they are joined by another Element Designer, a few other managers and designers, as well as about 19 people working in the element factory.

Sami Hirvonen, Commodity Manager, describes the business as follows: 

“We make large wooden elements in timber, e.g. timber walls, partition walls, roofs, floors. These timber frame elements are mainly used for either detached houses, semi detached houses, attached houses, or commercial buildings. We mainly work with clients in the Helsinki area, but we also work in Turku – a notable recent project are the arched windows in the historic Scandic Hamburger Börs hotel in Turku.”

Why ArchiFrame?

Harri Alanen explains how YIT selected ArchiFrame “We selected the Archicad & ArchiFrame package because of its user-friendliness, flexibility, and suitability for a wide range of diverse projects. We also wanted to improve both the quality and efficiency of our design process by using 3D modelling. The ability to control CNC machines directly from the program is an interesting possibility for future projects.”

The element production plant has four element designers who use ArchiFrame on a regular basis. Petteri Rauhamaa has a background in timber production and carpentry and has been actively working with ArchiFrame since 2018: “It is a good software with good instructions – I like working with it and I especially appreciate the ability to look at all the individual elements in the 3D view. As someone with a production background, being able to be so close to the actual elements is great”.

Benefits of using ArchiFrame

YIT uses ArchiFrame to get accurate technical drawings of elements, whether that is digitally on tablets or in paper form. One of ArchiFrame’s most useful current features is its ability to store data – data being accurately taken from each production step to the next helps remove any room for error.  The software adjusts to all current processes at the factory.

For Petteri Rauhamaa, “ArchiFrame is great for people who really understand construction and understand how the building process works. Even without an IT background, you can learn this software. The support is there for you to learn it. Of course, it’s an extensive software, so it also requires extensive knowledge to operate it well. Petteri Heiskari, ArchiFrame CEO, has been a great support, and has helped get us going”.

Just recently ArchiFrame and YIT finished a customisation project together. Petteri Rauhamaa praises how “easy the process and collaboration was”, and now YIT have their own views in ArchiFrame with a more streamlined visualisation of YIT project and machining lists.

One future possibility for ArchiFrame usage is to harness automation; as Sami Hirvonen explains, the benefits of automation have to do with the fact that “automation helps lessen errors, and it also means there are less phases to the entire element production process, so things can’t get stuck in in-between phases”.

Petteri Rauhamaa’s advice for other ArchiFrame users? “Do the background work, create a bill of materials and set up your library. This will help you with automating and improving key processes”.

Most useful features of ArchiFrame

  • Accurate technical drawings
  • Detailed overview and 3D views of elements
  • Fits with element factory processes 
  • Straightforward and construction-friendly software

Petteri Rauhamaa

YIT Suomi Oy