Arkance Systems: Professionals in CAD and BIM for infrastructure

Two years ago, CAD Accent became part of Arkance Systems, a rapidly growing European organization of CAD and BIM specialists. From eleven countries in Europe, more than 650 specialists work with a complete portfolio of hardware, software and associated services to standardize and optimize organizations in construction, infrastructure and industry. They are working on the digital transformation to BIM. Business Unit Director Infra Peter van Houwelingen is well on his way to realizing his ambition: ''Within a few years the intention is that we will be a European top player in the field of CAD, BIM and Industry 4.0.''

NLCS provides standardization

''Sharing, preserving and reusing information is crucial,'' says van Houwelingen. ''Especially for our target group within civil engineering. In civil engineering projects, we deal with different players such as engineering and consultancy firms, contractors and governments; the professionals within infrastructure and public space. All these parties exchange information. Think of sharing the existing situation, making a design, execution and delivering a revision drawing. It is very important that this information is unambiguous and efficient, that no miscommunication can occur. The NLCS (Dutch CAD Standard) makes an important contribution here. Thanks to the standardized design of drawings, the chance of misunderstandings when exchanging drawings is a lot smaller. Drawings can only be interpreted in one way. Moreover, the standardized design of drawings ensures that the information can be easily reused in other processes. Think, for example, of making a visualization of a design or filling a management environment. This makes the NLCS an essential part of a Building Information Model (BIM) and enables a BIM workflow between different departments and organizations. The NLCS is becoming increasingly intelligent and is also being used more and more intelligently.''

InfraCAD: Collaboration with the market

Peter van Houwelingen explains that the NLCS is a technical standard and a CAD application is necessary to work properly with it. "Back in 2010 we developed InfraCAD and since that time this software has grown into full-fledged NLCS design software. We do not do this alone. Together with all market parties in the chain, we discuss what people are up against, what they need. Actively involving users in the (further) development of our software has been an important part of our business strategy from the beginning. In addition to contacts through the test panel, we seek out users through our forum, help desk and, of course, our customer base. As a result, the InfraCAD software seamlessly matches the need in the market and I think this also explains why InfraCAD is the most widely used NLCS software."

Working efficiently

Since 2018, governments have been obliged to apply the NLCS and, as a result, this standard is becoming increasingly commonplace throughout the sector. Peter van Houwelingen experiences this transition up close: "What I especially like to see is that most organizations start from this obligation, and then discover the real added value... That this standard helps them perform their work more efficiently and make their processes run more smoothly. InfraCAD is an important tool in this regard, but as Arkance Systems, we offer much more. For example, we have several CAD and BIM training courses specifically for civil engineering. We provide daily support to ensure organizations can stay up and running, and we provide powerful laptops and workstations specifically for heavy-duty CAD and BIM software. With our knowledge and experience, we help companies with their digital transformation; to work efficiently and save costs."