World-class services and solutions

ARKANCE is a leading player in digitizing the construction, infra and manufacturing industries. The company operates worldwide and is involved in a wide variety of projects. For this edition, we take a trip to the branch in Finland that provided a solution for the structured exchange of more than 2 million (!) documents during the construction of a new metro line to and from Helsinki. And now also during the operation and maintenance phase, the information management system is proving its added value. In the context of "while we're at it," we also discuss the construction of a new rail route that is being carried out circularly thanks to the implementation of ARKANCE's software.

The route of the new Länsimetro subway line is 21 kilometers long, is mostly below ground level and has 13 stations. "You can imagine that the construction of such a huge project involves a huge amount of paperwork," says Jukka Kivela, service director at Arkance Finland. "It is important to structure the documents generated during the design and engineering phase in an efficient way so that they can also be easily retrieved later during the operation and maintenance phase." Reason for Länsimetro to engage ARKANCE's expertise. "In just under nine months, we set up a complete information management system."

1,200 users

Setting up the information management system was quite a complex operation, according to Kivela. "We spent nine months full-time with 10 people setting up the environment. To give an indication of the order of magnitude: during the design and engineering phase, more than 2 million documents were exchanged by as many as 1,200 users in the system. That's really a lot," Kivela stresses. ARKANCE's role was not limited to the design and engineering phase. "Our systems also assist in the use and maintenance phase. Traditionally, these systems are not rigged until a project is completed, but here the paperwork was so large that we started setting up a maintenance management system even during execution."

Maintenance management system

The design of the information management system formed a blueprint for the maintenance management system that includes all documentation of more than 70,000 assets and technical systems on the 21-kilometer route. "There are more than 50 technical systems in each station alone. We collect data from these assets and systems in our databases and data hubs. That data is then used in turn in the various applications of the parties involved in maintenance," Kivela explained, adding that the maintenance management system was in use even before the metro line was operational. "And that came in handy, because during construction the contractor had to deal with groundwater issues. By properly recording all the data in our system, they were able to act appropriately."

Circular goals

ARKANCE is often involved in large infrastructure projects of this kind. Coincidentally also in Finland, they are making a substantial contribution to the circular goals of The West Railway Project, a new 100-kilometer rail line, with more than 100 bridges and 22 tunnels. "The project is being designed according to a circular economic model," says Kivela. "One of the biggest challenges is to find a local use for 8 million cubic meters of released soil and rocky material. Our software plays a crucial role in integrating sustainability into the design process by collecting and analyzing data on material use, transportation and environmental impact. Design options can thus be compared in real time for the most sustainable choice. It is a good example of a project involving multiple branches of ARKANCE."

Kivela thus touches on an important spearhead of ARKANCE. "Because we operate in so many different countries, we regularly leverage each other's knowledge and expertise. It also aligns with our mission to deliver world-class services and solutions that inspire and enable you to design, build and solve tomorrow's challenges."