Native Revit Foodservice Families: To Share or not to Share, That is the question

To share or not to share?  Reminds me of the early days of Autocad and the integration of CAD based symbols for Foodservice Design.  Or even before that when drafters hoarded plastic templates for manual layout.  Those of us that are old enough in this industry remember that guy that had one of his large file drawers delegated for his angle finders, french curves (not just one of them but 12), and bazillion layout templates.  He may have even had a lock on the drawer.  The blades on his mechanical pencil sharpener were tungsten steel, the elbow rest had a picture of Eisenhower embroidered on it.  Well... maybe not the last two. 

Well it's the early days of the symbol roundup for Foodservice Revit Families.  The brand, the Brand, the BRAND.  What does that mean.  Being brand based entities themselves, the manufacturers, the designers, the consultants, the dealers, (well maybe not so much the dealers), want to be recognized as unique and above the competitors.  When a potential client views the 'object for sale' they say, "Wow, when Bardon Wassmith makes a widget you can tell it's theirs!"  All fine and dandy until you set these objects together in a project and you find that the differences actually cause confusion, time, and money. 

Polarized thinking defeats Progress

The industry has discovered over and over that its standardization that creates the headroom for expansion.  Once innovators like FEDA, FCSI, KCLCadalog, and AutoQuotes set standards production boomed and the project document design process was shortened.  You got to love it!  However there is always the dichotomy of Brand Ego and Standardization that impeded that process. 

Now we have Revit Foodservice Families.  What's the difference?  Well for one they take much longer to produce.

They are like little databases that contain all the information about that object.  They have 'DNA'.  The manufacturers want to get these into the new wave of 3D development that has started to affect Healthcare, Government projects, and jobs by large contracting firms in the know about the pre-construction savings derived from Revit design. 

This time the FCSI took the lead in forming a team that started out of the 2010 FCSI conference in Minneapolis.  A task force was created to put together the standards for Revit Families in foodservice that produced a document later that year.  Although it is a 'living' document subject to revision and acceptance by the design community it is a good one that focuses on the quality and consistency of Revit Family production. 

So who are the innovators that have taken up the task of creating families for the industry.  Not surprisingly they seem to have been spawned by the 2010 FCSI conference in Minneapolis.  You have RevEquip, Turbosquid, BIM Builders, and KCLCadalog, to mention just a few.  Are they in competition?  You betcha.  And are dancing to the tune of the same drummer?  No.  Which one is the best?  You be the judge.

Next week.... Judging the Standards!