3D laser scanning for industrial plants

Yes. Most of the plants we scan are in production. We scan around the line, between shifts or inside a planned shutdown window, with your permits and PPE. Nine case-packer lines in a Toronto food plant were captured around a planned two-day production shutdown.

Yes. That is what a light Revit model is for: the structure, equipment envelopes and overhead services modelled from the cloud, so you place the new line into it and see what clears and what does not. A Mississauga food plant found a clash with overhead piping in the point cloud before install day, and the piping was then added to the model.

A light model, general geometry and equipment envelopes, answers most line changes and test fits. LOD 300 for drawings and coordination. LOD 350 where things connect or clear each other, such as structure around a crane or a tie-in into existing piping. Modelling every bolt is rarely worth paying for. Our LOD guide goes through it with examples.

The point cloud is registered to ±3 mm typical (2–4 mm depending on range and setup) and tied to your plant grid or survey control when you provide it. Models and drawings are built on that cloud and checked against it. The LOD describes how far the model is developed, not a millimetre tolerance; the modelling tolerance is agreed separately in the scope.

Anything inside a machine, behind a guard, under insulation or above a hard ceiling. We mark those as not visible rather than guess, and we will not fill them in from old drawings without telling you. If the plant's authorized team can safely remove a guard under the site's procedures, we capture the exposed area.

The registered point cloud in E57, RCP or RCS with a browser viewer; the Revit model in your version and template; IFC and NWC for clash checks in Navisworks; DWG and PDF sheets. What is delivered is what the scope says.

Yes, where it is visible: pipe runs, racks, supports, valves and tanks modelled in place from the cloud at the LOD you need, so tie-ins and routings are designed against what is there. Hidden runs are flagged, not invented.

Three lines: the areas and lines, what the model has to answer (a test fit, a tie-in, a structural check or the plant record), and whose template it goes in. Add the shutdown window if there is one, the coordinate system to deliver in, and the tolerances the interfaces need. Our scan-to-BIM RFP template has the wording.

A line or a production area can often be captured in a day or two; whole plants take longer and are usually done over several windows. A light model follows in one to three weeks, a LOD 350 structural model in one to three as well, depending on size. We give you the dates with the quote and can send the point cloud early.

The size of the area, how dense the equipment and piping are, the LOD, and whether it is a model, drawings or both. A light model of one line and a LOD 350 model of a whole plant are very different jobs. Send the address and what the project is and we will scope it; our 3D laser scanning cost guide explains what moves the price.

Yes. Send your layer standard, title block and Revit template and we deliver in them, in the AutoCAD and Revit versions you run. If the plant has a grid, survey control or shared coordinates, send them and the cloud, drawings and model are delivered on them. Otherwise we use a clean standard set and agree the sheet list with you first.

Across Canada and the US; see the city pages above for coverage and the number to call. For a plant somewhere else, send the address and we will tell you how we would get there.