BIM manager Fabian Franke sees the construction industry in Switzerland as 'split in two': "About half are not dealing with digitalization at all, the other half are more advanced than many other countries in Europe." In particular, many Swiss still have little to do with digital planning of system wall elements made of autoclaved aerated concrete, because here people traditionally build with bricks. 

BIM as a door opener

But a lot is happening in Switzerland, because the market is progressive by nature due to its small size and changes faster than the German market, for example. Even with legal standards such as stricter thermal insulation regulations, the Alpine republic has overtaken its neighbor. As a 'small fish pond', Fabian Franke recognizes Switzerland as a good environment for rapid growth. The fact that Xella has a total of only 14 employees in Switzerland means a lot of work for a small team, but it also helps to be able to react promptly and agilely to even small changes in the market: For example, on the BIM construction sites that Franke oversees, work is underway to record construction progress on a daily basis and automatically transfer it to the digital twin.
As the only BIM manager in Switzerland to date, he wants to use digital progress above all to offer outstanding customer service: "BIM is not just a tool or a 3D database, for me it's also a door opener." That also means he doesn't always sell BIM as the only solution: "The other day, I acquired a project through our blue.sprint service and also recommended one of our 'normal', i.e. non-BIM, bricks - because it turned out that they brought more benefits to the customer in this project. To me, that's customer service, and it's how we want to stand out from the market here in Switzerland."

Fully comprehensive service thanks to BIM

The extent to which this service extends - from the idea to the planning to the completion of the building - is demonstrated by several BIM-based construction projects in Switzerland: the sports hotel in Zweisimmen, a residential building on Marktstraße in Flums, and an apartment building in the Swiss village of Lommiswil, where Xella Switzerland worked with large-format YTONG system wall elements for the first time. Digital planning not only ensured considerable time and material savings, but also outstanding service: "On this project, we were in earthquake zone 1B, so we also provided intensive advice on column installation and material handling during the planning phase."

Because autoclaved aerated concrete is still a niche product in the 'brick country Switzerland', with which many partners are still inexperienced, Xella also provided support in cost calculation and tenders. In the subsequent construction phase, BIM manager Fabian Franke closely followed the goings-on even at the construction site: "We coordinated when and how the trucks delivered and unloaded the material, and also ensured quality control of the construction elements on site - after all, it's different whether you pick up a pallet of bricks from the truck or unload our YTONG elements." 

Xella has also thought of having a demonstration foreman on site. In Switzerland, service that goes so far beyond sales is still unusual: "That is not yet practiced here by many other building materials suppliers. But we are a service company, and for us, customer satisfaction is the most important thing," Franke finds.

Sustainability is customer service

The BIM manager sees another aspect of outstanding customer service in the sustainability features of his products, because the YTONG autoclaved aerated concrete and Multipor insulation materials are not only more energy-efficient in production compared with the widely used brick, but also win out over competing products at the end of their life cycle: "Our building materials are demonstrably more environmentally friendly than most others: Our high air void content alone means we need much less climate-damaging cement in production than the conventional concrete industry, lower temperatures in curing, and therefore less energy than the brick industry."

For investors, environmentally friendly materials are primarily a question of cost, says Franke: "Buildings made of other building materials that you already know will generate a lot of hazardous waste in the future are a bad deal financially - whether you want to sell, rent or keep them. Because YTONG can be returned to the natural cycle by type and we provide recycling concepts for it, on the other hand, it performs very well." Sustainability has therefore long been an integral part of his discussions with customers - and in his view, the importance of ESG criteria is only increasing: "In the future, investors will only be able to invest in sustainable buildings - anything else will simply be too expensive. I therefore regularly point out to investors that we have the more environmentally friendly products. It's like the digitization process we're going through: First it costs, the return comes later."