CAD AND MODELING SOFTWARE JMC FABRICATION USES
JMC Fabrication's engineering team works in AutoCAD for 2D and 3D drafting, Revit for BIM coordination on mechanical projects, and dedicated pipe isometric tools for spool generation. These are the same platforms that general contractors, mechanical engineers, and EPC firms use on the design side, so JMC's drawings, models, and deliverables drop into customer workflows without translation.
The shorter answer for buyers checking software compatibility: yes, JMC works in the tools your team works in, and the engineering room sits on the same floor as the shop, so what gets modeled is what gets built.
Published May 19, 2026 · JMC Fabrication
Most fabrication delays don't come from welding or material lead times. They come from drawing handoffs that don't transfer cleanly. A mechanical engineer models a duct run in Revit, a fabricator opens a flat 2D PDF, the shop installs to the PDF, and the field finds a clash that was already visible in the original model. That's the everyday cost of incompatible software.
JMC's engineering team runs the same toolchain as the design side of the industry: AutoCAD for drafting, Revit for BIM coordination, and pipe-specific isometric tools for spool drawings. That means a customer Revit file gets opened, walked, and clash-checked in its native format before anything hits the shop floor. No flattening, no re-modeling, no information lost in translation.
On smaller jobs where the customer doesn't have a 3D model and just hands JMC a set of 2D drawings or a P&ID, the engineering team builds the model from those inputs. Either way, the deliverable flowing back to the customer is a coordinated, shop-ready package generated from a single source of truth.
Here's the actual stack JMC's engineering team uses every day, and what each tool handles on a project:
- AutoCAD: The 2D and 3D drafting backbone. JMC produces shop drawings, layout drawings, and detailed fabrication packages in AutoCAD. When a customer supplies dimensioned drawings or sketches, we work natively in their DWG files so revisions roundtrip cleanly without geometry loss.
- Revit (BIM): Building Information Modeling for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing coordination. JMC opens customer Revit models directly, runs clash detection against architectural and structural backgrounds, and produces coordinated shop drawings the field crew can install without rework.
- Pipe isometric tools: Spool drawings, weld maps, and bill-of-material generation for pipe fabrication. JMC's pipe isometric workflow ties directly into our welding procedure specifications and material traceability documentation, so every weld on a spool drawing has a procedure and every length of pipe has an MTR behind it.
- PDF and 2D markup tools: For RFIs, redlines, and customer-supplied 2D drawings that never made it into a 3D model. Most field changes still come through PDF markups, so the engineering team treats clean PDF roundtrip as a first-class workflow, not an afterthought.
Revit on the design side has changed what a mechanical contractor can ask a fabricator to do. Ten years ago, coordination meant overlaying 2D ductwork and pipe drawings on a light table and looking for crossovers. Today, the architect's BIM model, the structural engineer's model, the mechanical engineer's model, and the electrical model all stack into one federated 3D environment.
JMC's engineering team plugs into that environment instead of working around it. When a general contractor or mechanical engineer supplies a Revit model, JMC opens it natively, models the fabrication scope in-context (duct runs, pipe routing, equipment connections), and runs clash detection against the same backgrounds the rest of the design team is using.
What that produces for the customer: a shop drawing package that's already coordinated before anyone breaks ground, fewer field RFIs, and a paper trail showing which clashes were caught in design, which were caught in coordination, and what the resolution was. That documentation is increasingly required on large commercial and EPC projects.
Different scopes call for different toolsets. Here's how JMC matches the software to the deliverable:
| Tool | Best Fit | Typical Output | Customer Hand-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| AutoCAD 2D | Custom metalwork, structural details, smaller duct packages | Dimensioned shop drawings, layout drawings, weld details | DWG and PDF |
| AutoCAD 3D | Custom fabrication assemblies, complex geometry | 3D model, 2D views, fabrication-ready prints | DWG, PDF, optional STEP/IGES |
| Revit (BIM) | Commercial HVAC, mechanical coordination, multi-trade projects | Federated model, coordinated shop drawings, clash reports | RVT, NWD/NWC, PDF |
| Pipe isometric tools | Spool fabrication, process piping, marine and oil & gas | Spool drawings, weld maps, bills of material | PDF spool sheets, BOM spreadsheets |
The handoff from engineering to fabrication is where most shops lose time. JMC's engineering and shop teams share a building, so the handoff is short. Engineering produces shop drawings, weld procedure specifications, and material takeoffs from the same model used for coordination. Those documents go directly to the floor.
Quality control reviews against the same drawing package, which means a weld on the shop floor traces back to a procedure, which traces back to a model, which traces back to the customer's coordination file. That closed loop is what makes documentation packages, drawings, MTRs, weld logs, and NDE reports, easy to assemble for closeout.
Not every project starts with a customer Revit model. On smaller commercial jobs, custom metalwork, and one-off industrial repairs, JMC builds the model from whatever the customer can provide. Common starting points include:
- Hand-drawn sketches and field measurements (the engineering team converts these to scaled drawings)
- P&IDs and isometric diagrams for pipe spool work
- Architectural drawings or shop sketches for custom metalwork
- Existing facility as-builts or photographs for retrofit and repair scopes
- Verbal scope plus a site walk for custom one-off assemblies
Does JMC need a Revit model to do BIM coordination?
Not always. If the project is being coordinated in Revit on the design side, JMC works natively in those files. If the customer doesn't have a model, JMC's engineering team can build one from drawings, sketches, or field measurements, then coordinate from there. The choice depends on project scope and what the GC or mechanical engineer is using on their side.
Can JMC export to STEP, IGES, or other 3D formats?
Yes. JMC's AutoCAD 3D workflow can export to standard interchange formats (STEP, IGES, DWG) when a customer needs the geometry in another tool. For Revit work, JMC delivers RVT or Navisworks NWD/NWC files depending on what the customer's coordination workflow expects.
What if our mechanical engineer uses a different BIM tool?
Most BIM platforms exchange via IFC or Navisworks. JMC's engineering team works in Revit primarily, but coordination happens in the federated environment the customer's team is using. If the project is running through Navisworks, JMC's deliverables come out as NWC files. If the project is using IFC, JMC publishes IFC. The goal is matching whatever workflow the customer's coordination is already running on.
Does JMC produce shop drawings, or just model and let us draw?
JMC produces the shop drawings as part of the engineering deliverable. Drawings are generated from the same model used for coordination, which means the model and the prints stay in sync. If a customer wants to control drawing production in-house, JMC can deliver the coordinated model and let the customer's team detail from it, but the more common workflow is full drawings from JMC.
How does JMC handle revisions when our model changes mid-project?
Revisions get re-imported into JMC's model, the clash detection runs again on the new backgrounds, and any affected shop drawings are reissued. Because engineering and the shop floor share the same documentation pipeline, a revision in the model propagates to the shop without manual redrawing. The closeout package shows the revision history.
Can JMC clash-check against more than just our mechanical model?
Yes. The federated Revit environment can include architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and JMC's fabrication scope all together. JMC runs clash detection across all backgrounds the customer supplies, then reports the clashes by trade and severity. The customer decides which clashes resolve through design and which through field coordination.
What software does JMC's QC team work in?
QC reviews the same drawing packages and Revit files engineering produces, which means QC, engineering, and fabrication all reference one source of truth. Inspection records, weld logs, and NDE reports are assembled in standard PDF closeout packages tied back to the original drawings.