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DIGITALISATION AND ANALYTICS REVOLUTIONISE CONSTRUCTION SITE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
Dave Swan , SVP , Products , Trackunit , discusses how digitalisation has revolutionised the management and operation of construction sites and outlines how analytics can be utilised on construction sites .
How is digitalisation transforming the management and operation of construction sites today ?
Over a relatively short period of time , digitisation has had a wide impact on construction and that varies by project type and the way that contractors have invested and approached integration of digital technology .
Various areas of construction have witnessed a dramatic increase in efficiency in resourcing , cost and completion timeline , so that a new scale has been set to measure what success looks like , for example with large solar farm construction . complex and nuanced understanding on how the data from all the assets , machinery and space flow together throughout the life of the project .
Secondly , key to determining the impact of digital technology in construction organisations is whether digital resources and processes are placed at the centre of a business ( inside out ) or treated like siloed projects around the periphery ( outside in ).
Organisations that start with the principle , ‘ to make a digital platform the foundation of our workflows ’ organically create more efficient data processes , reducing guess work , and lack of visibility in construction .
Dave Swan , Senior Vice President , Products , Trackunit
Other project types and areas of application have seen incremental gains where contractors are beginning to have a complete digital picture of their projects , but have only recently started to drive job site processes from that data .
We see two factors for the speed and size of the digitisation impact : Firstly , the project complexity when considering the assets , environment and workflows that are fundamental to project completion . Such as the opportunity for automation in a solar farm build vs a condo complex . The solar farm , while a complex project , has a relatively simple environment to digitise . The residential high rise build can divide into six or seven unique phases from dirt moving to finishing , with each of these phases incorporating unique machinery and assets , different physical makeup of the worksite , and a different set of sub-trades executing unique processes for each phase .
This scenario still benefits immensely from a digitally connected worksite but requires a more
The counter to that approach is traditional analog processes and ‘ bolt-on ’ digital tech that accelerates what are fundamentally analog processes . To achieve the digital centric business approach , you need to have a common platform that ’ s fit-for-purpose and connects the wide variety of data types and business systems that inform , organise and track the project .
What are the key benefits of using data analytics for monitoring machines and tools on construction sites ?
There are staggering inefficiencies around machines and tools on larger construction sites . The lowest hanging fruit are around sharing assets between the many trades and functional groups on site . Having clear visibility of when machines are idle and when they are being productive immediately gives you an actionable list of available machines .
Proving a clear picture of machines that aren ’ t being used today , or this week , can do two things with
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