The iPad may be the hot tool for Gen Y managers at construction offices and jobsites, but its biggest devotee and chief software guru at Brinkmann Constructors is the Chesterfield, Mo., firm's white-haired CEO, Robert G. “Bob” Brinkmann, 62. Seeing a void in project management software that was efficient and affordable for midsize contractors, he led the firm's push to develop and market a new application that in-house boosters say is unique in the marketplace.
To test out and perfect the firm's Construction Superintendent-Journeyman app, Brinkmann tasked his stable of project managers and superintendents, most over 35 years old. But he also turned to an eager group of engineering students at the Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla, who find Brinkmann's app and donated iPads to be handy tools in their constructioncost-management class.