Integration of information technologies has allowed every U.S. industry achieve notable productivity gains over the last 40 years. In construction however, productivity has remained essentially unchanged, despite an increasing usage of technology, reports a design and construction white paper. To be effective, a company must incorporate three distinct pieces: adopt, embrace, and invest in technology if they want to take advantage of all of the “horsepower” it makes available. Adoption of technology is increasing and accelerating in the industry. The JB Knowledge Construction Technology Report indicates that over 40% of construction professionals use four or more different software/programs every day, and
Courtesy Procore technologies inc. Chris Karcher, software engineer at Procore Technologies Inc., writes down some user-submitted product ideas that will be built into a prototype of the company's budget-forecasting tool. Related Links: No App for That? Build It Already a User? Sign up for Procore's API Two hundred companies on May 4-6 attended a sold-out Procore Technologies Inc. user conference at the construction-management firm's headquarters in Carpinteria, Calif. Users lined up to learn about new releases."I wanted this to be different than any other conference by eliminating all the selling that usually goes on," says Tooey Courtemanche, CEO and founder
Related Links: FAA 333 Petitions Commercial Drone Operators Take Flight for Construction As the number of firms approved to commercially operate unmanned aircraft systems in the U.S. increases, so do these companies' UAS demands, leading some to seek experienced European manufacturers or partner with automated-flight firms.Getting approval under Section 333 of the 2012 Federal Aviation Administration's Modernization and Reform Act isn't the easiest thing, says Russ Metzler, director of UAS services at Asymmetric Technologies, Columbus, Ohio. "It's not egregious but a little frustrating," he says. "You search the 333 document and find the parts that apply to you and justify
Related Links: Software Advice landing page for construction software A new report on the software aspirations of contractors, based on analysis of thousands of inquiries from software buyers in 2014, shows that improving the accuracy of estimating is the goal driving most software shoppers, but the desire to improve doesn't align with a willingness to pay.The desires are not surprising, considering the analysis also found that 52% of the prospective buyers currently use pen and paper to conduct estimating, takeoff, bid management and other construction processes. In 34% of the inquiries analyzed a desire to improve estimating was cited. Improving
Photo Courtesy of John Russo/ARC A worker scans back-of-house utilities at an airport terminal in Los Angeles. Image Courtesy of John Russo/ARC Captured data creates a point cloud model. Related Links: Industry Tech Advocates Make the Case for Hastened Adoption High Performance Teams Needed to Meet Construction Challenges As the construction industry expands the adoption of reality capture, more contractors are using the technology to assess accurately existing conditions, verify work during construction and provide an as-built model of finished work to building owners.Because developers and manufacturers continue to improve scanning hardware and software, contractors "are able to find a
Enlarge Related Links: Pinchot University Yau Lee Group The idea of "intrapreneurship"—that is, nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit within big corporations— resonated with attendees of ENR's FutureTech conference, held in San Francisco on March 16-17. Gifford Pinchot III, who coined the term, said the idea is relevant to construction, particularly now as it pushes toward high-performance buildings.Intrapreneurs exhibit curiosity, often spend free time developing an idea and see the big picture, says Pinchot, author of "Intrapreneuring in Action: A Handbook for Business Innovation." He offers an online program that helps intrapreneurs build business plans and teams and coaches them as projects
Related Links: Sunshot Catalyst Hackathon Pitches The SunShot Catalyst Prize program is a 60-day virtual hackathon that was launched in mid-February and sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. The program awards innovators that make a product that can reduce the soft costs associated with the solar industry, such as financing and permitting. “The work that’s being done in this hackathon is really work that’s being utilized to advance the solar industry as a whole,” says Debbie Brodt-Giles, digital assets manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). She connects SunShot Catalyst participants to NREL data and tools to
Rising cybercrime has executives on edge as the industry increasingly relies on electronic project data. Risk experts chafe at lack of data on cyber attacks, saying ignorance hampers defense. Federal regulators agree and new rules are expected. What should company leaders do?
No cyberthreat better represents the difficulty of hitting a moving security target than ransomware, which encrypts a computer's files and demands the owner pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoins, to get the data back.
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