Capital Equipment News March 2018

CONSTRUCTION NEWS

Productivity failings blamed for project delays

Investment in building and infrastructure is booming, yet on average large-scale projects run more than 20 months behind schedule.

a 7 km control range. While analysts believe the drone industry will top US$5 billion in the next two years, it’s still early days with only one in 10 construc- tion companies currently using this new technology. Among the early adopters bucking the trend is John Bird, Managing Director of Yarrows Aggregates. He was one of the first in the UK to start using Volvo Construction Equipment’s On-Board Weighing system and has recently set up drone technology to assess his 125-acre site. Every month, a drone flies over a pre-determined route and automatically captures measurements of volume, pile count and tonnage within just a few hours. “I am always willing to invest in new ways to work more efficiently and drone technology like this allows me to access data far more quickly and accurately than I would ever be able to gather manually. We move a lot of material, so it’s vital I see an up-to-date record of what’s currently available so that I can plan and respond before we run out of

According to research by the McKinsey Global Institute, an

astonishing 98% of large-scale schemes around the world run 80% over budget and almost two years behind schedule. Poor communication, a lack of skilled workers and a failure to adapt to modern technologies are all acting as a drag on productivity. Thankfully the industry could now be on the cusp of radical improvements in performance. Digital technologies, such as on-board telematics, have been improving the way construction site man- agers access and analyse machine data, and many construction companies are catching on to the fact that drones can also play a role in monitoring progress and spotting delays before they happen. The most superior drones on the mar- ket offer 3D mapping and land survey- ing, with a flight time of 30 minutes and

any product. When you couple this with technology like On-Board Weighing we can ensure our machines are working to their optimum capacity,” he says. Construction start-ups are quick to recognise this growth in new tech- nologies. Automation firm Doxel has developed a system where robots visually monitor every aspect of labour productivity and then use algorithms to relay progress in terms of timings, bud- gets and project’s targets. The company says it can increase productivity by 38%, but whether humans will welcome this robotic advice is open to question. b Digital technologies, such as on-board telematics, have been improving the way construction managers access and analyse machine data.

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