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What You Don’t Hear Could Hurt You
How using remote communication
from job site to office can benefit
your business
BY FRED ODE
Imagine your project manager has
arrived at your company’s largest
building site to date, having traveled
30 minutes from the field office to
get there.
No sooner does he arrive then the
site supervisor approaches him and
wants to know if he is under or over
budget on site preparation. Minutes
later, the owner requests an update
on the status of a change order. He
tries to call the field office only to
discover that no one has that information
readily available. His only
option: make a 60-minute round trip
back to the office and, in effect, bring
all work to a grinding halt until his
eventual return.
Sound like a familiar scenario? Or
even a possibility? Hopefully your
company’s construction-site communications
capabilities have advanced
beyond the megaphone and the
walkie-talkie.
Lagging behind
For most construction companies, though, field-level automation and
communications continue to lag behind
other areas. According to an
independent study by Fiatech, a nonprofit
consortium for the development
of construction technologies, information
delivery and processing in the
field has remained traditionally “paper-based,” even while the amount of
information supplied and required at
the field level in construction has multiplied.
Combining traditional manual
methods with increasing paperwork is
a recipe for stress, as many project
managers will attest.
But there is a cure. Mobile wireless
communication is perhaps one of the
greatest breakthroughs for business
in general, and for the construction
industry specifically. It allows field
personnel to stay connected, communicate
more efficiently, and solve
problems quickly. Utilizing the technology,
while a challenge for many
low-tech field operations, can help
save time and reduce costly
mistakes.
Some of the best options
The area of wireless communications
is extensive and growing, so I have
narrowed the topic to the following
areas that represent good options for
field-to-office communications for
builders:
Smaller companies (and smaller
budgets) may do well with multifunctional
phones that combine cellular,
two-way radio capabilities, text and
numeric messaging, and Internet
access. Small and portable, these
phones can receive e-mails and provide
access to the Internet and the
web.
Multifunctional cellular phones
with built-in PDA (personal digital
assistant) are also available. Essentially,
you get a mobile phone/fax with
computing capabilities. A small built-in
PDA, viewable through a very small
screen, gives you added features of
storing and updating information to
company and job files from the job
site.
Personal digital assistants (PDA),
also called palm-tops and hand-held
computers, help eliminate the paperwork
at job sites by giving instant
access to information (for instance,
schedules and change orders), allowing
manipulation of information (for
instance, inventory reductions and
field notes) and offering on-the-spot
recording of current information (for
instance, labor hours and tasks completed).
Size is an advantage (PDAs can
fit in your pocket) and also a disadvantage
(you can’t possibly view an
architectural drawing on its 3x5 inch
screen size). Currently, there are “rugged” PDAs available as well as
PDA software applications with features
specifically for construction
scheduling and project management
needs.
For even greater access to important
information and job data, as well
as a larger viewing area, “wearable”
and laptop computers with wireless
connectivity let you bring the office
with you to the job site. Although they
may not be suitable for every field
situation, laptops offer complete mobile
office access and all the capabilities
of a larger PC.
Going wireless
Each of these mobile communications
options, of course, requires a
wireless connection through a service
provider. For added security of data
transmission, companies are using
VPN (virtual private network) connections
that send data over the public Internet through secure communications “tunnels.”
The only real disadvantages of
wireless connections include slower
transmissions (although a new turbo-charged
technology will soon be
available in our market), and reliance
on battery-power that can fail at crucial
times.
Overall, newer mobile communications
and their emerging technologies
promise to improve productivity,
eliminate unnecessary mistakes, and
save time and money for contractors
of all types.
And the companies that utilize
these technologies will undoubtedly
have a competitive advantage over
their paper-based, manually-processing
peers.
Into the future. . .
Imagine a time in the not so distant
future when your site manager uploads
the daily activity plan to the
project manager and sends him an
instant message that the new plan
has been uploaded.
The site manager connects to the
Internet, logs into the web file system,
and accesses the new file, which
appears on his PDA. Later that morning,
a problem arises with a newly-built
retaining wall. The foreman takes
a digital picture and sends it to the site
manager, who forwards it on with
comments to the design engineer.
A redesign is made, and the drawing
is uploaded to the site manager,
who modifies the daily activity plan
with the new design drawing.
Now imagine that the time is now.
Using commercially available mobile
devices, and good organizational
skills, this construction site scenario is
possible and achievable.
Problems do exist, and data integration
needs to improve, but the
potential of mobile computing for the
construction industry ranks high in the
field of technology.
Fred Ode is the founder and chairman/CEO of Foundation
Software, Inc. Ode developed a construction-specific
accounting software, Foundation for Windows,
that suits a range of trades. For more information, visit
www.foundationsoft.com or call 800-246-0800.
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