Author: Constructech Editors
For the construction industry, enterprise business analytics are key to ensuring a project is done on time and on budget, as it helps wade through the massive amounts of data available today. Explorer Software defines business analytics as the process of analyzing all of your past and current data sets and converting them into easy-to-read formats in order to make informed business decisions. FMI has suggested the construction industry produces roughly 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily or just enough to fill 10 million blue ray discs—and that came from a whitepaper released back in 2018. Imagine the amount of…
Railroad tunnels were blasted, dug, drilled, and supported along thousands of miles of track, coast to coast, border to border during the westward expansion of the 1840s and after. In urban areas, they were designed and constructed to minimize the disruption to local life while allowing passage of freight and passenger trains that were the building blocks for progress. But like much infrastructure, what was designed for the 1800s and 1900s is often obsolete in the 21st century. Federal government funds have been made available for improving and renovating those structures that can be saved and modernized to accommodate today’s—and…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:Laura BlackEditor-At-Largelblack@specialtypub.com Columbia, S.C. — Jan. 22, 2024 — As we head into a new year, we must contemplate our business needs and consider how technology enters the equation. The construction industry has an opportunity to leverage technology in new and exciting ways in the year ahead including, but not limited to, AI (artificial intelligence), digital twin, metaverse, AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), sensors, ERP (enterprise-resource planning), project management, estimating, accounting/job costing, and so much more. Deciphering which technology is hot—and which technology is not—can be challenging in today’s data prolific market. Today, Specialty Publishing Media…
The dome has been a staple of architecture for thousands of years. Made of contemporary materials, brick and mortar or wood primarily, domes have covered churches and stadiums around the world. The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, for example, was the largest brick and mortar dome for almost a thousand years, from its construction in 563 until the completion of the Florence Cathedral in 1436. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was the largest wooden dome for an equal amount of time. Currently, the Superior Dome, a domed stadium on the campus of NMU (Northern Michigan University) in Marquette, Michigan,…
There is a term, popular in the automotive segment, that defines a particularly important project or product, one that defines the company’s mission and legacy. That term is “halo project.” The project or product a CEO hauls out to impress the client, potential client, competitor, media, or government. While most companies strive to create a halo project or product, not all succeed. The elements that go into such a project vary but most are spectacular, innovative, and visible. As an example, take New York City’s famous Pennsylvania Station. More than 600,000 commuters travel in and out of Penn Station every…
The infrastructure we depend upon is aging—the interstate highway system started in the 1950s and much of it was already in place as federal and state highways, renovated and expanded. Bridges are crumbling, electrical towers are rusting or pitting, and tunnels are outmoded as trains have gotten taller and longer. With government funds becoming available, slowly, from the IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), work is beginning on repairing and replacing some of the structures that carry the loads—and the IoT (Internet of Things) is playing a critical role. According to the American Road & Transportation Builders Assn., 36% of…
Making predictions for the technology sector in any given year is a fool’s errand. Breakthroughs happen unexpectedly—at least unexpected by the general public, eagerly awaited by the technophiles. Concepts that were thought of as science fiction suddenly become headlines, then buzzwords, then common, sometimes all in one year—looking at you, OpenAI and ChatGPT. But that is from the outside. Insiders know there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes on projects that are, indeed, science and fiction at the same time. Getting the science right and removing the fiction is the technologists’ domain. There are some technologies…
Every month, the U.S. BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) issues a report on the number of jobs filled in the previous month and the number of jobs unfilled. Raw numbers like these are the playground for analysts and pundits alike, and everyone wants to play. Associations in every industry sift through the figures looking for (a) positive results in their sector and/or (b) alarming statistics from their sector. Construction is no different. In November 2023, BLS reported total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 199,000 and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.7%. Job gains occurred in health care and government.…
Monitoring tires is an effective way for commercial vehicle fleets to reduce costs. Despite tires accounting for just 5% of fleet equipment, they can influence up to a whopping 53% of the fleet’s overall operating costs. Application of digital sensors and a monitoring system like Continental’s ContiConnect can aid fleets in monitoring the health of their tires. Continental’s unveiling of a new valve cap sensor to its lineup of Digital Tire Monitoring products and services is helping the fleet industry. Continental boasts its sensor is the easiest and fastest to install of any tire sensor, can be quickly scaled up…
Building information modeling, BIM for short, is an international construction and design process that is saving companies a lot of time and money, not only in the U.S. but around the world. For example, a Korean research team has developed a BIM-based digital collaboration platform that allows construction owners and engineers to collaborate with each other on digital design tasks. From a conventional perspective, collaboration in the construction sector is often seen as merely sharing an integrated workspace. However, this approach comes with drawbacks associated with space rents, difficulties in properly managing collaborative information, and ambiguity in defining roles and…