Author: Peggy Smedley
Peggy Smedley and Paul Connell, senior strategy and enablement consulting lead, Hexagon and Mark Mehta, senior solutions consultant, Hexagon, talk about the biggest challenges in the construction industry today. Connell says it is important that we are making the most of the technologies. Mehta says today it is all about the data and with that data we need it to be accurate, consistent, and up to date. They also discuss: The labor shortages—and how technology can help alleviate some of the pressure. The supply chain and material shortages, price fluctuations, and delays—and how to minimize these risks. Going green—and how…
National Nanotechnology Day was October 9, and the 2024 NIOSH Nanotechnology Health and Safety Summit was last week. Nanotechnology offers a lot of opportunities for several industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, energy, automotive, and a few others. But let’s not put the cart before the horse. And as much as we all want to start celebrating, we still need to climb some tall mountains that are more than creating a few hurdles now. Following the development of the National Nanotechnology Initiative in 2000, the United States has been investing in nanotechnology, with the total proposed investment reaching $2.2 billion in…
We have come a long way with safety. If you journey back to the year 1960 and walked a construction jobsite, you would see very different work conditions than you see today. Hard hats were not mandatory yet and PPE (personal protective equipment) wasn’t the common three-letter jobsite acronym that it is today. Workers would be hanging from the top of buildings, with little gear to protect them. We have certainly come a long way, right? Yes and no. The reality is every year, one in 100 construction workers still get hurt bad enough to need time off work. We…
Construction is an industry that is best served when individuals learn from a mentor. Here’s what is really happening behind the scenes. In a blog I wrote over at Constructech, I noted two things can be true at the same time: a shortage of construction workers and so much ridiculous infrastructure that needs to be built. If I had a nickel, okay a $1, for every time I talked about this worker shortage issue in the last decade, I would bet we could have enough money to seriously assemble some cool people to mentor middle managers and help skill tomorrow’s…
Peggy takes a very unique approach on this episode, featuring two case studies. She unpacks how each company is leveraging technology to improve business processes. She unpacks: How TK Elevator approaches circularity and sustainability. How robotics in manufacturing is growing and how Boston Dynamics approaches this. peggysmedleyshow.com (10/15/24 – 892) IoT, Internet of Things, Peggy Smedley, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, digital transformation, cybersecurity, blockchain, 5G, cloud, sustainability, future of work, podcast This episode is available on all major streaming platforms. If you enjoyed this segment, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts.
Peggy Smedley and Monica Miller Brown, director of sustainability, TK Elevator, talk about how sustainability has changed in the last 12 months and the impact these changes are having. She says there are a lot of new regulations that are changing the way everyone is thinking about sustainability, with a move to embodied carbon in the building and construction industry. They also discuss: A new product, EOX, that has sustainability embedded in it. Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions data and the state of Scope 3 and the supply chain. How to get employees to buy into the changes.…
Peggy Smedley and Merry Frayne, director of product – Spot, Boston Dynamics, talk about how robotics in manufacturing has evolved in the last decade and what advances are being made specifically in robotics technology. She gives a little history lesson, saying the changes in robotics in manufacturing are remarkable, becoming so much smarter, more flexible, and collaborative. They also discuss: The biggest shift that is happening in robotics in manufacturing. The challenges in manufacturing that robotics can help address, such as safety. How this is impacting the workforce. bostondynamics.com (10/15/24 – 892) IoT, Internet of Things, Peggy Smedley, artificial intelligence,…
The digital twin offers big opportunities for the construction industry, and it will change how contractors construct cities, buildings, homes, and infrastructure for many years to come. To help, the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) has released a report, Digital Twins in Construction and the Built Environment. The objective is to provide practical implementation strategies, while addressing the challenges of moving to an increasingly digital built environment. It digs into predictive maintenance, examples such as digital twin-enabled health monitoring of construction workers, and it also explores how BIM (building information modeling) can be integrated with digital twins for enhanced…
The manufacturing industry is facing a labor shortage—which is expected to have a significant impact on productivity and output for more than 39% of organizations throughout the next five years, according to research by Visual Components. This has been a big concern for many manufacturers for many years. In fact, The Manufacturing Institute suggests 78% of companies have even heightened concerns about this trend, with 75% struggling to fill roles. This is just not fodder for my column every week. What can be done? A lot. First and foremost, this should be a concern for every manufacturing executive in every…
Peggy talks to two guests today about how different industries are evolving with the use of new technologies including healthcare and infrastructure. Find out how these industries are evolving with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence). She talks to: Dr. David Liebovitz, Northwestern Medicine Dominique Meyer, Looq AI, and Ken Sharpless, Exo http://peggysmedleyshow.com (10/8/24 – 891) IoT, Internet of Things, Peggy Smedley, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, digital transformation, cybersecurity, blockchain, 5G, cloud, sustainability, future of work, podcast This episode is available on all major streaming platforms. If you enjoyed this segment, please consider leaving a review on Apple…