Information Technology in the Construction Industry

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Construction I.T.

Coming soon, Rick Salmon's thoughts on I.T. in the construction industry.

I.T. Tips for the Construction Industry

• Wasting too much time on repetitive office workflows? Need to add some structure into your team's life? Consider workflow automation!
• Tired of accessing 5 different systems to get the answers you need? Data integration might be something you should look into.
• A good IT provider fixes all your problems. A great IT provider fixes them before you even know you have them!
• iPads are great for field work, but make sure you invest in a quality case! Otherwise it's an expensive way of doing business.
• Do you need more from your IT company? Consider an IT Provider that can also be your business's strategic partner for growth.
• Technology is always changing. Work with an IT Partner who values learning at it's core.
• Software development applied in the right way can save money. We recently deployed an app for a client - $10,000 cost, $40,000 savings per year!
• An IT Provider that's not observing how your company works, is not a strategic partner.
• Consider a change to unlock the potential of a strategic technology partnership.
• "Lunch n Learn" meetings are a great way to educate your team on technology tips like avoiding phising scams or teaching Excel tips.
• Teaching your office employees 10 basic Excel concepts can increase their Excel productivity by 60% easily.

Overcoming the major bottle necks in Heavy Civil Construction

Heavy civil construction projects—such as road building, residential earthworks, and utility installation—face unique logistical bottlenecks that differ from vertical construction (like building a skyscraper). These bottlenecks are primarily driven by the horizontal spread of the site, the heavy reliance on heavy iron (equipment), and the complex coordination of moving materials.

The most restrictive bottlenecks in these sectors and how heavy civil software technologies like Vizzn Software address them are detailed below:

The "Broken Telephone" of Dispatch & Logistics

The Bottleneck: In heavy civil projects, the "factory floor" moves every day. Managing the logistics of hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment, lowboys, fuel trucks, and mechanics is often done via whiteboards, phone calls, and isolated spreadsheets. This leads to:

• Equipment sitting idle because a lowboy (float) wasn't scheduled to move it.

• Mechanics driving to the wrong site or not knowing which machine is down.

• Fuel trucks missing equipment, causing operators to run dry and shut down production.

How Vizzn Overcomes It:

• Unified "Orchestra" View: Vizzn provides a single dispatch platform where every division (paving, grading, undergrounds, mechanics, fueling) sees the same schedule. If a site superintendent requests a dozer, the dispatch team, the lowboy driver, and the project manager all see the move status in real-time.

• Automated Status Updates: Instead of calling to ask "Where is the lowboy?", the software provides Uber-like visibility for equipment moves, reducing the "150 phone calls a day" problem often cited by dispatchers.

Subcontractor & Material Trucking Inefficiency

The Bottleneck: Earthworks and road building rely heavily on trucking (gravel, asphalt, soil). Projects often stall because:

• Trucks bunch up at the dump site or load site (queuing), killing cycle times.

• Third-party brokers are used, making it impossible to track where the trucks actually are.

• Paper tickets get lost, leading to billing disputes and an inability to verify if the material was actually delivered on time.

How Vizzn Overcomes It:

• Digital Truck Management: It tracks both internal and subcontractor/broker trucks. Superintendents can see exactly how many trucks are active and their cycle times.

• Digital Ticketing: It digitizes the "load count" process. If a project is billed by the load or by the hour, the software validates the actual activity, preventing over-billing and ensuring the site has the material flow required to keep pavers and excavators moving.

Invisible Design & Change Orders

The Bottleneck: Heavy civil sites are vast. A change in a drawing (e.g., a revised storm pond elevation or a moved catch basin) often lives in a PDF in the office. Field crews might work off old plans for days before realizing a change, leading to expensive rework (digging it up twice). capturing "extra work" (billable changes) is also difficult when relying on messy field notes.

How Vizzn Overcomes It:

• Interactive Drawings (Maps): Vizzn overlays blueprints and design files directly onto a GPS map on mobile devices. An operator or foreman can see their blue dot walking right over the digital drawing.

• Geo-Stamped Evidence: If a crew encounters bad soil or an unknown utility, they can take a photo or video that is instantly pinned to that exact location on the digital drawing. This creates undeniable proof for "extra billings" and change orders, speeding up approval and payment.

Safety & Compliance Gaps

The Bottleneck: Safety compliance is often a paperwork burden that slows down the start of the shift. Furthermore, in a sprawling community development, knowing exactly where every worker is during an emergency or blast is nearly impossible.

How Vizzn Overcomes It:

• location-Aware Safety: The software can identify if a worker has submitted their required hazard assessment (FLHA) based on their GPS location and job assignment. It flags missing paperwork before the work begins.

• Emergency Visibility: Because the system tracks crews and equipment on a map, safety officers can instantly see the distribution of the workforce across a 200-acre site during an emergency.

Equipment Maintenance & Fueling

The Bottleneck: A $500,000 excavator cannot work if it has a blown hose or no diesel. The bottleneck occurs when the mechanic doesn't know the machine's priority or exact location (which changes daily), or when the fuel truck skips a machine hidden behind a stockpile.

How Vizzn Overcomes It:

• Integrated Maintenance Scheduling: Mechanics are dispatched through the same system as the equipment. They can see the "down" status and location of the machine.

• Fuel Routing: Fuelers have a designated route based on where the equipment actually is that day (not where it was yesterday), ensuring high-priority production machines are fueled first.

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