It is normal for large structure projects to exceed the budget by 80% and take 20% longer than planned. When asked about the reasons, the lack of resources and the unqualified personnel on the construction site are quickly identified. But they are not the only ones responsible. If a construction machine - a tower crane or a grader - breaks, is incorrectly placed or is even stolen, this has an impact on the project time, the budget and the working hours. The use of IoT in construction helps prevent this. smoothtechi
IoT is a game changer for the construction
industry: it not only fixes the most common problems, but also revolutionizes
the industry. The technology can increase safety on the construction site,
increase employee productivity, reduce delays and even promote environmental
sustainability. Take a look at the most promising areas of application.
Why use IoT for construction machinery?
It is as difficult for the construction
industry to adopt new technologies as it is for us to carry a sack of stones.
There are many reasons for this: traditional building practices, old tilting
machines that need to be retrofitted, and insufficient investment in
digitization. As you know, we could add numerous examples to this list.
The use of digitization in the construction
industry , for administration and maintenance, however, brings many advantages
in terms of security, process optimization and business decisions. For
companies, the use of IoT for construction machinery can represent both a
tactical and a strategic solution. Here are some examples of the most common
scenarios.
Increase safety on the construction site
Traditional methods of promoting
occupational safety have proven inefficient. The German Statutory Accident
Insurance (DGUV) published statistics on accidents at work in its brochure ,
which shows that construction workers are much more likely to suffer an
accident than other occupational groups.
A proven solution is the extensive
introduction of smart wearables . Traditional safety helmets, clothing and
shoes only protect workers from fatal and non-fatal accidents. However, you
cannot prevent these accidents. Helmets or exoskeletons with embedded sensors
and tags, on the other hand, can prevent accidents and provide proactive safety
monitoring. As? They collect biometric and geographic data and warn of the
health hazards associated with them.
The digitization of heavy trucks can also
help. Imagine two machines. One is a traditional, aging forklift that does its
job on a construction site. Human error plays a major role here: a worker has
to keep track of what is happening around him. The responsibility to prevent
the accident rests with the person alone. The other machine is an intelligent
stacker equipped with a 360 degree antenna. The antenna recognizes workers in the
vicinity of the machine and sounds the alarm or even stops the forklift
automatically. Fatalities caused by negligence are excluded here.
Optimize processes
As a construction company, you can use IoT
to avoid delays, e.g. B. by monitoring and controlling employee productivity or
the efficiency of trucks. A study by Caterpillar shows that using IoT in
earthmoving operations uses 40% less fuel, reduces labor time by 36%, and
completes each phase of the project 40% faster. Isn't that what you're looking
for?
Check out how it all works. Take systems,
for example: sensors attached to systems and their components monitor usage and
maintenance data. Operators receive automatic machine status warnings through
special apps and see when repairs are required. Some tools can even schedule
service appointments. With IoT on site, you can conveniently monitor certain
parameters of heavy machinery such as humidity, temperature and pressure and
take appropriate measures immediately or make appointments if something goes wrong.
IoT solutions enable effective maintenance, repair and support of heavy
machines and special software.
Predict smart
An unplanned outage can cost a fortune, so
it's important to avoid it. How can IoT help? It can collect data from vehicles
equipped with sensors and send it to the cloud. There, the AI interprets the
data, faster and more precisely than a human could. For example, it is possible
to feed algorithms with data sets collected from the plant and to train machine
learning models to predict plant failures or downtimes. The IoT development
helps contractors so to predict problems and prevent and to meet so data-driven
decisions for project planning, the use of resources and to improve
performance.
Using IoT-based forecasting saves a
significant amount of time and money. Findings from another branch - the
manufacturing industry - prove this. According to Deloitte, IoT-based
predictive maintenance can in some cases cut the time it takes to maintain
equipment by half. In this way, each work shift is extended by an hour or two
of operating time and you save up to 10% on maintenance costs.