CONEXPO Features Digital Transformation of the Construction Industry
Excerpt From Conference Whispers: CONEXPO CON/AGG IFPE 2023 Published with permission.
By Doreen Galli PhD MBA
CONEXPO CON/AGG and IFPE referred to simply as CONEXPO is a great conference to study digital transformation involving machines. According to IFM(1), 85% of vehicle telematics is used for vehicle tracking with only 27% used to track fatigue management. While the 2020 conference had education on digital transformation, in 2023 there were competing live modules. In 2020 participants were told the value of sharing one important piece of data(2). In 2023, the conference offered a plethora of machine data transformational use cases.
Attendees saw a Plante Moran’s customer learnings on leveraging data to better manage their fleets(3). ICC provided a great session on crane operation safety using data analysis of standards and incidents. In this session, the audience learned that only 23.8.% of crane safety responsibility falls on the operator’s shoulders (4).
Polaris Inc. Laboratories® demonstrated the advantages of simply connecting one's fluid analysis to maintenance management(5). In one great session, participants learned how to use their machine data for 10 separate use cases. Some use cases included maximizing machine ROI, maximizing use of remote investigation, and minimizing costs of batteries(6). There was buzz about understanding how to meet Federal contracting requirements of providing job site carbon footprint. A complete solution set with various accuracy levels to measure fleet emissions was presented by Clue Insights(7). Doka presented a platform that can estimate your footprint. In addition, DOKA platform can optimize most metrics for job sites across the company and across machine vendors(8). Furthermore, DOKA offers an augmented reality solution to help customers and teams picture the job site before it is realized(9).
Finally, one cannot discuss all this technology and data without a great session on cybersecurity. To that end CONEXPO did not disappoint with a great panel revealing ransomware and DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are top of mind(10).
In conclusion, it was exciting to see how far and fast the construction industry is progressing. Unfortunately, transformation stories frequently could not communicate their business impact. If I had one piece of advice, it would be leveraging six sigma or some business process improvement (BPI) assessment during the transformations. These types of processes capture the financial advantage of the transformation. Despite the lack of BPI assessment, construction benefits from the constant turnover of construction equipment within companies. Due to this constant refresh, the construction industry just might successfully transform faster than manufacturing - it will be exciting to watch.
