The Time Is Now
We’re all watching and reading the
headlines, tracking the economy, and listening to the experts and
pundits talking about where the US is heading. At the time of this
article, the stock market and the economy are starting to show signs
of recovery. But still we hear others talking about a double dip
recession. For example, Nouriel Roubini, in a recent Forbes.com
article “Beware of a Double-Dip Recession,” puts the odds of the big
“W” at 20%.
This kind of information puts us all in a quandary as we deal with
our businesses and new opportunities. According to the US Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the number of wage and
salary jobs in the construction industry is expected to grow 19
percent through the year 2018. So we know we will have to hire
again, eventually. Looking to our friends at the BLS again, we know
that in the “good old days” of 2008, 18% of the 7.2 million wage and
salary jobs worked more than 45 hours per week, and the average
non-supervisory worker made $21.87 per hour. That is a lot of
overtime dollars. This goes up significantly when you look at first
line supervisors or construction managers. So what do we do now,
today, in the short term? How do we avoid hiring good people, only
to let them go in a few weeks or months? How do we prepare for the
opposite side of this equation when business improves and we are
again dealing with spiraling labor costs and a shallow pool of
resources?
One answer is to turn to field deployable technologies, something
that has been a topic of great debate for many companies. The
pundits generally view technology as too expensive, too difficult to
teach, too hard to use, and too susceptible to theft, loss or
damage. That’s why they think technology cannot survive the rigors
of the typical job site. However, the pro-technology side (my side
of the fence) says “It’s time to look again. The technology has
improved and the ROI speaks for itself.” Here are a few reasons why:
The Construction Industry Institute and FIATECH sponsored a RFID trial
project run from Aug. 1 to Oct. 19, 2007; AutoID Technologies were
deployed and contrasted during the construction of two similar power
plants. |
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| Scott Denholm is the President of Outlaw Technologies with more than 20 years of emerging technology experience. Outlaw Technologies is a company that offers customers visibility and tracking solutions as well as a variety of consulting services. Scott is recognized as an RFID and tracking electronics industry expert and his extensive background in strategic and creative solutions has made him a cornerstone for many key projects and a valued consultant for many RFID professionals. Prior to founding Outlaw Technologies, Scott worked with such prominent RFID and security electronics companies as Motorola, Symbol Technologies, Matrix and Tyco Safety Products . Scott holds 2 engineering patents and has been published in numerous industry trade magazines. He serves as a contributor to the RFID in Construction Consortium. |
The results were impressive. The project tracked 400 steel
supports with an 86% reduction in average search time (from 37
minutes to 5). Also, when searching with the manual system, 9% of
the components sought “were not immediately found” (versus ½ of 1 %
when the process was automated).
On the Meadowlands Stadium project, when Building Information
Modeling was coupled with RFID, the result was a schedule reduction
of 10 days and cost savings of over $1M (ENR Magazine, April 8).
And in a recent Construction Executive Magazine article titled
“Mobile Field Technology Yields True ROI,” one opportunity for
substantial savings was labor. “Supervisors can accurately clock
workers in and out, virtually eliminating phantom payroll costs of
up to $1,200 per field worker, per year.”
With labor being the highest cost on a job site, spending time
looking for materials is easily one of the best ways to keep costs
down. It is also one of the simplest tasks to fix in avoiding or
minimizing project delays.
Technologies like RFID and Mobile Computing have been proven in
other industries like the Department of Defense, retail and
aerospace. You don’t have to look further than your local Coca-Cola
route driver or FedEx guy to see mobile computing and Auto-Data
Capture technology in full use.
So, why now? Why – with tight budgets and thin margins – should
construction companies be looking to spend money on technology?
Now
is the best time because the ground work has already been laid by
other industries. The technologies have been piloted and proven and
the impact scrutinized and analyzed. Now is the time for firms to be
piloting for themselves, developing the best places and practices to
deploy in their own organizations. Maximizing the productivity of
employees and reducing costs related to materials purchases and
shrink will avoid unnecessary hiring, material purchases and scrap.
And, now, the reduced production schedules make this the perfect
time to introduce new technologies. After all, trying to figure this
out in peak operation is like trying to change the oil on your car
with the engine running.
The bottom line: Technology was designed to capture and distribute
information more accurately, quickly and timely than people can. And
the information you need to capture is in the field. People should
be paid to use information not collect it. The construction industry
has embraced many new technologies over the years and the next tool
to enhance productivity is Information. The companies that do the
work now will be far more profitable along the road to recovery. |
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If you need more information about, or wish to join The RFID in Construction Consortium, please contact us:
Jose Faria - President - Co-Founder:jfaria@rfidinconstruction.org
Harry Pappas - Chairman - Co-Founder:hpappas@rfidinconstruction.org
Web site and logo ©2009 The RFID in Construction Consortium™, all rights reserved. Some photographs, and illustrations/graphics which include portions or derivatives of photographs, are used under a Creative Commons License and are attributable to the following photographers: "jphilipg", "BotheredByBees", "annia316", "myuibe", Paul Keleher - www.flickr.com. Use of these photographs, or their derivatives does not constitute an endorsement of The RFID in Construction Consortium by any licensor or any individual appearing in any photograph, or derivative. |
