Electrician. Changing Electrical Prefab
According to the research Construction Disconnected, administered by PlanGrid and FMI Corp, each construction project team member spends a significant amount of hours each week dealing with conflicts and rework. In general this is due to a lack of information transparency between stages and teams.
Distributors and suppliers are complaining that they have to copy and paste large amounts of data from specifications into CRM systems (Customer Relationship Management). Engineers have to manually type the data for calculations and communication with vendors. Working off of blueprints drafters have to re-create the data from scratch for almost every type of submittals, whether those are shop drawings or spoolshets with BOM (Bill Of Materials). Prefab and construction teams track notes in their own CRMs or spreadsheets. Managers have to make sure everyone is up to date by overlooking all resources.
In real life with growing projects complexity and tight project schedules, construction teams dealing with a lot of information. Construction teams have to adopt to this environment and build information flows in the best way possible.
To improve the efficiency, data has to be stored and transferred similar to Amazon’s operation. Millions of packages travel from warehouse to warehouse and then get delivered on time to the right person. Amazon is a perfect example of combination of information technology, an extensive network of warehouses, multi-tier inventory management, and excellent transportation, which makes Amazon’s supply chain the most efficient among all the major companies in the world.
In construction organizing yourself, your team, and on-site delivery isn’t enough. Without proper data flow people don’t have much success.
Data should be taken care of the way Amazon packages are. There is a need to have a data warehouse and it is very important that everyone has access to the data warehouse one way or another. Going back to how Amazon is working, drivers check-in to load and unload packages, warehouse workers move the packages around, etc.
Everyone should have access to the data warehouse system, including the on-site team
It would therefore be a mistake to believe that using modern BIM is the answer. Only BIM specialists have access to it, only BIM specialists can make changes in the files that were generated. Most of the time changes happen on-site due to construction conditions that cannot be clearly seen even with BIM. In this case the on-site team becomes the main part of the equation. It’s crucial to get them what they need, and not what we think they need. The on-site team need to be able to collaborate with the rest of the parties involved.
This is what it will give in return:
- Eliminate on-site rework
- Make design revisions based on the data from on-site
- Estimate projects as a team
Looking for a solution
Electrical design and prefabrication process is very sensitive to changes. Even if the design and prefab teams work side-by-side, it is still not enough to make products the on-site team requires. Unfortunately, there is always going to be some re-work, something that the in-house workers can’t account for. Studs too close to each other, or cables are too short, so the 1,000 assemblies that were built in the prefab shop are not going to work. This re-work is, essentially, a waste, overtime, and loss of money.
Estimating is one of the most difficult jobs in construction. It is also one of the most important. Profits are typically won or lost based on how accurate your estimates are and how closely they match up to your final project costs.
Shaping a solution
To summarize, there is a need in a portable solution that can be tied to CRMs and allow users to work with their items in digital format. With this solution users need to be able to communicate with everyone in the project: share items, create work orders, export *.csv files for BIM.
There is a need to:
- Divide complex electrical installations into manageable subassemblies that can be prefabricated: electrical boxes for wall roughing, light fixtures, transformer wiring, overhead and underground conduits, panels, j-boxes etc.
- Analyze requirement documents, blueprints and project plans to gain an understanding of the project and compile and record actual costs.
- Work closely with consultants, contractors, accountants, and operations personnel to provide the most accurate financial and budget analysis.
- Streamline work orders for the prefab shop, keeping them up to date, making them digital
It makes sense not to only pass information from one project stage to another, but keep the flow going where everyone has Read/Write/Edit access to it including the on-site team.
How can we achieve it? How do we connect Bid-Design-Prefab-Build phases? How do we achieve information transparency and transition from stage to state? How do we estimate projects like a pro?
Design electrical systems anywhere you go
Electrician helps you design, estimate, and build electrical assemblies as well as share them with the rest of your team. Forget about outdated shop drawings and spreadsheets. The assembly information will be transferred directly from the job site to the prefab shop to build, from the manager to suppliers to get a quote.
Electrician is the first digital technology that allows users build electrical systems. This tool provides electrical contractors and subcontractors a productivity-boosting ordering system that communicates detailed assembly needs directly to their distribution center.
- Saves time and money
- Improves efficiency
- Improves communication
- Eliminates waste
- Reduces information loss
Based on blueprints and current construction stage users can put together a list of items they need for complete installation. The list of items gets built in the cart. For more complex assemblies users can use configurator.
Electrician supports the shift from the traditional paper-based process to digital.
How To Get The App?
Find the source code here .
