A construction site is not a factory, so managing a construction project is unlike managing a production line. Aiforsite, a construction tech startup, uses video, IoT, and AI to make construction controllable – analogously to manufacturing.
“Contractors go to seminars and read about the benefits of digitalization. However, when they eventually want to buy a solution that would digitalize their construction sites, they come out empty-handed,” says Kari Hirvijärvi, the CEO of Aiforsite. “There are plenty of apps and services that are point solutions, that do not help to manage a site comprehensively. That’s where we come in.”
Aiforsite is set out to revolutionize the quality, productivity, and safety of the construction industry. They use drones, IoT sensors, and video cameras to collect data from a construction site. Their cloud-based service combines data processing, construction professionals and AI to deliver insightful information to all parties in a project.
With Aiforsite, you learn what has happened,
what is happening, and what is going to happen at the construction site.
What Aiforsite Wants to Remedy
According to recent studies, a typical
construction worker spends almost 70% of their work hours in non-value-adding
activities. This is due to design errors, delays in preceding work, a lack of
resources, poor communication, bad weather, and so on. There are also
issues related to the way the work is performed, such as differences in
methods, variable skills, and ease of installation.
The quality of the construction process is
another area that leaves room for improvement. According to various studies,
material at the site is moved around approximately ten times before
installation. Orchestrating a construction site with dozens or hundreds
of partners and trades is challenging. Poor flow of information and a lack of
situational awareness can lead to errors, delays, and rework.
Construction work is notoriously hazardous: in
the USA, for example, it has the largest number of fatalities for any industry sector.
Construction sites are constantly changing, which makes them challenging to
manage from a safety point of view.
Making Data Accessible and Visible
“The best way to see how we make construction better is to visit us. In
our control room, we will show you digitized construction sites in real time.
We welcome all who are interested to see our demo.” says Pyry Virrantaus, the Head of Sales and Marketing.“Especially industrial clients
immediately grasp the concept as it reminds them of a process control center.”
The walls of the Aiforsite office are covered
with monitors displaying real-time information and video feeds from several
construction sites. The web-based service lets anyone working on a project
access all the necessary information of a site.
Hirvijärvi demonstrates with a true-life
example. Through the project dashboard, he locates a specific room of a
building under construction and brings out IoT data of a concrete floor. A
graph shows the humidity of the floor on a timeline. It also shows a prediction
of when the floor will be dry enough to coat. That’s a feature of AIC (AI for
Construction), the company’s intelligent solution for construction site
digitalization.
Another interesting example is a heat map that
displays where workers operate on the site over a day. Large heat maps indicate
unnecessary movement—for example, searching for materials—which reduces
productive time at the workface. The aim is to help site management to improve the working
environment. Aiforsite emphasizes that the objective is not to track the
performance of any individual.
A Full Service
AIC contains DataHub, a system that provides
intelligent information storage, site-planning, and schedule-tracking tools, a
remote measurement tool, takt scheduling, and so on. The data comes from
digital plans and models, IoT sensors, hardhat video cameras, drones, and
third-party applications.
Aiforsite does not want to make the customer’s
existing solutions redundant: instead, through data integration, Aiforsite
wants to make them accessible and visible in one place. In this sense, AIC is also a
digitalization platform for construction.
Customers who want to digitalize their
construction sites usually need help in deploying new methods and tools.
That’s why Aiforsite offers SiteStart, a service that not only educates, but
also sets up a construction site for digitalization.
What makes Aiforsite stand out is their
DigiEngineer, a dedicated construction professional. They ensure quick
deployment of AIC and acts as the expert data operator of the construction
site. Among the duties of the DigiEngineer are weekly video recordings at the
site and drone flights. The engineer also collects, manages, and monitors site
data and shares weekly reports (e.g. security, quality, environmental conditions,
productivity) and observations for site management.
The Future
Aiforsite was founded in 2016. It already has
served 30 construction sites in Finland. Among the customers are leading
Finnish construction companies, including YIT, Hartela, and SRV. Aiforsite not
only benefits contractors; the 100% transparent construction process should
make clients and building owners happy as well.
The company believes that their solution is scalable and
universal, and is now expanding to new markets. It has established a
partnership with Cramo, a leading European rental services provider in the
construction sector. Cramo is both a reseller and a service partner with over
150,000 customers in 11 countries.
The company promotes an “over 30% productivity leap as a service.” With their smart services, customer care, and an all-inclusive, per-square-meter pricing model, they offer a worry-free path to construction site digitalization.
Visit aiforsite.com for more information.
Responses