Reporter Construction Edition
This edition explores how heavy construction professionals digitise operations from design to maintenance, helping professionals realise gains in cost and time savings and increased safety.
President’s Message
Construction plays a vital role in supporting economies for healthy societies. From infrastructure projects that keep people and goods moving safely to business, commercial, institutional and residential buildings that provide for essential community needs, the construction industry is relied upon for moving civilisation forward.
Today, the construction industry is in the midst of a disruptive revolution that changes how work is done, how construction professionals’ skills are developed, and how customers interact with construction organisations. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by a fusion of technologies that is bringing together physical, digital and biological spheres, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems, has brought about the advent of Digital Construction – improving construction operations and processes with digital solutions. Digital Construction encompasses many things, such as 3D digital modelling of entire construction sites and visualising end-to-end construction project workflows. This evolution enables the industry to be more efficient, productive and accurate while also increasing safety.
When constructing the world’s largest tunnel connecting Germany and Denmark, the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, efficiency gains are key to stay on track and budget. Danish construction company Holbøll A/S is using digital machine control solutions on its dozers and excavators to build slopes for the project. The company has experienced significant time savings as the operators are able to move more dirt in less time while reducing rework.
An excavation project in the heart of the Amazon on the Madeira River provided operators zero visibility for the removal of submerged cofferdam material. By creating a 3D digital model of the under-water environment with machine control technology, the Brazilian construction company Grupo Toni-olo was able to remove the material on the first try and avoid the dangers of sending employees into the unknown site.
A 193-kilometre highway project between the two major Chinese cities of Nanning and Liuzhou was the first in the country to use 3D paving technology. Guangxi Road and Bridge Engineering Group recognised the need to advance from stringlines and employed digital solutions to better protect workers, decrease project delivery time and increase smoothness quality.
As a core focus, Hexagon provides the means for digitalising construction. Our construction solutions integrate data to create seamless workflows and make entire projects safer and more efficient due to increased productivity through greater integration of technologies. We deliver a construction information management system that empowers executives with top-down visibility, control and management while connecting professionals in the field seamlessly and simply to the day-to-day tasks.
Enjoy your read.
Juergen Dold
President, Hexagon Geosystems