Technology improves operations
ANDRES Construction regularly uses innovative technology and processes to create a top-notch client experience. The company was looking for a solution to improve its site operation and safety to meet schedule milestones and finish on time and budget and ensure quality. ANDRES implemented Genda to find out if capturing data across the jobsite can be leveraged for a better understanding of resource utilization, ensuring production efforts were focused where they were needed.
Removing the hoist bottleneck
In high-rise buildings, temporary hoists are a key vertical transport vehicle for labor. The project team was worried about the significant amount of unproductive time spent being transported to their designated floors— particularly the long waiting times due to how the hoists operate. Genda's app, which also lets workers call the hoist to their floor, was used to monitor hoist operation aspects, including idle time, worker wait time, busiest floors, and overall efficiency. This was a critical point during the construction process when the turnover date was approaching. The team had to decide how many hoists it would take to finish on time and whether one of the building elevators could be used for construction. ANDRES’ general superintendent asked Genda to assist and provide them with information to help them make a better decision. Genda analyzed the project’s hoist calling data, which revealed that not using another hoist for manpower caused over 1,061 lost man hours per month. Following that discovery, ANDRES’ project team determined that material would be transported in one hoist and workers would use the building elevator in addition to another hoist, which proved to be helpful in dealing with the problem. As a result, the hoist could make three times the amount of stops per month, and the waiting time decreased from 9.2 minutes to 3.3 minutes, helping them to turn over the level on time.
Genda's help in analyzing the hoist traffic enabled us to prove to ownership the amount of daily man hours we would lose if we lost the ability to use interior elevators for construction. - -Barry Rosenberg, ANDRES General Superintendent
Enabling Proactive Decisions
Jeff Robinson, Project Engineer at Andres, believes that Genda's value lies in mitigating the risk. "Making decisions carries risk. In construction, not making a timely decision carries a greater risk.” he stated. “The data provided by Genda allows us to make more timely and educated decisions. Being able to make adjustments to the schedule or identify schedule slips in real-time, with accurate data, allows more consistent schedule management."
Secure Access and Automated Daily Log
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to track manpower entries at the site, as hundreds of workers come and go each day. Now, by using Genda as automatic access control, the workers can enter the site quickly, and the management team can spend their time more effectively.
Simple, effective communication
Hoists operations are also affected by weather and local regulations, which may restrict hours of operation. Therefore, optimized delivery planning and communication about tasks are needed to improve overall schedule performance. Ishmael Preer, Office Engineer at ANDRES: “Having the ability to send location-based notifications drastically improves jobsite productivity and safety.” He explained, “Workers now have the ability to know when the hoist is down for maintenance or a lightning warning, allowing them to save time by taking the stairs.”
