Tag: <span>Construction</span>

Tag: Construction

From military boots to Beacon Roofing Supply

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards,

RT3 member Beacon Roofing Supply developed a recruitment strategy that focuses on members of the military who are re-entering civilian life.

Beacon Roofing Supply Senior Recruiter Brian Link came to the roofing industry from his role as a recruiter for the National Guard. He was on active duty from 2003 – 2016 and is still active today but on a reserve basis. He spent his last few active years as a recruiter for the Guard so his transition into a recruiting position at Beacon was a natural fit for him. He interviewed for his position at Beacon with Dana Bamvakais who was a military spouse for many years.

Photo: Above and Beyond Award from ESGR. Left to right: Dana Bamvakais (Vice President of HR West Division), Governor Mike Parsons, SFC (Sergeant First Class) Brian Link (Military Program Manager), 2LT (Second Lieutenant) Brian Hughes (Market Dispatcher)

After Brian joined the Beacon team, he and Dana began planning a program that would focus on recruiting newly discharged members of the military. “The military in general is a blue-collar type industry where you form strong relationships with people of similar backgrounds and experiences; people who work hard and do what it takes to get the job done,” Brian said. “When you leave the military, you miss that camaraderie.”

He knew that Beacon was the kind of company that could deliver some of those things that those in the military were used to having: that strong team, a stable company with the option to have a long career, the ability to provide for their families and an environment that cared about them. He and Dana worked together to develop the outlines of a military recruiting program that would target those transitioning to the civilian life.

They put together flyers that targeted the Transitional Assistance Program (TAPS) that all branches offer to those leaving to let them know there was a place for them at Beacon. The programs help the military members create a LinkedIn program, develop a resume and teaches other skills that will help make the transition smoother.

Brain cited an example of a person he had met two years previously who was in the military in Florida. He wanted to move back near his family in Michigan and Brian was able to find him a position with the company in that area.

The military recruitment program has the full support of the company, from the Board of Directors to the leadership team and to the employees.  They are currently in the process of trying to get their Drive program approved as an apprenticeship so that employees can use their GI benefits toward earning their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). “If someone has experience driving large vehicles in the military, they will be able to complete a form detailing their experience, taking it to their state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and only have to take the written portion of the CDL exam,” explained Brian.

It’s evident that Beacon is committed to supporting the military by the recognitions that they have received. The Employer Support of Guard and Reserve, the lead U.S. Defense Department program promoting cooperation and understanding between civilian employers and their National Guard and Reserve employees, recognized Beacon with their Above and Beyond Award with the Governor of Missouri presenting them with the award. They also recently received the Military Times award for Best for Vets.

“We really support our guard and reserve troops when they are deployed,” said Brian. “We send them care packages and let them know that they will have a job when they return from deployment.”

If you are a recently discharged member of the military or even if you’ve been out for many years, Beacon wants to talk to you. See all of their career opportunities or contact Brian Link at blink@becn.com.

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop.

RT3 member KPOST puts safety first at new Texas Rangers stadium

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards.

With more than 2,000 workers on the project, the general contractor is requiring monthly safety meetings with RT3 member KPost Roofing and Waterproofing hosting the March meeting.

Groundbreaking for the new Globe Life Field was September 28, 2017. According to the Texas Rangers’ website, “the roof at Globe Life Field will be the first of its kind in baseball. With portions made of a transparent material, Rangers fans will enjoy outdoor ambience in air-conditioned comfort. The roof will retract in a matter of minutes, bringing the great outdoors to the ballpark experience.”

Nick Post, marketing and brand assistant at KPost Roofing and Waterproofing, told us that Manhattan Construction Group, the general contractor on the project has done a great job enforcing safety procedures and hosts a mandatory monthly safety meeting. “KPost was allowed the opportunity to run the monthly safety meeting because we were nominated as the Safe Contractor of the Month for the month of March,” said Post.

KPost’s Safety Director, Luciano Perez, and Director of Special Projects, Thomas Williams, were the speakers and they discussed distractions in the workplace such as cell phones, side conversations, music.

The new stadium is set to open for the 2020 baseball season. You can get more fun facts about this project at the Rangers website.

KPost is no stranger to working on large, complex projects. They opened their doors in January 2004 with a core group of eleven roofing professionals that together had more than 250 years of combined construction experience. Today the team consists of over 400 employees, including more than 60 specialized crews, totaling over 5,000 years of experience.

Since inception, KPost has completed over 1200 projects, valued at over $525+ million including high profile contracts such as the Perot Museum of Science and Nature, The Statler Dallas, JP Morgan Chase Headquarters, Facebook Data Center – Fort Worth, and AT&T Stadium. They have added more high caliber projects to the list this year in Charles Schwab Campus, Pioneer Natural Resources, and the Texas Rangers Stadium – Globe Life Field.

They are also the official roofing contractor of the Dallas Cowboys. The stadium will be the featured project for the Roofing Alliance’s student competition that is taking place at the International Roofing Expo held February 4-6, 2020 in Dallas.

Get more news and information in your inbox when you sign up for the RT3 Smart Brief e-newsletter..

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop

Construction company to use robotics to build renewable energy projects

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards

Built Robotics, a company specializing in making robotic construction equipment, announced that it has partnered with construction firm Mortenson to use their earthmoving robotics on renewable projects like wind farms and solar. These types of projects then to be in remote areas that are far from traditional workforce centers, making labor an even bigger challenge than it already is.

According to Built Robotics, their “robotic equipment is able to shoulder some of the load by assisting with basic, repetitive tasks, freeing up human operators to focus on the more specific, complex and critical activities.”

Eric Sellman, Vice President and General Manager of the Civil Group at Mortenson, said in the announcement, “I see Built Robotics as the next generation of construction technology. Consistent with Mortenson’s history of ingenuity and innovation in construction, we are partnering with Built Robotics as they develop and deploy technology that enables autonomous heavy equipment operation. Mortenson and Built Robotics will work together with this technology on select renewable energy projects within our Wind and Solar groups. Our goal is to embrace the change that is happening in our industry to create value for our customers and opportunities for Mortenson and our team members.”

Sellman told Engineering News Record (ENR) that it’s a long-term agreement for the next few years to continue to expand the company’s deployment of autonomous equipment on renewable energy jobs. The company did its first project with Built Robotics in August of 2018, testing the equipment on wind farms in Kansas. Sellman said that the repetitive nature of some of the foundation work on these projects make them a good fit for autonomous equipment. ENR reported that the “machines us GPS tracking to remain within geo-fenced areas, and LIDAR provides collision avoidance and obstacle detection.”

Mortenson employees are excited to be implementing the technology. Molly Morgan, an equipment operator commented, “I’m excited about the potential for Built’s technology. Our top priority is safety — if the robot can work on steep slopes, or near unstable ground, or in challenging or risky situations, then we one-hundred percent should use it. And I’m excited to learn the new skills I’ll need to work with the technology.”

Stay up to date with the latest roofing technology news when you sign up for the RT3 SmartBrief e-newsletter.

Construction robotics market expected to reach $226 million by 2025

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards.

Construction work has traditionally been a very labor-intensive job. Increasing speed and productivity meant adding additional workers. With the labor shortage, it’s not that simple anymore and the industry is being forced to look for alternative methods. One of those is robotics.

A new report released by market intelligence firm Tractica shows that a growing number of construction companies are incorporating robots to solve the challenges of increasing productivity, efficiency and profits without adding workers. The report forecasts that the growing interest in construction robotics will drive an increase in market revenue from $22.7 million in 2018 to $226 million by 2025.

It is forecast that more than 7,000 construction robots will be in use on sites to handle a variety of construction tasks and demolition work. The biggest use is estimated to be for robot assistants on construction sites, followed by infrastructure robots, structure robots and finishing robots.

Tractica Senior Analyst Glenn Sanders says, “At this early stage in the construction robotics industry, a few companies are offering products for sale or lease. The main categories that are currently available include robots for demolition, bricklaying, drilling, 3D printing, and rebar tying, plus a few exoskeletons and assistant robots for lifting loads.”
Sanders adds that midsize and major construction companies are beginning to adopt these robots to solve issues related to labor shortages, safety, speed, accuracy, and integration with building automation and building information modeling (BIM).

According to Construction Dive, in order to maintain high standards of craftsmanship, some companies are taking a ‘cobot’ approach where they use collaborative robots to work with crews instead of taking their place. The collaborative robots take on tasks that are simpler, redundant and repetitive, freeing up employees to focus on more skilled work.

Stay up-to-date with the latest roofing technology news when you sign up for the RT3 SmartBrief e-news. 

How an idea at a homebuilders association meeting grew into a statewide skilled trades initiative

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

Iowa Skilled Trades was started in 2017 to address the labor shortage and encourage youth to consider a career in the trades.

We love learning about new initiatives that will have a positive impact on the future of the roofing industry so when RoofersCoffeeShop® partner, Vickie Sharples, shared with me an organization she came across on Instagram, we knew we wanted to know more about them. The group she found is called Iowa Skilled Trades.

A visit to their website told me that this group is “A Team of Industry Pros Bringing Initiatives, Education & Awareness to Skilled Trades in Iowa.” We wanted to know more – what were they doing, how were they doing it, how did they get started?
To answer these questions, I had the opportunity to have a phone interview with Brandon Patterson CSP, CGP, CAPS, Workforce Development for the Home Builders Association of Iowa (HBAI), the group behind the Iowa Skilled Trades initiative. Brandon only recently joined the staff at the HBAI after having served on the board and as a volunteer for many years. He grew up in a family plumbing business and that is how he came to be a board member at HBAI.

Brandon said that every year, they would get together for their board meetings and talk about the need for builders, tradesman and craftsman, but that no one ever really seemed to do anything about it. “We are fans of the programs out there that support the development of interest in the trades, such as SkillsUSA and Keep Craft Alive, but we felt like our investment in those programs wasn’t making an impact in Iowa and we wanted a local initiative,” explained Brandon.

“A few years ago, we kind of got this crazy idea to make something happen. We got together with our local industry and started privately funding a program at one of our schools here in Des Moines called Central Academy that does industry-specific training for high schoolers. It could be nursing, aviation, pathology, CSI but they didn’t have an organized skilled trades program, so we raised the money to provide the funding to establish a skilled trades curriculum there.”

Their goal was to raise $900,000 to cover the first three years, but after getting started they realized they were going to need a little more for classroom build outs and other costs. They ended up raising $1.6 million and the school now has plumbing, HVAC, drywall, flooring, welding, framing, roofing and more. “We are in the process of switching over the curriculum to NCCER, which is a more of a widely utilized curriculum by both unions and non-unions,” said Brandon. “Year one will be core classes and the second and third year is where they specialize in a trade.”

Brandon said that after they raised the money to get the program in place, he was frustrated that so many people had no idea that the program existed and wanted to get the word out. They invited Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame to visit and speak about not only the need for skilled trades but to talk about what he saw at Central Academy and other Iowa programs. They organized a fundraising event that brought more than 1,600 people together and raised enough money for the group to continue their momentum. They put the nearly $90,000 that the event raised into scholarship funds to help cover costs for smaller programs such as the Professional Women in Building’s summer day camps for kids.

Their next initiative is called “Build my Future.” These are hands-on construction career days that are being held in four cities across the state of Iowa. The goal is to reach 4,500 youth and adults in Sioux City, Des Moines, Cedar Rapid/Iowa City and Quad Cities. “It’s a career fair but it’s hands on,” explained Brandon. “We’ve got roofing, plumbing, carpentry, welding, heavy equipment and we also have AR and VR. We want people to understand there is a tech component to it as well.”

The kids come from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the day and then from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. the event features an adult job fair. “We partner with other groups including the FFA, Scouts, SkillsUSA and other groups to try to bring the kids through the doors. Our goal is to expand next year into two or three additional locations.”

“Like everything we do at Iowa Skilled Trades, this event is not just builder specific,” Brandon said. “We have collaborated with union shops, commercial and residential associations, department of education, workforce development programs and others to make sure we are representing everything this industry has to offer. We like to make sure we are making a big lasting impact on the students with our events and from there let the student decide which path best suits them.”

They’ve also gotten very involved in supporting Professional Women in Building, partnering with them to host educational events, an award-winning girls’ construction camp and to develop tool kits for schools – including visits to the schools by members.

Iowa Skilled Trades began in 2017 under the HBAI educational corporation and their goal is to establish themselves as a separate entity so they can expand their reach beyond the community of HBA members. In just two years’ time they have seen tremendous interest and success.

Learn more about them at www.iowaskilledtrades.com.

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop

Most contractors believe technology can help with risk management

Posted on

By NRCA.

A new report from Dodge Data & Analytics in partnership with Triax Technologies and the International Risk Management Institute shows about three-quarters of contractors believe technologies such as wearables and sensors can help them prevent occupational risks, including construction defects, general liability and property damage, according to www.constructiondive.com.

Among the 135 contractors surveyed, 80 were general contractors, construction managers or design-builders and 55 were specialty trade contractors.

The Using Technology to Improve Risk Management in Construction study found wearables—which include movement sensors, biometric monitoring devices and augmented reality headsets—were one of the top two emerging technology types that can add value regarding risk management.

One respondent said: “Going forward, it is going to be standard operating procedure that when you show up to work, you get issued your wearable, and go along as you’ve always done, but there’s data being collected that will be used to mitigate those risks.”

The second emerging technology was visual auditing, which involves pairing job-site photos or videos with artificial intelligence to detect deviations or risk sources—sometimes in real time—that a human worker may not notice.

Although nearly 60% of respondents are “highly engaged” with technology to conduct employee training, other areas of risk management lack wider technology adoption; technology use ranges from 44% to 47% for safety documentation, job hazard analysis and worker certifications.

Nearly all respondents said they want to be able to digitally collect and analyze safety and risk data, but more than one-third still do not. Resources appear to be the main barrier, and only 19% of respondents include data analytics as part of their budget.

The report found 90% of contractors do not specifically budget for innovation, which can lead to inconsistency in the way companies handle new technology expenses. Regarding technology, firms are most attracted to ease of use (79%), costs (73%) and the training or support that accompanies the product (51%).

Source: NRCA

Study suggests autonomous robots working together are the industry’s next big thing

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards.

Collective robotic construction (CRC) specifically concerns embodied, autonomous, multirobot systems that modify a shared environment according to high-level, user-specified goals.

A Science Robotics study published this March states that ‘the increasing need for safe, inexpensive, and sustainable construction, combined with novel technological enablers, has made large-scale construction by robot teams an active research area.’

The study notes that 54% of the human population currently live in cities and that number is expected to grow to 66% by 2050. The researchers feel that collective robotics can help meet the construction demand in the midst of an ongoing labor shortage. CRC could also make construction safer for workers, with the Department of Labor citing that 20% of all worker injuries occur in construction.

The researchers were inspired by the extensive use of collective construction in nature for building nests, protection barriers, traps and mobility scaffolds. Where animal construction relies on reactive behaviors and ‘low-bandwidth communication,’ robots can rely on high-resolution sensors, high-speed communication and GPS to communicate their exact location for completing specific tasks.

Construction materials used in CRC are divided into two categories – discrete and continuous. Discrete materials would be square, rectangular or homogenous bricks, struts and sandbags. Continuous materials would be things like two-component foam, concrete and fibers.

The study says that “challenges pertain to CRC hardware, especially in relation to coordination, communication, and multimodal sensing.” The robots need to be able to adequately communicate and coordinate with nearby robots for success. “As more advanced sensors such as radar, depth cameras, laser imaging and ranging systems, and GPS become cheaper and more readily accessible, they may play a bigger role in the field. ”

The researchers reference two published systems, UAVs and climbing robots,  that can be used to develop a metric that measures constructed volume relative to time, the number of robots used and the volumetric size of each robot. “A flying robot [UAV] has higher energy expenditure and lower payload than a climbing robot but may fly directly between material cache and deposition sites. Reversely, climbing robots can carry more but have to traverse through previous construction.”

The study is the first step in really determining how robotics can make an impact in construction. Further study is needed to develop performance metrics, evaluate the reliability of CRC and it’s ability to adapt to changes in movement, or expected behaviors of the other robots. There also needs to be more research in order to determine where humans fit into the CRC picture to oversee work, make adjustments and corrections when there is an error and in the support and maintenance of the robots.

Read the full study here. 

Get your employees on board with roofing technology

Posted on

By Meghan Breem for AccuLynx.

No one likes change. It takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to basically re-learn everything you already knew. But in the world of technology, change is inevitable. Everyday there’s some app or newfangled gadget designed to make like a little simpler. And the roofing industry is no exception.

While these changes for roofers are helpful (and necessary), some team members aren’t always the most excited when it comes to updating their processes. This kind of resistance can make it hard to fully implement new changes as well as affecting morale across the office. Here are some ways you can help implement these changes without scaring off employees.

Explain the Benefits
Before anyone can shoot down the idea of new technology, it’s important to be able to explain why you are making these changes. Employees may not see the need for any upgrades if they are unaware of current performance and overall business goals.

Take some time to prepare an outline of where the company currently is and what you would like to see in the future. That could mean anything from adding more locations to increasing revenue.
When you are able to provide your employees with these kinds of details, they are able to have a better understanding of just how important implementing roofing technology is for the business. You can also explain that the more the company succeeds, the more money that goes into their pockets.

Provide Education
Making sure your team understands how your new roofing software works is the first step to being successful. This can range from providing one on one training with team leaders for department specific functionality to educating the entire company on each feature.

Start off by addressing the updates to all of the employees who will be using the new software. Plan to give them a high-level demonstration so they are aware of how each part affects each team. You should then meet with each team separately to give them a more detailed description, go over functionality and explain how it will affect their day to day activities.

Promote Consistency
The hardest part of implementing new roofing technology is making sure everyone is using it. Some team members can easily fall into old habits, leaving more room for missing or duplicate information.
Maybe you have an office staff member who prefers tracking project statuses with Excel spreadsheets and isn’t comfortable with any type of tools that use automation. Remind them of the benefits by letting them know that while the process is changing, they no longer have to stress about errors, working late to meet deadlines, or waiting for someone to submit missing paperwork. All of these things are added in the system instantly.

Stay up to date on the latest roofing technology news when you sign up for Smart Brief.

Source: AccuLynx.

Hackers Take Over Construction Cranes

Posted on

By Karen L. Edwards, RoofersCoffeeShop® Editor.

Implementing technology on worksites has many advantages but its important to be aware of the risks and take steps to prevent malicious attacks.

Forbes reported recently that research hackers successfully took over a large construction crane using just a laptop, some code and some radio hardware. The hackers, Federico Maggi and Marco Balduzzi, saw their first successful takeover happen in Italy where they convinced a construction site manager to let them try to take over the crane.

The manager turned off the transmitter used for controlling the crane and put it into a stop state. The hackers went to work and seconds later they were operating the crane. Working on behalf of Japanese cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, the hackers made it into 14 locations where they successfully hacked into devices that controlled the cranes and also other equipment such as excavators, scrapers and other large machinery.

It became clear that the companies manufacturing the tools are going to need to take steps to secure the equipment from attacks. The hackers pinpointed a vulnerability in the communication between the equipment and the controllers. The data packers traveling through the airwaves had very little or even no security at all. In fact, the two stated in their paper about their findings that remote-controlled toy cars or remote door locks contained more security than the equipment controllers.  They even found that they could check traffic over various radio frequencies and detect what devices were currently in use and whether or not they were vulnerable to attack.

According to Forbes, there were seven manufacturers whose devices were vulnerable to the attackers: Saga, CircuitDesig, Juuko, Autec, Hetronic, Elca and Telecrane. This research presents a potentially very dangerous situation to construction sites and workers using automated equipment or remotely controlled devices.

It’s good to note that fixes have been rolling out over the last year thanks to Trend Micro’s work with the U.S. government-funded Computer Emergency Response Teams that are alerting manufacturers to the risks so they will patch the vulnerabilities.

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop