Orange Business Services has developed an IoT system for Australian construction company McConnell Dowell to gather data from heavy machinery and other assets to boost operational efficiency and reduce costs.
Orange Business Services says it created an IoT platform to collect, report and visualise real-time information over a private LoRaWAN network to digitise manual and paper-centric processes and remove manual tasks from the construction site. Its parent company, Orange, joined the LoRaWAN Alliance board in 2016, after building a network throughout France in 2015.
“Prior to this smart approach, McConnell Dowell could only access reports that were manually collated from physically captured data, which was both time consuming and inconsistent,” Orange said.
“Via real time dashboards, McConnell Dowell can collect telemetry data such as machine movements and track assets onsite allowing project teams to assess efficiency of machine use and report on individual asset utilisation.
“McConnell Dowell can also track material such as concrete panels from the manufacturer through transportation and installation. On site they can then identify each individual panel and take smart decisions, avoiding incorrect placement, rework and project delays.”
Orange said further use cases, business applications and rollouts on more construction sites were planned.
“The construction industry faces significant business and technology challenges. These include equipment and skilled labour shortages, increasingly short project schedules and rising costs of infrastructure delivery. IoT will allow construction sites to leverage real-time data feeds to tackle these issues head on.”
McConnell Dowell’s alliance systems manager, Rhys Craigie, said the company was working with Orange to develop addition use cases for the system. “Together, we are future-proofing our business through agile, scalable and smart solutions that streamline business insights.”
