On February 3, 2021, George White, CEO and co-founder of HeadLight, participated in an expert panel hosted by the Northern California Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA). The webinar was focused on current industry challenges around advanced digital construction management systems and the integration of technologies in infrastructure construction management. The event included a diverse and experienced panel of industry leaders, including Randy Iwasaki, previously the Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), and experts from Field Control Analytics and Autodesk.

The speakers shared their various perspectives on how the infrastructure construction industry suffers from the following common challenges:

  • Largely paper-based reporting
  • Multiple data systems
  • Lack of system interconnectivity
  • Disorganized data
  • Reporting administrative fatigue

Each of these challenges makes it difficult for construction owners to efficiently collect deep insights across their portfolio of projects, jeopardizing on-time completion and on-budget performance.

A key theme highlighted throughout the webinar was the variety of uses for mobile technology for data gathering and how cutting-edge innovation can further the advancement of construction and infrastructure processes. During the webinar, George White demonstrated the immeasurable value of visual-based inspection technology by sharing how it is being leveraged and how he expects it will continue to evolve and advance. Panelist Randy Iwasaki, a long-time HeadLight partner and user, commented that “The more I wrote during the day the more I had to type up in the night,” in reference to the CCTA’s process prior to implementing HeadLight. He noted this resulted in the collection of far fewer data observations on projects due to the manual nature of the process.

California Transportation Agencies

Multiple California transportation agencies utilize HeadLight to support their construction inspection programs, including one overseeing a major pavement rehabilitation project through five California cities with a budget of $134.5 million. A long-time user of innovative technology, the agency leading this effort turned to HeadLight to help manage the significant undertaking. With several stakeholders and cities needing to be constantly informed of progress, a cloud-based, real-time feed of observations led to improved efficiency across the project and an increase in the number of observations shared.

Use of HeadLight led to the following improvements:

  • 48% reduction in resident engineer time spent searching for project data
  • 85% of daily reports available the same day
  • 100x increase in objective data
  • 100% of inspectors on the project reported better quality of life

HeadLight organizes the collection of media-rich jobsite data, which typically resides in various systems and tools – including paper-based processes – and displays it through a platform that sorts, analyzes and aligns the incoming data to enable consistency and customizable reporting.

The Value of Analytics in Infrastructure Construction

The use of innovation in an industry that hasn’t always been quick to adopt new tools has allowed for efficient, seamless updates, the ability to quickly address challenges that arise, and a library of valuable historical data. Everyone from the construction manager to owner executives can access real-time information about a project and understand the materials used, the labor required to support the project, and if it is currently on schedule.

“HeadLight has been a game-changer for preparing stakeholders updates. I easily scroll through observations of the project and can put an update together that is mostly pictures and more effective than what I’ve prepared in the past. A picture is worth a thousand words and HeadLight facilitates it.”

– Director of Construction

 

Infrastructure construction innovations provide analytics and real-time data against jobsite performance thresholds, assessing trends over time and transforming information into insights, enhancing decision-making and improving overall project delivery. Listen to the speakers share their various perspectives on the evolution of the infrastructure construction industry.