Artificial intelligence brings forth new possibilities for material hauls and quantification

According to IBISWorld, the dump truck industry in the United States was market-sized at $19.3B in 2020. The asset utilization of dump trucks drive forward heavy civil construction projects as they routinely deliver earth material requirements.

Reliance on outdated methods, such as capturing progress via payment records, prevent contractors from knowing the true progression of their projects. Consequently, projects often run over time and over budget.

McKinsey reports that, “98 percent of mega projects that suffer cost overruns of more than 30 percent, and 77 percent of mega projects are completed at least 40 percent late.”

Despite the emergence of digital solutions, contractors are still left in the dark when it comes to their projects’ statuses.

Oversight of E-Ticketing

Alain Waha, Head of Digital Transformation at international design firm BuroHappold Engineering, argues that, “Technology providers, like construction businesses, are too document-centric and too focused on supporting existing industry business models and processes.” Consequently, “Most technologies simply help us make the same mistakes faster.”

E-ticketing platforms are an example of a document-centric solution. Paper tickets have been a legacy method of tracking the quantity, type, and timestamps of material moved by dump trucks. In recent years, e-ticketing has emerged to deliver time and cost savings in materials transport to combat headaches associated with paper ticket processing.

However, there are significant disadvantages. Most e-ticketing platforms not only leave contractors with a sea of raw data, but its input requirements also fail to comply with safety considerations.

Many e-ticketing platforms are entirely reliant on user input to capture and confirm load events. Whether it’s button clicking at site arrival and departure, image-uploading of paper tickets, or other manual interactions on a mobile app, these requirements are distractions to drivers and on-field personnel, diverting their attention from their main objective – the safe execution of work. Moreover, this method of capturing data is highly prone to user error.

Gaining Cost Controls, Accurately and Safely

HaulR challenges contractors to take a step back from document inefficiencies and ground their focus to the holistic problem: How might they gain adequate controls on their projects, accurately and safely?

The cycle time of construction equipment for earthwork operations notably has a significant impact on the overall productivity of the project. By understanding the elements that directly impact a dump truck’s cycle time, contractors can accurately quantify the haul cycle time and implement strategies in order to decrease it.

True Parsing of Information

With the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is now possible for contractors to view the accurate breakdowns of a dump truck cycle time – from loading, staging, dumping, idling, and true travel times – at a glance. This true parsing of information is revolutionary for project managers to conduct a more robust cycle time analysis. In comparison, paper and digital tickets retrieve basic information, presenting arrival and departure times at loading and dump locations.

Flagging On-Field Changes

Additionally, AI can flag on-field changes, whether that’d be dump trucks directed to a different dump or source site or transferred to a different job, which requires an alternative cost code. This type of notification enables project managers to know what is happening without reviewing the live or historical movements of individual haul vehicles. As a result, they have accurate cost allocations for their projects without having to decipher this insight at month end reconciliation. The flagging of on-field changes also serves as unequivocal confirmation that a load has been dropped at an approved facility when contractors are dealing with contaminated soil.

Passive Collection of Information

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced an opportunity for users to leverage mobile applications for their scope of work. Although most applications are built to require user input, it is not impossible for technology providers to configure mobile applications to passively capture load contributions. This means that a driver does not need to interact with their device at any point while they are on the road nor in the field. Removing the reliance of user input allows contractors to retrieve accurate GPS information at all times – even when drivers encounter little to no connectivity zones.

Fulfilling the Need for a Project Management SaaS

Scott Perdue is the Operations Manager at B&B Contracting. As a leading civil construction contractor in Vancouver, British Columbia, B&B Contracting remains highly capable and reputable for bringing project completion on schedule and on budget while keeping both safety and quality top of mind.

“Up until now, there hasn’t been a trucking management solution that is project management-oriented. By partnering with HaulR, we can identify what happens in the field each day across various projects, account for accurate material productions, and have a firmer handle on cost controls. Ultimately, we get the full picture that isn’t captured on paper nor digital tickets.”