BIM on the Rocks

What Technology Do You Expect at Work?

When I graduated from college in 1998, I fully expected that wherever I wound up working, I would have a computer on my desk and it would be an integral part of my job. If I walked into a company for an interview and they didn’t have any computers in the office, I probably wouldn’t be interested.

I had grown up with computers in the house. I spent high school figuring out how to get Excel to do the menial number crunching and graphing for my biology, chemistry and physics homework so that I could see trends faster and explore more experiments. (That is what I told my Dad, anyway.) I was completely sold on the value of computers and would have been very frustrated by a firm that didn’t also see that value.

For my job now, I would feel lost without some sort of a smartphone, and liberal access to the internet during work hours, but I realize that not everyone in traditional engineering environments feel the same way.

I saw this video in my ENR links this morning about a ready-mix operator who couldn’t imagine doing his job without an iPad, and it made me wonder if things are changing in the fields of engineering and construction.

 

Is your firm embracing new technology? Obviously there is new new software to embrace. Civil 3D being the beginning, with momentum building quickly in the other pieces of the Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite, like Navisworks and 3DS Max Design, but what about tablets, smartphones, other mobile technology? Laser scanning equipment and software? Machine control construction? What are you really seeing out there? Leave me a comment and start the conversation.

What do you think of the vision of a tech savvy, mobile enabled design process like the one in this video? Autodesk BIM for Infrastructure: Sustainable Cities

Finishing a Project 60 Days Ahead of Schedule, you say?

I didn’t even need to read the story on our Civil 3D customer success story site. The City of Riviera Beach had me at their plan and profile sheets. Look at this- I would mat, frame and hang this baby on my office wall.

Civil 3D helped us complete the design 60 days ahead of schedule and save $30,000 in design fees through increased productivity and efficiency. We expect to save even more each year and plan on using Civil 3D on many more projects.
—Ricardo Wiswell, Engineering Technician, The City of Riviera Beach

The city had funds from Communality Development Block Grants to provide road rehabilitation to neighborhoods in need. The project replaces water lines, subgrade, base rock, pavement, curbs and sidewalks.

One of the things that stands out to me is that they acknowledge that they hired their reseller to do some setup and training during the project, which paid off well.

The City of Riviera Beach (pdf - 895Kb)