Trimble Construction

PATH TO PREFAB: Strategies for Scaling and Optimizing Your Prefabrication Services Consolis: All-in-one BIM Consolis: Strategies Driving Success Forward Clark Pacific: from Project to Product Clark Pacific: Strategies Driving Success PT Blink: Making Time PT Blink: Strategies Driving Success PT Blink: Strategies Driving Success 06 PT Blink: Making Time Strategies Driving Success Unleash the Power of Automation PT Blink's entire platform is built around just four components- making it ripe for automation. Designing a structure once involved a mindnumbing amount of manual cutting and pasting. Trimble Consulting helped PT Blink gather their historical data and use it to create an algorithm that can do what used to take two weeks in 30 seconds. Blink, it's done! Attitude First. Aptitude and Tech Second. "There's an attitude we look for when choosing manufacturing partners to join our ecosystem. It's almost like vetting employees; you're looking for culture and attitude first, and then capabilities and technology a very close second," Wayne Larsen, Director of Manufacturing, maintains."We automate the manufacturing process as much as possible, so we need companies that can participate in a file-to-factory process. We need manufacturers who are behind that concept and won't undermine the geometric certainty with assumptions or guesses." Manufacturers that are comfortable operating in a digital design environment, with paperless, automated processes, are PT Blink's ideal partners. "Generally they need to be a little smaller and younger in terms of company size so that they are agile enough to pivot to better processes and adapt to our methodology," continues Larsen. PT Blink has been very successful to date uncovering these manufacturers. "We lift rocks and find these companies that don't work in construction. You ask them why and a lot of the feedback is, 'I don't want to work in that environment. You don't get paid on time, they are always working you overtime and making it difficult,'" says Courtright. "Once we ask, 'What if you could manufacture this offsite to a certain design and once your design is measured, shipped, and delivered, you get paid?', then they say, 'That's a different model. That's a different way of working. That's not like normal construction.'" Embrace Tech at Every Stage As Director of Design, Stuart Shield thinks that, "A lot of what PT Blink is doing is actually very precise design work. Trimble's Tekla really lends itself to doing our initial backbone model. It has so much functionality, it's very accurate, it's got the ability to send information straight to a manufacturer. It's also got a lot of API capability, so it goes back to the idea of algorithmic design and parametric design by speeding up the design process and making sure we can get things done correctly." PT Blink's use of digital construction tools continues throughout the manufacturing phase as well. "We use Trimble Connect to assist with coordinating RFIs and design reviews, and to track and capture data through the process so we can constantly improve the way we manufacture," says Larsen. "And, we've started exploring other parts of Trimble- PowerFab or program management and logistics tracking and coordination of sequencing. On our current project we are using the XR10 for HoloLens 2 device to assist with the assembly process. We use augmented reality to stage, and to see components on site and how they interact with our structure." Outside the factory, PT Blink uses SiteVision to verify and troubleshoot when things don't look right. "Technology uptake on site, especially for steel erectors, has been somewhat slow," explains Bennet Dunne, Director of Integration. "But we are implementing review periods using that technology to verify onsite installations and also feed that back into the model from an as-built perspective to confirm tolerances and building structure pre- and post-pour. Because you can get a real-time dimensioned model, you have the comfort and confidence on the openings of what you are dealing with, say onsite windows or even wall framing or cladding. It saves us a lot of time on the site." Unusual Timing Can Be Everything Another aspect in which PT Blink seems to be singular is the 'when' of a deal. Unlike most other builders, they often approach companies when they've just completed their design and are sending it out for permitting. "We've had a lot of success asking someone, 'Hey, have you thought about building a different way? In 40 percent less time?'" says Courtright. "Not 5 percent like most people talk about. They are doing the same old thing a little faster with software and digitizing some blueprints. We're talking about doing it really differently. Obviously, that creates some tension and interest there. Then we say, 'Well, you have all the data we need. Give it to us, we'll put it through our engine and our people, and we'll come back and tell you exactly how we can do that.'" We're sort of like the antidote to vertically integrated construction. I'd argue that our model is a lot more flexible and scalable. Tim Courtright, Business Growth Strategist, PT Blink

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