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The jobsite of tomorrow

March 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The jobsite of tomorrow

The following is the first in a series of posts providing insights into how trends on display at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will drive innovation in the built environment.

The evolution of technology continues to accelerate, and with it the impact it has on how we design and construct the built environment. McKinstry is already using many newer technologies. We use building information modeling (BIM) for 3-D modelling and detailing, digitally enhanced pre-fabrication and kitting in our state-of-the-art shop. On the job site, our use of collaboration software and on-site data vaults—and even moving to handheld devices for reviewing specs, plans and creating as-builts—means we never need to go back to the job trailer. Technology has dramatically improved how we deliver work and there is no end in sight.

CES 2018 showcased several emerging technologies that portend the future of construction and will be implemented on the jobsite of tomorrow.

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: 3-D Printing, 5G, AR, BIM, CES, Drones, Jobsite of tomorrow, Technology, VR, Wearable technology

Driving toward a new tomorrow

November 15, 2017 by 1 Comment

Driving toward a new tomorrow
3dprinter

As we approach 2020, 3-D printing will become more prevalent in construction. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Change is inevitable. You can either sit back and let the chips fall where they may, or you can step up, take charge and make change happen. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’ve never been one to sit back.

The construction industry is plagued by a slow rate of change. Productivity in construction has remained flat while other sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and technology, have seen exponential productivity growth. Dr. Barbara Bryson, author of The Owner’s Dilemma: Driving Success and Innovation in the Construction Industry, drove this point home at a recent gathering when she said, “There’s a freight train of disruption headed our way so designers, builders and owners better change the way they work, and fast.”

At McKinstry, we want to be driving that freight train and are preparing to do so. I’m personally inspired and energized by the innovations we see on the horizon in the next five, 10 and 15 years. These innovations will significantly reframe how we design, build and operate the built environment, and will define the cities of the future. McKinstry is already hard at work defining our pathway to this future.

Let me share with you some of the ground-shaking trends we see roaring down the tracks.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: Adaptive Reuse, Building Technology, Cross-Laminated Timber, Future, Innovation, Modular, Modularization, Robotics, Smart Buildings, Technology

How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators and owners—and what to do about it

April 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment

How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators and owners—and what to do about it

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For 16 years, McKinstry has proudly delivered a work order maintenance management solution and service—InfoCentre—to help property managers, facility engineers, and building owners deliver faster service to their tenants, increase operating income, and reduce facility operating costs.

Ahead of our “InfoCentre 4.0” launch this summer, McKinstry Account Executive Alex Ortiz penned the first of a two-part series for industry website AutomatedBuildings.com.

That story—How an Inefficient Work Order Management Process Hurts Tenants, Operators, and Owners – and What to Do About It (Part I)—was featured in the April 2017 edition of AutomatedBuildings.com and is reproduced in its entirety below:

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Filed Under: Better Buildings, Big Ideas, Home, Occupants & Operators, Technology Tagged With: Issue Management, Operators, Owners, Tenants, Work Order Management

Everyday Innovation, Part 1

January 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Everyday Innovation, Part 1

Innovation is one of McKinstry’s core values.

Throughout 2016, McKinstry’s Western Washington Region organized an “Everyday Innovation” campaign that set out to share innovations and recognize innovators company-wide. We chose this name for the campaign because even smaller-scale or “everyday” innovations can make a big difference in improving the way we work.

All said, the organizers of the campaign have received more than 60 submissions that highlight an impressive array of creative thinking and have sparked discussions about innovation throughout McKinstry.

While the campaign is ongoing, we’ll be featuring nine of the very best innovation submissions we’ve received thus far in a series of Everyday Innovation posts. This post features the first three submissions.

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: Data, Data Vault, Everyday Innovation, Innovation, Multi-trade racks, Prefabrication, Technology

Say goodbye to wasted water: How smart water meters help us conserve

January 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Say goodbye to wasted water: How smart water meters help us conserve
Dripping faucet

Photo by r. nial bradshaw, via Flickr.

We live in a thirsty world, but our water supply is dripping through our fingers.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), dripping faucets and leaking fixtures alone can waste more than a trillion gallons of water annually nationwide, and billions (if not trillions) are wasted through aging infrastructure. With drought looming in the West, many states are facing a serious water crisis.

Unfortunately, we don’t really know how much water is being consumed or how much is lost in transit. However, “smart” water meters and their infrastructure can help establish an accurate baseline across an entire city or utility. This can help reduce water waste, identify leaks and generate vital usage data.

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Filed Under: Home, Technology Tagged With: Advanced Metering Infrastructure, Advanced Water Meters, Automated Meter Reading, municipal government, Networked Cities, Water, Water Conservation, Water Meters

Issue management: Are you paying for a tech tool or investing in an operational solution?

December 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Issue management: Are you paying for a tech tool or investing in an operational solution?
InvestSparkPic

Photo Credit: LendingMemo, via Flickr.

Like offensive linemen and line cooks, facility managers only get noticed when something goes wrong. That’s why they need the right tools to properly care for equipment, provide oversight of vendors and ensure that tenants remain happy.

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: Efficiency, Facility Management, Investing, Issue Management, Technology

LED streetlights need smart controls

November 16, 2015 by 1 Comment

Difference in LED vs. high-pressure sodium streetlights.

Before and after Los Angeles replaced their high-pressure sodium streetlights with LEDs. © COPYRIGHT 2015 CITY OF LOS ANGELES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

LEDs aren’t just for student science projects anymore.

Out on our city streets, LED streetlights are an emerging technology that use significantly less energy, offer improved light quality, and last longer. On an apples-to-apples, technology-to-technology comparison, LED streetlights easily beat out all the other streetlighting technologies.

No wonder, then, that cities nationwide are beginning to replace their streetlights with LEDs. However, many cities are missing out on the real opportunity with LED streetlights: smart controls and the potential for a networked city.

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Filed Under: Home, Technology Tagged With: cities, controls, Energy Efficiency, LED streetlights, municipal government

5 key takeaways from the DOE’s Quadrennial Technology Review

October 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

5 key takeaways from the DOE’s Quadrennial Technology Review
Sun shining off a building

Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) may be a mouthful, but here’s an easier way to think of it: it’s an important report covering energy technology that comes out every four years.

McKinstry is always on the lookout for the latest and greatest research and thinking in our field, so we’ve been taking a look at the QTR ever since it was released a few weeks ago.

Feel free to chime in with your own opinions and questions in the comments, but here are our five main takeaways from the whopper, 505-page document:

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Technology Tagged With: Data, DOE, Energy Efficiency, Power Grid, QTR, Waste

Tunable LED lighting is illuminating the future

August 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment

From the moment you wake up to the moment your head hits the pillow, there’s one constant in your life—light. Whether it’s natural or artificial, in your home or your office, fluorescent or LED, light is always surrounding you.

For being so omnipresent in our lives, it’s remarkable how lighting isn’t always focused on what’s optimal for people. Surprisingly often, the various lights in our lives are too harsh, too dim, building-centric, or one-size-fits-all.

One company—PLANLED, based in Federal Way, Wash.—is betting that people fed up with inadequate illumination will embrace the new concept of human-centric lighting (HCL). PLANLED distributes, markets, and sells a variety of different HCL solutions for indoor, outdoor/sports, and industrial settings.

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Filed Under: Better Buildings, Big Ideas, Home, Occupants & Operators, Technology Tagged With: Color Temperature, Energy Efficiency, Human-Centric Lighting, Kelvin, LED, Lighting, Tunable LED, Washington

Performance contracting: A strategy to address water woes in the West

August 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Performance contracting: A strategy to address water woes in the West
DroughtPhotoWP

Photo by Anthony Quintano, via Flickr.

As raging wildfires, barren fields, and dried-up waterways continue to dominate the landscape of the American West, it’s abundantly clear that drought and water scarcity are critical issues that require immediate action.

While there’s no comprehensive solution to the current drought, organizations and individuals throughout the region are looking to use every possible strategy to mitigate the drought’s impacts.

McKinstry explored how using a simple yet innovative procurement mechanism—performance contracting—could quickly help address water conservation in the seven Colorado River Basin states (AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, UT, WY). What we found was that schools and public governments in those states could save big.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Big Ideas, Home, Occupants & Operators, Technology Tagged With: Advanced Water Meters, Arizona, California, Colorado, Colorado River Basin, Drought, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Savings, Nevada, New Mexico, Performance Contracting, Utah, Water Conservation, Wyoming

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