Minimizing Paper-Based Processes
June 01, 2009
Do you still use paper forms to enable the QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) process? Technology can help reduce this waste. In fact, one contractor has found electronic checklists and automated reporting functionality can help meet the quality assurance demands of green construction, while also improving other business processes.
Skanska USA Building Inc., www.skanska.com, Parsippany, N.J., is now using Vela Systems’, www.velasystems.com, Burlington, Mass., Checklists and Issues & Punchlists software.
This software replaces the traditional paper-based QA/QC methods with electronic checklists and automated reporting. Managers in the field can use this software on a tablet PC with a digital pen, marking up responses. Ricardo Santana, vice president of operations, Skanska, says this technology has improved collaboration and meets the demands of ‘green’ construction.
“Work of this complexity requires very detailed and time-consuming communication from the field back to the architects and designers to make sure that the project meets the design intent,” says Santana. “With Vela Systems, we are achieving these goals and aiming towards minimizing or eliminating punchlist-type work at the end. What’s more, we’re able to do it with consistency, without using paper, being more efficient, and thinking green at the same time.”
Skanska is using this technology on a 126,376-sq.ft., elementary school project in Florida, which has photovoltaic panels on the roof and solar-powered lighting in the parking garage. With this software, decisions regarding the facility were made during the design and planning stages rather than during construction.
Beyond reducing paper, additional benefits of the technology include time savings, more quality control, increased collaboration, and minimized downtime in the field.