TrenLot Selected as Top 100 Rising Startup to Compete for 7th Annual Startup of the Year Award at SOTY Summit 19
TrenLot, Inc. to compete in Memphis against top startups from around the world.
TrenLot, Inc. announced that it has been invited to participate in the 7th Annual Startup of the Year Global Competition & Summit from October 14 -16. Taking place in Downtown Memphis and powered by Established and Start Co., the seventh annual installment of the event will see 100 startups from around the globe to showcase their game-changing products and services to seasoned investors, corporate accelerators and innovators, and industry leaders as they compete for a coveted spot in the Top 5 and up to $100K in investments.
TrenLot, Inc. will join the ranks of great companies that have passed through their events over the past decade such as GrubHub, ShearShare, Maxwell Health, Groupon and Uber.
“We are pleased and honored to be selected for the semifinals of Startup of the Year Award” said Greg Howard, CEO & Co-founder. “We have the right team with the right product in the right market at the right time. ” Jeff Urmston, CTO & Co-founder said, “We couldn’t be happier, we have big ambitions to grow both our product and business.”
TrenLot, Inc. will compete in a private pitch round, showcase their innovation at the SOTY Showcase on 10/15 at AutoZone Park, and if selected as one of the Top 5 Finalists, present on 10/16 at the iconic Peabody Hotel Memphis Rooftop/Skydeck on stage to esteemed judges such as , the Summit audience, and the Memphis community.
“This is a great opportunity to get the word out about our flagship product CrewBuilder to potential partners and customers. We’ve been working hard to build an amazing product that solves real problems in the construction industry, I can’t wait to showcase TrenLot, Inc. in front of this global network of investors, influencers, and to the global startup community,” said Greg Howard, CEO & Co-founder.
Startup of the Year is powered by Established, a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), Established leverages decades of experience to help collaborators further (or create) brands & accomplish important goals.
STARTUP OF THE YEAR MEDIA CONTACT: Jessica Boone, Director of Marketing & Events, Jessica@est.us
Why you should care about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Construction Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies are being used to create a wave of smarter construction technology products designed to improve productivity (reduce costs) and reduce risk improving profitability.
The emerging wave of construction technologies using AI and ML fall into two benefit categories, improving productivity and reducing risk. Productivity improvements enable existing office and field workers to get more done, in part by automating processes where possible. Some people have voiced concerns that AI and ML technologies will replace office and field workers. I don’t believe this will be the case. The simple and often used analogy is the evolution of hand tools. Power tools didn’t replace workers, they made them way more productive. AI and ML technologies are used to create new types of tools designed to make your day to day operations easier and more productive. The new class of AI and ML powered software and hardware is the next leap in engineering and construction productivity.
The Basics
What is machine learning (ML)? In short, it’s a field of artificial intelligence that uses statistical techniques to give computer systems the ability to learn from data. These systems improve on a specific task over some amount of time. The key requirement for machine learning is data, and lots of it. For construction, examples of ML range from project schedule optimization to project site image processing for safety and other yet to be thought of things too. What is artificial intelligence (AI)? AI has a broad definition and is generally defined as any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of successfully achieving its goals. In short, it could be lots of stuff from smart support bots to self-guided missiles. What is natural language processing (NLP)? I came across a really good article on VentureBeat by guest author Arthur Coleman the outlines when natural language processing pays off with Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). As the article mentioned, NLP has up until recently been extremely difficult to get right. Basically, NLP is a system that listens to someone talk and attempt to interpret what was said. NLP generally identifies the “intent” of the speaker and enable that intent to be used digitally. If I say “I’m hungry”, an NLP would listen and process my language and identify my intent as “hungry”. What’s done with the intent after is entirely up to the system programmers. This is how Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa work.
Why use these technologies in construction software?
Simply put, to make your job easier. AI and ML are tools that help with daily operations to reduce errors, save time & money, and reduce risk. The smart folks at McKinsey & Company recently wrote a report, Artificial intelligence: Construction technology’s next frontier.
They are basically saying that AI and ML are tools that can be implemented in software and hardware that will benefit “stakeholders across the project lifecycle—including contractors, operators, owners, and service providers.” We agree. Advances have been made on the job site from autonomous heavy earth moving equipment to robots that monitor safety.
The industry continues to move from a paper process to the digital realm. With that migration comes a learning curve. People have to learn how to use new systems and software. We know this is a challenge, construction companies today don’t have the time to pull people off projects to train them for a week on how to use new software. There’s no wonder why construction companies consistently rate “Ease of Use” as one of the top criteria for selecting software. If the software is too difficult to use, it won’t get used.
CrewBuilder uses AI and ML as tools to lower the learning curve and help people start using the software with little or no required training. We made it super easy to use CrewBuilder by incorporating a natural language processor and AI so all you need to do is simply tell CrewBuilder what you want to do and it does it. It’s kind of like Alexa for construction. The digital assistant continually learns and improves with use. The more it’s used, the better it gets.
We call our digital assistant Bob. We’ve entertained a number of acronyms for what B.O.B could be (Brain on Board, Building on Business, Best of Breed, Battery Operated Builder, Building Operations Buddy, etc…), honestly we just wanted something simple. Maybe we’ll have a contest for the best BOB definition someday soon.
You can ask Bob in CrewBuilder questions on how to use it, for example, if you are a field worker you can ask “What am I supposed to do today?” and Bob will show you. Part of our goal was to create integrated systems that understands what you want to do, to make sure you never have to go hunting obscure documentation to figure out how to do something in our software. Instead, just ask.
Part of the intent is to reduce the amount of times you have to call in for support. We are happy to help customers use CrewBuilder, but if you’re like me and are impatient at times, I want my questions answered now and don’t want to wait for support.
In addition to NLP, we use ML for scheduling and capacity management. Scheduling crews can be challenging and time consuming. We talked with one company that had 27 crews and 6 Superintendents to see how they schedule. Every Thursday, the Superintendents take turns filling out a spread sheet starting at 10 am. By the time all the horse trading is done about which Foreman has which crew, and who is working on which project, the schedule often is finalized around 10 pm. That’s a long day.
Scheduling is an area CrewBuilder uses ML to create an initial crew schedule based on experience, skills, and project requirements. We call it Thinking Schedules because we built intelligence tools like conflict checkers (double booking, missing certifications or skills) and capacity planning on a short- and long-term basis.
Scheduling is part art and part science, very few schedules are perfect the first time. With CrewBuilder, the schedule is created based on project requirements, so at least you know you won’t double book anyone or send someone out with the wrong certifications, credentials, or skills. Starting off with a known “Good” crew schedule saves a ton of time before the crew swapping starts (because some Superintendents have a favorite crew or two).
There are other areas we are developing AI and ML tools in CrewBuilder that help make projects more successful. We think that AI and ML are mature technologies that enable better tools for construction companies operate more efficient and profitably.
You might be asking why we use drone images. The images and video produced by construction drones are being used in AI and ML applications by a number of companies.
I get it, it’s tough managing crews and teams in the field. Even with all the new technology available to us, there are still a large number of problems that you have to react to on a daily basis. Every contractor with crews we talked to has some degree of these challenges managing people in the field.
What you need to know about paying too much for insurance
One of the things every smart company must have is insurance, it’s simply the cost of doing business. Why do we need it? It’s simply to protect you by reducing the risk to a company if something goes wrong. Most contractors have general liability, worker’ compensation and some commercial auto insurance. When you purchase an insurance policy, the underwriter of the policy will have a range of questions that helps the underwriter understand how risky your organization will be to insure. The underwriter is the company that will guarantee payment in case of some damage or loss, they take on the financial risk for liability to your company. Continue reading “Why Most Construction Contractors Are Paying Too Much for Insurance”
Capacity planning is at the core of good project management, having the right resources scheduled at the right time can make the difference between a profitable project and a loss. Keeping everything together is challenging, but it’s required in order to keep your projects and company profitable. Continue reading “Capacity Planning in Construction: don’t get caught with your pants down”
Every manager is responsible for setting and enforcing business culture expectations. At the top of every successful company’s priority list is safety. Setting a company culture starts at the top and starts with clear policies and procedures that are supported and enforced all the way down the line. Having the right tools to keep clear communications between the office and field are a fundamental requirement for promoting safety. Even with State and OSHA safety requirements, it seems inevitable that accidents happen that could have been avoided. Construction deaths from injury are up from 937 in 2015 to 991 in 2016 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue reading “Developing a Culture of Safety in Construction Reduces Costs and Increases Profit”
Over the last 20 years, the construction industry sector has only managed a 1% increase in productivity (McKinsey). You are probably losing money right now on one or more projects. We can do better with the right tools and smarter scheduling.
Most of us use the philosophy ‘use the right tool for the job’ as often as we can. It means we want to be efficient at getting the job done right the first time. Even with this focus, 26% of construction workers say they are frustrated by the lack of tools they need to do their jobs better (TINYpulse). When it comes to managing crews and teams, this simple philosophy can be modified to ‘use the right person for the job’ equipped with the right tools of course. According to KPMG, over 50% of construction professionals report one or more underperforming project in a given year. Understanding the resources your people represent helps you focus on ways to reduce possible project losses by proactively managing people and equipment resources. Continue reading “Your Employees Are the Advantage”
How Technology Can Reduce Complexity and Increase Profit on Construction Projects
It is said a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s truer in construction. What’s the first image that comes to mind when you hear the words ‘construction site’? The mental picture summoned up generally looks something like an excavated site with people working on it wearing helmets and goggles. This mental image reflects the external characteristics of the contractors working on the site, the business and operation engines behind the businesses are much more obscured. Behind this image are project managers and superintendents that manage the workflow, many with spreadsheets and good old-fashioned notepads. These front line mangers often don’t know if a project is on track to be profitable until the accountant runs the numbers at the end of the month. Continue reading “How Technology Can Reduce Complexity and Increase Profit on Construction Projects”
Anywhere in business today, security awareness includes the digital side of operations. If your devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets) are kept up to date with the latest software, you are doing good. Hackers will first look for targets of opportunity, those devices that are easiest to break into. Many times, digital ‘break ins’ happen because software was not updated and kept current. Keep in mind that you need to regularly update software and apps such as:
iOS or Android smart phone software
Apps on your devices (computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc…)
Operating system on your computer
Email and Internet browser software
Any security software such as antivirus, firewall, antimalware, antispyware
Any Adobe software (Flash has had ongoing security issues for a long time)
Protecting yourself and your business data requires a bigger picture approach. Hackers will target devices and accounts (online) that are easiest to break into. Don’t make it easy for them to break into your system. Keep the bar high enough so they move on to another easier target. Continue reading “Are Your Computers Vulnerable?”
Effective Ways of Reducing Construction Project Costs
Although the construction business is touted as a largely profitable one, bad planning and poor project management can be costly. Understanding and managing your costs is critical for a profitable outcome. Construction project leaders need credible information on a real time basis in order to make the best project related decisions possible. Real time project information enables construction companies flexible and proactive project management. A successful and profitable project at it’s heart are a bundle of well informed decisions that mitigate risk. Continue reading “Effective Ways of Reducing Construction Project Costs”
Scheduling is an area CrewBuilder uses ML to create an initial crew schedule based on experience, skills, and project requirements. We call it Thinking Schedules because we built intelligence tools like conflict checkers (double booking, missing certifications or skills) and capacity planning on a short- and long-term basis.
