When US-based general contractor The Walsh Group sought to mitigate risk and streamline document workflows across a $76 million highway expansion project, it turned to Bluebeam Revu for team iPads.
According to The Walsh Group, Revu for iPad has been a critical tool for the Atlanta, Georgia project, which includes construction of a road tunnel and other features with a view to relieving traffic congestion.
Revu for iPad, which includes features such as Studio, allows project leaders to easily manage and streamline complex documentation workflows across multiple staff and distributed job sites.
Karl Paulsen, a project superintendent for The Walsh Group, says Bluebeam Revu for iPad makes teamwork so much easier.
“I’ll get out of my truck and I’ll just grab my tablet and bring it with me. And if I need it, I pull it out, answer the questions as I’m out there, not having to call the office and have somebody bring a set of drawings out. I’ve got everything. It’s so streamlined,” Paulsen says.
For The Walsh Group, use of tablets in the field has saved $10,000-$15,000 just from a reduced need for printouts. Meanwhile, Revu for iPad both saves time and reduces the chance of human error — for example, by communicating information digitally across a distributed team.
“The improved organisation and clarity that Revu for iPad has brought to the project has made field workers more productive as they traverse a large civil jobsite without having to lug around unorganised rolls of paper plans,” the company says.
Orchestrating complex projects requires managers and engineers to work together to devise and communicate a solid plan. At The Walsh Group, this happens in a nearby office with project managers, engineers, superintendents and subcontractors on the job site.
In ‘pre-digital’ civil construction projects, multiple paper plans typically need need to migrate between workers in an office as well as to the physical project site and back. On-site professionals then move up and down in trucks, carrying piles of paper documents.
“Using Revu for iPad is the best thing that’s happened to me in the field when it comes to looking at drawings,” says Paulsen.
Paulsen also praises the efficiency of using project dashboards via the Revu for iPad app.
“That’s been very helpful with being able to hunt down information while you’re out there and not having to come back to the office and ask somebody to get on the server,” he says.
Revu for iPad enables a tablet-accessible document management workflow that incorporates other Bluebeam tools that help increase productivity and communication between workers in the field and in the office.
For instance, hyperlinked document sets enable field workers to find and access project details more easily, as the specifics of drawings can be revised and pushed out digitally to the field, as the updates are made.
At the Walsh Group, some project superintendants also use Studio Session functionality in Bluebeam Revu to mark up any work while it is being installed. Engineering teams can then go on the Session and see the new markup, with any new quantities.
