Improving production workflows and leading projects with data are solid foundation for the construction business all over the world. In May 2022, AF Gruppen, the second-largest civil engineering and construction company in Norway, signed a group-level agreement with Sitedrive. The Sitedrive solution was chosen for its excellent usability and design by a company that is deeply rooted in the construction business itself.

As a turnkey contractor, AF Gruppen covers the entire value chain from development and planning to building. Each project is unique, but what they all have in common is to aim for a fluent workflow between the staff and subcontractors. During the last three years, in addition to developing its Lean methods, the company has tried several digitals tools for improvement.

“Until now, we haven’t had a comprehensive and up-to-date general view on our project status, thus managing information flow was slow and required a lot of manual work. Also, our previous applications were complex and hard to use. All that changed when we found Sitedrive,” AF Gruppen’s Project Manager Bo Christian Trollsås says.

“What also convinced us is that Sitedrive is no ordinary software provider. They have built the platform based on concrete experience and furthermore, understand our business,” adds AF Gruppen’s CDO Jørgen Skovly.

Experiencing Sitedrive

Sitedrive was put to its first real test at a large building site in Bispevika, where a huge group of site management and subcontractors worked together. As a genuine partner, and more than a software provider, Sitedrive’s experts were also present. 

“What amazed me there was how committed and welded the group they had on site was. To me, it clearly showed that they were doing a lot of things right,” Sitedrive’s Customer Success Specialist Tuomas Hakulinen says.

Sitedrive soon proved itself. It became clear that the solution was something that both the AF Gruppen’s managers and the construction workers actually liked. 

“When people see that a new digital solution helps succeed in their work, they genuinely want to use it. This is crucial, and one of the first times it has happened for us at a construction site. Sitedrive has also increased people’s interest towards project planning, which is great. In addition, it’s a next step towards takt production and better use of Lean methodologies,” says Bo Christian.

“For us, it’s inspiring to work with AF Gruppen. They are a modern construction company who understand the power and potential of data,” Sitedrive Sales Director Sakari Pesonen says.

Towards more efficient and sustainable future

Since Bispevika, Sitedrive has been used on several AF Gruppen projects and expanded into new ones with good reason. Monitoring common schedules is now continuous and all parties stay up to date with the situation. On the Sitedrive mobile app, the construction workers get to see what they need to do next, on the spot, and acknowledge their work as started and completed. In addition, the application provides a fast communication channel for everyone involved. Sitedrive also works on both desktop and mobile devices, helping the users wherever information is needed. As the different parties stick to a common and accurate schedule, production flows efficiently. This means fewer surprises and more cost efficiency. Also, synchronous production makes construction more open and transparent, which is in the common interest of all parties and the base for developing new business ecosystems, for example.

“In the long run, as we gather more and more data and combine data sources, we can understand new things, further improve our processes, and move towards data-driven project execution. With Sitedrive’s support and open APIs, there is a bright future ahead,” Jørgen says.

CUSTOMER BENEFITS

• A human-centric, easy-to-use tool that people want to use: staff motivation and efficiency increase, and co-operation between stakeholders improves.
• Increased competitiveness: shorter overall construction schedule, better quality and more customer satisfaction as the processes evolve.
• Open APIs: the opportunity to integrate with other information systems to create more value.

Would you like to know how Sitedrive can help your company?