HAWKINS CONSTRUCTION

Determining whether a construction project is proceeding as planned or whether the current activity will finish early or late is very valuable in construction management.

If it becomes clear that an activity will finish sooner than planned, then subcontractors for the next activity can be notified in order to take advantage of the extra time available (to mitigate against later delays). Hawkins has partnered with SimCon, which includes key members of ORUA, to simulate a key construction site activity, piling operations. Hawkins and SimCon are experimenting with the use of the simulation model to better estimate the completion time of piling. The model’s estimates update as the piling operations proceed and data on uncertain durations, such as drilling time, becomes available. Using SimCon’s simulation models, developed with ORUA technology, Hawkins can find a sequence for the piling operations that both enables the next activities to begin as soon as possible and rapidly gives an accurate estimate of completion time of the piling operations.

Linking their simulation model to real-time data enables SimCon to provide Hawkins with a digital twin of the piling operations. “Fast forwarding” the digital twin provides predictions of completion times and delays, and enables mitigation strategies for delays to be explored. “Rewinding” enables the investigation of previous delays and experimentation with mitigation strategies if a similar situation arises in the future.