The construction climate is tough right now, with small and medium-sized construction businesses in Australia and New Zealand facing obstacles caused by rising costs and labour shortages, and getting left behind as digital technology transforms earthmoving. Affordable, accessible and user-friendly 3D machine control technology can provide the helping hand needed for smaller businesses to be successful, according to Unicontrol – a provider of 3D machine control solutions for the construction industry.
Digitalization is a revolution in construction, boosting productivity, accuracy and efficiency in much the same way the move away from spades and pulleys to heavy construction machinery transformed the sector. However, many companies have been excluded because of the complexity, high price and vendor lock-ins associated with many 3D machine control solutions. Smaller businesses particularly have been left behind, finding themselves on a burning platform and running out of time.
With easy-to-use technology that can be retrofitted to existing machinery for earthmoving tasks, operators can begin working almost immediately. 3D machine control can cut rework costs, improve quality and prevent downtime.
Why smaller construction businesses should act now
In Australia, the construction industry has seen input prices rise sharply and there is an acute shortage of labour. Infrastructure Australia warned large infrastructure projects and plans of building 1.2m new homes in the country are under threat because of a shortfall of 229,000 workers and challenges accessing local building materials. It is a similar picture in New Zealand, where housebuilding has dipped since the start of 2022. There are signs of conditions improving and the housing minister has announced reforms to ease the current housing shortage, which will inevitably push up labour demand.
Digital construction technologies are swiftly moving from ‘nice to have’ to ‘must have’, and SMEs that fail to overcome barriers and embrace new technology get left behind. Research from digital platform Gridfox suggests 84% of construction SMEs struggle to keep up with the digital spending of larger organizations and half claim it has restricted growth.
For many small construction businesses, user-friendly and accessible digital technology can help
3D machine control helps operators by making earthmoving tasks more precise and preventing rework. It uses GPS antennas mounted on the machine with sensors on each moving part to closely monitor the specific environment and task in real time.
With a unique user-friendly interface designed with operators in mind, Unicontrol’s 3D machine control technology can be used by less skilled workers and tasks can be carried out without a surveyor on site. Unlike conventional complex, vendor-specific machine control, it can be retrofitted to existing machinery, instantly improving on-site safety. Unicontrol technology is compatible with a wide range of systems and machines, including swing boom and grading attachments, and it can also be used on large-scale projects alongside other systems for high precision earthmoving or grading. Small businesses can start reducing input bills and increase margins almost immediately without extensive training, reaping the benefits of 3D machine control fast at a price that is up to 50% less than similar advanced technologies.
“What we hear time and time again from customers – and this isn’t just the big companies, this is the small firms, owner/operator businesses, and contractors – is just how easy our technology is to use. And this has always been our goal. We want to remove the barriers to using machine control so that construction businesses can become more efficient, competitive and successful. We firmly believe in the ability of our technology to ensure small businesses survive and increase their profit margins. We have seen how Unicontrol’s brand-agnostic technology can benefit companies, and we want to get the word out to smaller construction firms that machine control is for everyone.”
said CEO Niels Bjerregaard, from Unicontrol.
“It’s just so easy… It can be as simple as you want or as complex as you want. Projects can be uploaded to the cloud and updated each day, allowing me to take the digger anywhere and do my own designs, all the infield design stuff. Now make all your own drains, all your own slopes, falls, trenches, foundations.”
said Layne Mill, Owner of Queensland-based Havadig Contracting.
“I’ve been very, very impressed with the purchase and how it’s working straight out in the field. One of our biggest challenges in earthmoving is obviously the weather, and it’s also productivity. We want to make sure that when we get out here, every hour of every day is productive and avoid as much rework as we can to achieve our goals. Unicontrol system has been great.”
said Ben Graham, Director of Civil Contracting Solutions in Australia.
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