Did you know that, on average, contractors spend 80 minutes a day waiting for materials to arrive? Or that 45% of construction professionals report spending more time than expected on non-optimal activities, with 35% of their time reportedly spent on non-productive activities. That’s over 14 hours per week!
In inventory management, we define “non-productive” activities as things like figuring out where a tool is when it’s not where it’s supposed to be, fixing duplicate entries, etc.—pretty much anything that consumes a contractor’s time that could be better used laying down a subfloor, putting in drywall, securing ductwork, installing an electrical panel, putting in plumbing, and so forth.
These activities, in the moment, are aggravating, but they’re also exceedingly expensive, costing the US construction industry over $177 billion in labor costs in 2018 alone. Construction downtime remains a serious problem that can lead to timeline interruptions, a lot of customer frustration, and, in many cases (upward of 9 out of 10 projects!), unsavory project overruns that negatively affect your bottom line and threaten your ability to bid for and win projects.
In short: Downtime, unaddressed, threatens your organization’s very survival.
So, how do we combat downtime?
Aside from strategic planning that feeds into your team’s roadmap, the digital tools and technology you use to foster collaboration among clients, and break down silos between cross-functional teams, are essential.
Digitizing inventory practices, considering the above-mentioned financial burdens, is of utmost importance, especially when we reflect for example that, from 2018-2019, subcontractor dependance on spreadsheets decreased a measly 1%, according to a JB Knowledge report.
That’s a problem.
Because let’s face it: When it comes to construction management, particularly with regard to inventory, the old ways of pen and paper won’t cut it anymore, especially as labor shortages have become so prevalent. Fewer bodies mean more opportunity for mistakes to be made. 52% of rework, in fact, is reportedly caused by poor project data and miscommunication.
However, a good strategy for inventory can help solve labor shortage problems, helping you empower even the smallest (but mightiest) tool teams to master their logistics chain and make your projects run more smoothly.
And it all starts with piloting a great inventory app. What makes an inventory great?
There are multiple factors that make an inventory app worth piloting. As a simple starting point, you might ask yourself, “Is this app an improvement to what we’re doing now, and how?”
Consider the various features and value-adds that make it better than using manual processes or outdated, legacy software packages that are sluggish, incompatible, or worse, pose a cybersecurity risk.
Another worthy consideration is cost. Many legacy inventory software programs incur expensive licensing fees in the thousands of dollars each year, which (what’s worse) multiply with additional seats you’ll likely want in order to grant access to multiple team members and keep, at minimum, the people that are on a need-to-know basis in the loop.
That’s one of the reasons we continue to develop One-Key as a free inventory app, providing incredible value and accessibility to teams who want to not only digitize and track their inventories, but also to delve into data insights regarding their equipment that will help them be more productive.
Now that I’ve shared with you the above-mentioned basic tenets that make a highly usable inventory app, I’d like to use the back-half of this article to share 4 fundamental pillars we use when developing the ONE-KEY™ inventory app, in order to:
What is our process to developing the One-Key app and comping up with new features?
It works twofold:
Similar to the 4 attributes we discussed above that qualify a highly useable inventory app, at Milwaukee Tool we develop One-Key with 4 fundamental pillars:
By focusing on these 4 fundamental pillars, we’re able to deliver unique value:
Let’s dive into each of these a little bit deeper.
At Milwaukee Tool, we’re dedicated to helping make you more productive, evidenced with disruptive innovations across our M12™, M18™, and MX FUEL™ battery platforms; but just as we’ve disrupted the corded power tool market with heavy-duty cordless power tools that deliver even more performance, we’re invested in making the now “cordless” job one that is seamlessly interconnected.
We lead the industry with over 56 compatible smart tools, a list that is continually growing (just wait until you see our roadmap for 2022!).
These connected smart tools offer numerous advantages:
Keeping track of your stuff is a mission-critical part of keeping your construction projects on track and your business afloat. In fact, 50% or more impact on productivity is a result of issues with construction logistics, according to MCAA.
Since the launch of One-Key back in 2015, we’ve progressively developed its feature set and took steps to grow our network in order to make it as robust as possible.
The result:
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One-Key can be accessed from anywhere.
What does that mean?
To start, you can:
On top of this, we develop One-Key specifically for the busy professional contractor with biweekly updates. Unlike some of our competitors who may offer an update once a year or once every 6 months, we practice an agile software methodology, dedicated to getting our features into the hands of real end users as well as continuous improvement to perfect these features for you.
Finally, on top of creating a highly usable product, we’re also always looking to leverage data in ways that provide value to end users.
In short, we aim to:
According to a report, within 10 years, full-scale digitization could lead to savings between $0.7-1.2 trillion (13- 21%) in the design, engineering, and construction, as well as $0.3-0.5 trillion (10-17%) in the operations.
What’s more, despite being among the least digitized industries, in 2019, the USG + US Chamber of Commercial Construction Index found that 70% of contractors believe advanced technologies can improve productivity, schedule, and enhance safety.
The tides are changing.
And there is tangible value to digitizing the built world. In an industry rife with labor shortages, costly overruns and mistakes leading to even costlier rework loom. But through digitization, data-insights can help empower. Knowledge is power!
Wrapping up: the 4 attributes that make an inventory app great that we discussed include, generally that it:
The 4 fundamental pillars of One-Key: