Construction Informer Podcast with Construction News for February 3, 2010

I’ve been wondering if we are becoming a little too social. Who has the time to follow 1,000 people on their chosen social media platform? What about those who don’t follow anyone but have huge numbers following them? Are we adding any value to the communication process? Or, are we just filling the bandwidth pipes [...]

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AEC Industry News in the February 1, 2010 Construction Informer Podcast

How credible are U.Ss CEOs? Well they have some catching up to do with CEOS from Brazil, Russia, India and China, according to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer. This article in Business Week contains the full text.
WPL Publishing Co. is hosting a webinar February 10, 2010 starting at 1 p.m. on construction contracts and highlighting [...]

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Autodesk Moves Avatar Visualization Technology to the AEC Industries

The world of movie making is really not too distant from the world of building. Chris Ruffo, the senior industry marketing manager for design visualization at Autodesk’s Media and Entertainment Division draws the analogy by saying they are both really about story telling.
You’re telling a story and the people who are able to communicate that [...]

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The Upside to the Construction Depression May Carry Seeds of Creativity

Roger K. Lewis draws some interesting conclusions about the future of architecture (and it’s hard to deny the future of architecture has a direct impact on the future of construction and engineering) in his recent article in the Washington Post.
He contrasts the excesses of the Burj Dubai, and MGM Grand’s City Center in Las [...]

Marvin’s John Kirchner Opens a View to the 2010 International Builders’ Show

From the 19th and well into Friday, the International Builders’ Show is drawing strong crowds. Billed as the “housing industry’s largest annual trade show and exhibition,” the event is sponsored by the National Association of Homebuilders and is being held in Las Vegas. Last year’s show attracted more than 60,000 people. Of course the product [...]

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Brave New World of Equipment Management Opens on Two Fronts

There are companies that are not in the business of equipment manufacturing and sales that sell products focused on increasing the productivity and profitability of the equipment. Using these products it’s now possible to know not only where a machine is at all times, but to also know in real time its fuel use, most [...]

Equipment Managers Lead Effort to Free Machine Telematics

Many construction companies that rely on fleets of equipment are encouraged by the promises of telematics.
Now being built into a high percentage of construction equipment, telematics takes the output from equipment monitoring systems, combines it with the GPS information that gives the location of the equipment, and sends the information wirelessly to a Web [...]

Leaders and Managers Sort Out Their Differences Somewhere Between the Head and the Heart

One thing’s for sure, there is no shortage of opinions on how to manage and lead a construction business. Opinions are most often born from experience so when we opine we are in effect speaking from the perspectives of our own experiences. If I’ve had good luck managing through fear, then I’m no doubt twice [...]

Views on BIM and its Evolution Highlight Benefits and Challenges to Come

(Picture by © Franckito | Dreamstime.com)
The future of Building Information Modeling (BIM) is arriving everyday but there are those close to the process that are looking well beyond next year.
When I spoke with Jonathan Widney, president of Solibri, LLC back in June while I was doing an article for Construction Software Review, he told [...]

As A New Year Rises Most Find Hope For Better Times

Somewhere just above the endless chatter of the “Best” and the “Worst” of 2009, there is the hope of 2010. The potential associated with a new year is unmistakeable in its optimism. If the recent polls are any indication, most Americans, 72 percent, see 2010 as a bright spot, especially when compared to 2009.
The prognosis [...]