Engineering Tech
Businesswire | March 23, 2023
Bentley Systems, Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, today announced it has entered into a non-exclusive commercial agreement to strategically accelerate the adoption of Infrastructure IoT, further unlocking value for infrastructure designers, constructors, and owner-operators in their use of infrastructure digital twins. To this end, Worldsensing is acquiring from Bentley sensemetrics’ Thread connectivity device business to expand its hardware portfolio offerings. Bentley also becomes the lead investor in Worldsensing’s Series D capital raise.
Worldsensing’s acquisition of the Thread connectivity device business will offer new options to its customers where adaptive sensor integrations or active sensor management are a key requirement. Thread offers broadband sensor connectivity to uniquely connect dynamic, high-power, or high-speed sensors and stream sensor data to the cloud for analysis. Thread is a fully autonomous sensor connectivity device with optional integrated 4G/LTE cellular modem, wireless mesh networking, and battery pack in a weather resistant enclosure. Each broadband device also serves as a gateway for wireless smart sensors. Combined with Worldsensing’s existing market-leading offerings, Thread will be a driver for new growth opportunities. Worldsensing will become a preferred sensor connectivity partner to Bentley and Bentley will become a preferred IoT software partner to Worldsensing offering mutual users a best-in-class fully integrated end-to-end sensor management solution.
“We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Bentley Systems,” said Ignasi Vilajosana, CEO of Worldsensing. “The acquisition of sensemetrics’ Thread connectivity device business will expand our portfolio and allow us to provide more options to our customers. We are pleased to become a preferred sensor connectivity partner for Bentley’s iTwin IoT digital twin cloud services, confirming our position as the reference connectivity platform for mining, construction, rail, and infrastructure monitoring.”
“We are excited to partner with Worldsensing and believe that this strategic agreement will bring significant benefits to our respective user bases,” said Justin Schmidt, Vice President, corporate development with Bentley Systems. “We are confident that the combination of Worldsensing’s expertise in IoT solutions and our leadership in infrastructure digital twin software will create a powerful offering for the market.”
About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the infrastructure engineering software company. We provide innovative software to advance the world’s infrastructure – sustaining both the global economy and environment. Our industry-leading software solutions are used by professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, mining, and industrial facilities. Our offerings, powered by the iTwin Platform for infrastructure digital twins, include MicroStation and Bentley Open applications for modeling and simulation, Seequent’s software for geoprofessionals, and Bentley Infrastructure Cloud encompassing ProjectWise for project delivery, SYNCHRO for construction management, and AssetWise for asset operations. Bentley Systems’ 5,000 colleagues generate annual revenues of more than $1 billion in 194 countries.
About Worldsensing
Worldsensing is a global IoT pioneer. Founded in 2008, the infrastructure monitoring expert serves customers in more than 70 countries, with a network of global partners to jointly drive safety in mining, construction, rail and structural health. Worldsensing is headquartered in Barcelona and has a local presence in the UK, North and South America, Singapore, Australia and Poland. Investors include Cisco Systems, Mitsui & Co, McRock Capital, ETF, Kibo Ventures, JME Ventures and Bentley Systems.
The solutions by Worldsensing are the market reference for automated monitoring of large-scale civil infrastructure. They enable near real-time data acquisition of geotechnical, geospatial and structural sensors as well as remote device, data and network management. Engineers and experts tasked with civil infrastructure monitoring can capture sensor data through Worldsensing edge devices and send information to the cloud for 24/7 monitoring. With thousands of network deployments connecting over 250,000 sensors around the globe, Worldsensing’s solution has rapidly become the monitoring standard within a growing range of industries.
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Engineering Tech,Construction
Agile Frameworks | December 19, 2022
Agile Frameworks®, a leader in integrated field and lab management software for the engineering services industry, today announced FMG Engineering has improved field data report delivery and workflow capabilities since implementing Agile Frameworks’ MetaField® solution.
Based out of South Dakota, FMG Engineering is a multi-disciplinary consulting firm with civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, surveying, environmental and construction materials testing services. The firm sought to implement a digital solution to improve report turnaround time, report accuracy, and efficiency in the field.
“It was time to replace our outdated and cumbersome system of paper field reports, Transcribing spreadsheets and forms was time consuming and often late to be completed. In going through the evaluation process, we chose MetaField because of the depth of functionality. Other platforms were a bit basic and did not allow for customization. With MetaField, our organization’s capacity has increased, We can take on more projects now that our technicians or project managers are not spending 30-60 minutes each day of transcription time. Overall, the system will allow us to perform more work with less manpower.”
-Alex Fisher, Senior Geotechnical Engineer and Vice President at FMG Engineering.
Since implementing MetaField, FMG Engineering has seen their report turnaround time improve from 4-5 days to 24 hours. Historically, reporting was lagging the field work. MetaField has allowed them to immediately incorporate test results into reports, which are ready for review and distribution the same day. FMG Engineering has also increased their reporting efficiency by using the distribution email lists to optimize their workflow capabilities and processes.
“At Agile Frameworks, our extensive forms library is built from years of experience with customer needs in mind, FMG Engineering has realized tremendous value by customizing report forms, particularly their daily reports, to fit their unique business needs. We are proud to partner with the highly knowledgeable and engaged team at FMG Engineering to raise the bar on delivery standards.”
-Joel Smolarek, Senior Solutions Consultant at Agile Frameworks.
About Agile Frameworks:
Agile Frameworks® provides comprehensive software-as-a-service solutions that integrate corporate, field, and lab data for business process automation across architecture and engineering disciplines. We transform workflows, create high-value data, and deliver outputs you can trust, resulting in industry-leading productivity and profitability. MetaField® — our field and lab data collection and reporting platform — offers a cloud-based digital workflow to automate and connect the process from project set up and scheduling, to mobile data collection and report submission. Companies that use MetaField experience a dramatic cost benefit with a distinct competitive advantage.
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Construction
Trimble | December 12, 2022
The ability to share digital data effectively is a critical factor that impacts the success of digital transformation in the design and construction industry. This includes both the ability to share data within different departments in the same company or across multiple companies involved in the same project. New research from Dodge Construction Network, together with Trimble, published in the Connected Construction SmartMarket Brief series, reveals that owners, architects, engineers, general contractors and specialty trades are utilizing digital workflows to share project information.
The findings show, though, that internal connections are far more common than external ones, with nearly half of all respondents (48%) sharing 50% or more of their project data internally using digital workflows, and nearly one quarter (24%) doing so with other stakeholders on their projects.
“In an increasingly connected world and with the rapid adaptation of remote work due to COVID, construction companies are looking for ways to more efficiently, securely and quickly share data with key stakeholders, This research project with Dodge shows that teams and projects utilizing digital workflows saw a substantial increase in project quality, supported by faster delivery and decreased delays related to rework. By sharing the findings of this research, we believe these insights can help construction professionals understand how connected construction is used on a practical level.”
-Pete Large, senior vice president of Trimble Construction.
The study also explores in detail the various processes for which digital workflows are employed and the benefits of using them. In order to fully capture all these details, five new Connected Construction SmartMarket Briefs have been created, in addition to the one examining the owner's perspective published earlier this year. Four of them focus on the design and construction industry practitioners who participated in the study: architects, engineers, general contractors and specialty trade contractors. The fifth provides an overall look at all the respondents to the study, and it examines in detail the difference in response between those who are already highly engaged in these processes and those who have more limited engagement.
Some notable findings from each of these individual reports describing different personas and types of organizations include:
Architects lead the industry in their use of multicompany digital workflows, with one third deploying them.
Engineers are deepening their engagement with workflows for specific design practices with 83% of users are planning additional investments digital workflows.
General contractors that focus on vertical (building) construction are utilizing more digital workflows for their construction operation processes and reaping greater benefits than those who largely engage in civil construction.
Specialty trade contractors are currently utilizing digital workflows most frequently for administrative tasks, but their biggest planned investments are for utilizing workflows that will help them with construction operations and crew management.
Despite the differences in their degree of use and how they engage with digital workflows, owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, and specialty trade contractors all report the same key benefits from their use:
The key benefits for both companies and projects are more informed decision making and increased efficiency of internal processes.
The primary benefits for improved project outcomes are quality and faster delivery.
An expected benefit revealed in the findings is that those using digital workflows have much more insight into how those processes impact their projects than those who do not use them. This finding was made clear in the close examination of the use of digital workflows for many common administrative, planning and construction operations processes that the respondents perform.
"It is quite likely that the increased insight that comes with the use of digital workflows is one of the main reasons that so many report being able to make better-informed decisions, What is more exciting, though, is that this finding suggests that the digital transformation of the industry may be able to finally help the industry achieve the productivity gains that have proved so elusive over the years."
-Donna Laquidara-Carr, industry insights research director at Dodge Construction Network.
About Trimble:
Trimble is an industrial technology company transforming the way the world works by delivering solutions that enable our customers to thrive. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics connect the digital and physical worlds to improve productivity, quality, safety, transparency, and sustainability. From purpose-built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble is transforming industries such as agriculture, construction, geospatial, and transportation.
About Dodge Construction Network:
Dodge Construction Network leverages an unmatched offering of data, analytics, and industry-spanning relationships to generate the most powerful source of information, knowledge, insights, and connections in the commercial construction industry. The company powers four longstanding and trusted industry solutions—Dodge Data & Analytics, The Blue Book Network, Sweets, and IMS—to connect the dots across the entire commercial construction ecosystem. Together, these solutions provide clear and actionable opportunities for both small teams and enterprise firms. Purpose-built to streamline the complicated, Dodge Construction Network ensures that construction professionals have the information they need to build successful businesses and thriving communities. With over a century of industry experience, Dodge Construction Network is the catalyst for modern commercial construction.
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