As electrical contractors battle worker shortages and step up their efforts to streamline their product installation methods, they should tap into the construction tech resources of one of their industry partners – electrical distributors.
In his presentation at NECA 2023, “Leaning on Your Distributors for Construction Technology,” Mike Carroll, Graybar’s director of business development, outlined some of the tech services now available from electrical distributors. These services include assistance with integrating BIM (Building Information Modeling) and digital twins into their jobs; providing prefabricated products, advanced software and project management technology; and energy management and control systems.
“These are important to electrical contractors because of efficiency, cost savings, and improved project outcomes,” he says.
Carroll is particularly excited about the potential of digital twins on the jobsite and new software technologies that help track some larger products like switchgear through the manufacturing process. According to Matterport, “A digital twin is used in construction projects to create exact replicas of real-world spaces. These 3D models allow construction teams to interact virtually with the physical property during the design and planning stages.”
A post at www.matterport.com says digital twins help electrical contractors and others working on the job-site in the following ways:
- Faster and easier collaboration among project stakeholders
- Increased productivity
- More efficient workflows between contractors and trades
- Reduction of issues and RFI’s
Carroll said as tools like digital twins and BIM become more common, electrical contractors will need to ask themselves which of their electrical distributors can help them use these and other productivity tools that become available.
