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How Matthäi manages to increase efficiency in surveying despite a shortage of skilled workers
Dies ist eine Anwenderfallstudie von einem deutschen Kunden. Möchten Sie diese Studie auf Deutsch lesen? Klicken Sie hier. The Matthäi Group is a German construction company based in Verden, Lower Saxony. It employs around 3,000 people at over 70 locations. The company has been active in the construction industry for exactly 90 years and is now successful in all disciplines of construction. We spoke to Frank Pohl, team leader of surveying and accounting at the Wiesbaden office, to find out how Matthäi has managed to increase efficiency in surveying despite a shortage of skilled workers. Find out how Trimble Stratus Powered by Propeller, is a successful software solution for Matthäi to optimise its own surveying processes, counteract the consequences of staff shortages and increase efficiency in construction projects.
The challenge: time-consuming surveys leading to waiting times for cross-functional teams
Frank Pohl and his team had a need for a more efficient method of surveying. After all, Matthäi defines itself by performance. The promise to the customers is the highest quality with absolute adherence to deadlines.
Accordingly, it is a challenge when numerous departments and different Matthäi sites have to wait for the survey results. The time involved with the team’s old surveying methods made the surveying process tedious and led to the long waiting times already mentioned.
“We needed a faster and more resource-efficient method of surveying,” says Frank Pohl. “We also wanted to be able to survey more often and share the data regularly with cross-functional teams.” Ultimately, those responsible at Matthäi are convinced that it is beneficial for all departments to work closely together and for orders to be completed from a single source wherever possible.
New construction area
The solution: A complete drone surveying workflow with outsourced data processing
To improve processes and reduce survey waiting times, Matthäi therefore decided to introduce drone surveying after thorough consideration. A prerequisite was external data processing, as evaluation is very time-consuming. The choice fell on Trimble Stratus Powered by Propeller.
This software offers a complete drone survey workflow that includes outsourced data processing in addition to drone surveying, as well as access to analytics software that provides meaningful insights to the entire team.
“The price-performance ratio of Trimble Stratus is excellent. The acquisition costs paid for themselves after just a few months and it ultimately proved to be faster and more cost-effective than commissioning external drone surveys,” reports Pohl.
The Matthäi team leader is particularly convinced by the fast data processing, which makes it possible to measure, analyse and share survey data with project participants in the cloud-based portal as well as the mobile app.
District heating plant construction project
Drone surveying in everyday work: improving collaboration and achieving seamless site documentation
Since the introduction of Trimble Stratus, drone surveying has become indispensable at Matthäi. The company uses the software solution on a daily basis, flying over all construction sites once a week to document progress and maintain an overview. Since the team no longer has to carry out the evaluations themselves, they gain valuable time and can ensure regular drone flights. The continuous flights also enable seamless site documentation that clearly shows the development of projects using the timeline function in Trimble Stratus.
Frank Pohl and his team also use Trimble Stratus to share relevant information with cross-functional teams that have their own access to the cloud-based platform. “Since implementing Trimble Stratus, communication across the project team has improved. Everyone involved can work independently and no longer relies on me and my team to retrieve data,” explains Pohl.
Matthäi’s clients also get access to the drone data in the platform and can thus retrieve the information relevant to them independently. “This results in fewer misunderstandings, as the progress of the project is visible from start to finish,” Pohl reports.
The introduction of Trimble Stratus has enabled Matthäi to carry out permanent checks of all construction sites easily and from anywhere. “Every week at the site manager’s meeting, we briefly check the status of things on our construction sites on our mobile phones. We don’t even have to be there and still have everything in view,” reports the Matthäi team leader.
The company uses drone surveying not only for existing construction sites, but also for costing and quoting for upcoming projects. “We can thus prepare more accurate quotations for our clients, which in turn gives us a clear advantage over the competition,” says Pohl.
Road construction
Continuous development enables new and helpful functions
Since the launch of Trimble Stratus, Matthäi noted the constant developments in the platform. “New and helpful functions for users are added on a regular basis, which make our everyday work easier,” emphasises Frank Pohl.
The latest function, “Media on the Map”, is currently being put to the test by Frank Pohl and his team. It allows users to add messages via photos on the 3D map and exchange them with other project participants.
Landfill site in Germany
Drone surveying as a standard in the construction industry
Trimble Stratus has proven to be an indispensable tool for Matthäi, providing support in everyday work. The software solution offers the company an unbeatable combination of drone surveying, outsourced data processing as well as simple data analysis, resulting in fast evaluations, time savings and complete site documentation.
“Drone surveying should become the standard in the construction industry! I can only advise every company, large or small, to give it a try,” says Frank Pohl.
Road construction project
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