Mark Crawford, Digital Plant Manager for UK Tier 1 contractor Balfour Beatty, recorded at Hexagon Live in Las Vegas

Construction and Earthworks Podcast

For our Bauma 2022 show special, supported by 3D machine control and surveying specialist, Leica Geosystems, host Peter Haddock talks to Mark Crawford, the Digital Plant Manager for leading UK Tier 1 contractor, Balfour Beatty. This episode was recorded at Hexagon Live in Las Vegas following the launch of new surveying and construction sector technologies.

Mark joined Balfour Beatty in his new role during the pandemic and has been heavily involved in accelerating the digital roadmap for the business.

Mark: "The digitalisation of the mobile plant sector is all about the connectivity of the plant itself, the available technology and what capability that can deliver for our clients."

Mark is also heavily involved in the National Highways (the organisation that looks after the UK's motorway network) Connected and Autonomous Plant (CAP) Group, which works together to revolutionise the construction sector. Mark: "Working with the CAP group National Highways has set out a roadmap for the future delivery of projects, and this has influenced our own roadmap to deliver projects for the organisation. It has already led to us accelerating programmes that include the interlinking of telematics data from across our fleet and supply chain.

"This includes how we move data from the office to the field, and the creation of our own digital toolset. Through collaboration and training across our business and supply chain we are ensuring everyone is now working on a consistent platform, with one version of the truth, so that we can ultimately achieve our Net Zero aims. And as a leading contractor, it is our goal to develop a roadmap that is capable of achieving the needs of all our customers.

"For example, in order to support National Highways, we need to work a couple of years in advance to ensure the whole supply chain and technology is available, tested and ready to deliver. This requires us to walk back from the date of compliance with everyone involved and to challenge the OEMs and technology providers to have solutions available for our supply chain to adopt. So it's a complex and continuous process that will require investment in both equipment and people to deliver."

Thanks for listening to this episode of our Think Tank series, supported by Leica Geosystems the 3D machine control and surveying specialist.

If you like this one, please listen to our other podcast episodes and check out our video interviews from sites and events on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/contentwithmedia.

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