Get your company ready for the digital future!

Exoskeletons give tradespeople a helping hand

According to a study by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common causes of sick leave and incapacity to work in Germany.

Gardening and landscaping are heavy work. Exoskeletons are wearable suits that assist the user during physically demanding work and when lifting and carrying. Generally, these exoskeletons consist of lightweight devices that fit closely to the body to support the torso, shoulders, arms, pelvis, legs or fingers.

Networking is fun!

Digitalisation simplifies a lot of things. You can use trade-specific collaboration platforms, for example, to network your own business with other companies with a view to (more) efficient collaboration.

Among other things, collaborations between businesses have the advantage of enabling them to join forces to overcome the challenges of skilled personnel shortages, order processing and resource pooling, whether within a specific trade or across segments.

The sharing of knowledge and experience benefits all participants with an open, future-oriented mindset: Online, they have shared access to business opportunities that would not be open to them as “lone wolves”.

Virtual reality creates exciting experiences

Nowadays, digital tools like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are indispensable. Whether used to assist with developing the initial concept, for customer consultations, or the specific planning, implementation and acceptance of a project, there is so much more to virtual reality than just a digital visualisation tool that uses animation.

Using these tools can shorten the planning phase, because a better decision can be made sooner. For example, a photorealistic walk-through of a customer project can be conducted before execution. In addition, many of the data necessary for this will be available in any case if your business also uses building information modelling (BIM) processes.

As Jens Bille from the Heinz Piest Institute of Skilled Trades at Leibniz University in Hannover states: “BIM enhances visualisation to produce an intelligent, object-based model. All information relevant to the construction is added to the 3D model, the latest version of which is then always available to the construction project participants from a central location as a basis for decision-making.”

Digital construction file provides maximum flexibility

All businesses need to be able to work remotely and flexibly on the construction site. If the entire site planning and documentation are available in digital form via cloud systems and apps, your team always has mobile access to acceptance inspection logs and meeting reports, bills of quantities, photos and/or technical documents.

The rostering of your staff is also considerably simplified thanks to digital scheduling and can be followed up at any time. And if the digital timekeeping by employees is done using a mobile app with an interface to business software and/or automated bookkeeping processes, this saves time, reduces error sources and simplifies costing during and after your projects.

Funding for digitalisation facilitates innovation

There are several subsidies available from public funds, often from regional bodies as well, for the digital modernisation of your company. Under certain conditions, you will be able to combine several funding options. However, you normally need to apply for these funds by submitting a plan before the start of the project.

As a business owner, where can you apply for funding? And what for exactly? To administer the funding programmes, the public sector agencies generally engage banks as project sponsors and points of contact for you as a business owner. Generally, you will apply to your bank or use independent business consultants accredited with the funding agency as intermediaries. These may also be consultants from your skilled trade organisation who will then help you with the application process.

Summary

Prepare your business for the digital future in a targeted manner. To successfully design your digital transformation and be able to continually develop and refine it, you need a simple, clearly structured and manageable plan. For example, it is important to have realistic goals and timetables, regular success monitoring, well-considered alternatives and/or change options determined in advance.

A prerequisite for the long-term success of the digitalisation of your business processes is that you accurately analyse the digitalisation requirements for customer, work and employee processes as well the potential impacts on your business. This will allow you to identify the respective needs.

You will then be able to embark exactly where you want to on your “digital journey”. If the necessary expertise for the concrete implementation of the technical solutions is not available at your company, you should approach technology or digitalisation experts for support.


All recordings from the forum Digitalisation@GaLaBau – Digital Practice Live in Action are available in the playlist on the GaLaBau YouTube channel.