Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada) revealed its implementation of global positioning system (GPS) devices in construction equipment has raised productivity by 30% and reduced material loss by 15%.Â
Moreover, the technology achieves savings worth $0.25 (AED0.93)Â per sqm, after the device’s total cost of supply and installation is factored in.Â
The agency has deployed an engineering system based on machine guidance – which uses GPS devices – to carry out grading works.Â
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Musanada claims the move guarantees highly accurate control, improves the management of occupational safety at construction sites, and enhances work quality.Â
The new system, being operation in collaboration with contracting companies, will allow Musanada to “stay abreast of […] work-related developments, minimise the occurrence of occupational incidents, and help maintain life and property”.Â
Eng Suwaidan Rashed Al Dhaheri, acting CEO of Musanada, said the technology improves tasks such as excavation, levelling, and grading of roads’ foundation layers.
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He added: “Upgrading machines [for those activities] by deploying GPS control has helped increase productivity by 30%, which will help complete and deliver projects as per the defined schedule.”Â
The reduction of construction material loss is achieved by deviating from the traditional method of implementing the activities, which “relied on repeating the work in order to reach the required quality”.Â
A database can be built off the GPS system’s self-memory, which “allows fast transfer of all positioning data to [computers, in order] to be analysed by relevant applications”.Â
No human intervention is required, except for an equipment operator that has been adequately trained to use the system effectively and efficiently, Al Dhaheri said.
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Excavation, levelling, and grading road foundations previously depended on “the skills and accumulated experience of the machine operator to complete the required work within the shortest possible time”, he continued.Â
Foremen and other site operatives were also required on site, “due to the operator’s inadequate visibility to see around and under the machine”, Al Dhaheri explained.Â
According to WAM, he added: “The new system operates based on the installation of the machine guidance application, which allows real-time tracking of equipment and ensures that the earth level is matched to the levels and ratios pre-defined in the system.
“The objective we hope to achieve from the implementation of this system in terms of occupational health is minimising the presence of human resources during the movement of equipment inside operational areas, [thus] minimising the likelihood of fatal incidents or unsafe use of equipment.”Â