Published: 12. April 2024,
By Trackunit
In the ever-evolving landscape of the construction industry, the convergence of new technology, the need for a diverse and skilled workforce, and the imperative for inclusivity are shaping the future.
Against that backdrop, the International Powered Access Federation Summit in Copenhagen became a pivotal forum for industry leaders. With a focus on the theme “Empowering the Next Generation,” the event spotlighted the critical challenges of digital transformation, jobsite safety, talent scarcity, and the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The summit emphasized the industry’s commitment to leveraging technology for safety and efficiency while championing DEI principles to foster an environment that attracts and retains talent.
A major takeaway from the sessions and the keynote from IPAF President Karel Huijer, was that that the pace of learning in construction is changing faster than ever before. And as an organization, IPAF is embracing technology as a platform for change and increased safety.
IPAF’s rise in capabilities and industry importance is in large part due to its early adoption and development of technology, to speed its training processes and access to its literature, practices and the digital card ePAL. These steps are innovative and allow the industry to link into previously unavailable levels of essential user data and up to date guidance on all things MEWP and safety.
Now active from 641 training centres in 81 countries, IPAF continues to grow its member base and influence in the development of a qualified and safety conscious membership, with over 200,000 people attending training courses in 2023.
Within each of its target regions, growth appears to align with the industry’s closer focus on training and safety to drive productivity. Expansion of its global reach and digital distribution capabilities, has led to stunning growth in membership across Asia and the Americas.
Trackunit’s ePAL, and other partnerships with IPAF, has ensured our development teams are intimately aware of the potential safety implications of this technology solution, as well as safety being intrinsic to all the apps we bring to market.
In an industry which is transitioning towards increased diversity and standards, the organization provides a platform for women to develop skills in a safe environment, and its commitment to DEI is demonstrated through its support of women as speakers at its numerous global events and its mentoring program, Women in Powered Access Initiative.
Quality across the industry is reflected in its IPAF Rental Standard, which provides guidelines to support rental companies in the powered access industry where they can follow recognized good practice, including safety compliance, to deliver consistent, excellent customer service. A new portal planned in 2024, demonstrates IPAF’s commitment to multi-lingual training to further breakdown barriers and amplify the positive messages around safety and machine knowledge to drive higher productivity and greater work satisfaction.
I would be surprised if there is a single global event running today that doesn’t discuss AI in some form. Its potential across the construction industry is probably the biggest change driver we see today. Daniel Hulme, CEO of Satalia, an enterprise AI company, gave an introduction into AI using surprisingly simplistic illustrations around the general concepts of data analysis, and prediction to assist in decision making. He made some excellent observations around the fact that most people cannot be expected to solve complex math or logic problems. Even if they can, by the time they finish will the answer be useful or have value?
Satalia has developed solutions in the transport/logistics environment and illustrated its complexity and the need to utilize large data pools to interrogate and develop large language models to automate and train the applications to become increasingly more accurate at insight extraction. This is where these applications become useful to the construction industry, whether that is in rental, OEM or construction scenarios.
“IPAF’s rise in capabilities and industry importance is in large part due to its early adoption and development of technology.”
Within our organization, we use similar methodologies, leveraging large language models to extract and deliver insights seamlessly integrated into our processes and solutions. Our commitment to adopting these technologies aims to empower workers and organizations in the construction industry and facilitate greater operational efficiencies.
Renta, the expanding Scandinavian rental company, is another long standing partner of Trackunit. Joel Särkkä is the group’s CIO and technical guru and agrees with most industry experts that construction has positive megatrends driving us forward.
These include, “technology, sustainability and urbanization, and we need to extract maximum value from these changes,” he said. Särkkä is a long-time devotee of the benefit of technology when applied accurately and consistently. The company is a strong advocate for the intelligent fleet, where digital processes are aligned to actionable data and insights, enhanced by AI, together with high-quality customer facing solutions.
“New business models driven by digitalization are providing higher utilization and that allows the rental market to offer greater dependability to its customers, with equipment pooling, pay per use and shorter rental cycles.”
Särkkä emphasized sustainability and the requirement for construction businesses to lead within the circular economy and embrace digitalization, mitigate the environmental impact of all of our businesses, to concentrate and excel in health and safety and to prioritize responsible corporate governance.
New business models driven by digitalization are providing higher utilization and that allows the rental market to offer greater dependability to its customers, with equipment pooling, pay per use and shorter rental cycles. Särkkä, see this as “inevitable and not just one driver but a variety dependent on the business and its customers”.
Therefore, effective training, and pre-emptive servicing that leverage technology is key for successful rental. Asking the question “Would you like to save money?” was a critical lever to attract an audience, he said, and the combination of digital and personalized services that provide the quality and communication to keep customers working, will keep them on board.
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