HP boosts production by digitally connecting design to construction on-site

ANDY DICKEY: All right, everybody. We're right on top of the 3 o'clock, so I'm going to go ahead and get started.

First I want to begin by introducing myself. I'm Andy Dickey, I manage business development for HP construction services. I have spent half my life in construction, and half my life in the technology business. I don't know if it's half and a half, because they were kind of going on interchangeably back and forth all the time. And that's a common story-- I see some familiar faces in the room, that's a common story in this room, I'm sure, right?

So the purpose of this session is a bit of a primer. So to give you some background information. It's probably not going to provide all the answers that you might be here seeking.

But why is it a primer? Because we have a room, room 268, where we're doing a live demonstration. So it's roughly the size of this room. And we built the fake job site, and you can see the robot live. So the purpose of this is to give you some background information and create a platform for you to ask some questions. And then, we can just heard everyone down to the room. No-- we have a registration.

So I'll-- this is not working. I'll back up from the laptop. I think it's interference. So with that, let's get started. Hang on, guys.

Let's try this one. Let's see if this one does the same thing. All right, so today I'm going to talk about how HP is boosting productivity by connecting really design and detailing, because I see some detailers in the room, as well. So connecting design and detailing to the construction site.

So why are we here, and why are we in this business? There is a very real business opportunity for all of us to improve productivity in construction. And it's really that simple.

The annual construction revenue-- we all know these stats, right? It's about $11.4 trillion. Second biggest industry in the world, after financial services. And it continues to grow all the time. So growing, growing, growing, getting more and more complex. And the workforce is aging, and they want to be more productive.

So there is a productivity challenge, you know, that's been studied by McKinsey. There's 7% waste, less than 1% of productivity improvement year over year. I think, judging by some of the faces that I recognize in here, we've all heard these particular stats.

So what is the first part of the construction industry that we have decided to attack? And I emphasize the first part-- is construction layout. So we want to streamline the construction layout process by making it quicker and more accurate, those sort of things.

But first, what is layout? It's the process of taking design and detailing information and transferring it to the work phase. And this has been happening since construction became a thing. They would do layout on the pyramids, and I've personally laid out with string line, plum blobs, dropping them into plum sleeves, theodolite, mechanical total station, robotic total station, plum lasers-- we could run down the list-- and now with a robot.

So it's key to emphasize that. So there's two parts to the transfer of this information. One is position-- people need to know where to put things. But they also need additional information. So you need to know where the wall is, but what type of wall is it?

So it's positional information, but also informational. And a lot of times, you're transferring this information to people that don't speak the same language as the design team, or they do not have really strong drawing literacy-- meaning, they don't know how to read drawings, even today. So these are the two primary parts of layout that we want to address.

So roughly speaking, there are 5.1 billion square feet of layout to be done every year in the US. That's a really, really big number. There's about three-plus trades to layout per floor. And it's definitely on the critical path. Most people cannot do their job without some layout work occurring.

This work is highly manual. It's fraught with delays and cost overruns. There's a lack of skilled labor, and that force continues to shrink. So what I noticed when I entered the construction industry when I was 12 years old, and then again seriously when I was 19, is that these people are getting older and not younger. And it's because it's hard work, it's very difficult to learn, and we're not taking the steps, I think, that we should have been taking over the past 20 or 30 years to attract skilled labor into the workforce.

And they're also fraught with mistakes and rework, because these people are exhausted. It's hard work. So you're almost never going to run into a 65-year-old layout person, because it's very hard on your body.

So let's watch a little video. I think it'll be a bit entertaining. And we'll get to the main event.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

All right, there it is. So mystery solved, right? Now you see what it looks like and what it does.

Just a quick highlight of the product, itself, now that we've kind of gotten the big picture overview. We've seen productivity increases of 10 times as fast. So that example, just to throw it out there, would be patient rooms on a bed tower-- doing it the traditional way took seven hours. We were able to execute it in 44 minutes.

We avoid a lot of errors. Like a lot of times, that's why I highlighted early on in the presentation, that the layout that you do is not just positional, it's also informational. A lot of the mistakes that happen in the layout space, whether that be concrete or interiors, those errors are occurring because we think something's supposed to happen here with a detail or a condition, like we know the position, and we thought we were supposed to do one thing, and we were really supposed to do another thing.

So being able to print text, and print text very, very quickly, is absolutely essential to make sure we don't make mistakes that are not purely positionally related.

It's rugged and easy to use. I have seen this robot in some very, very gnarly situations, and do very, very well. And you can see for yourself, if you want to join us in the demo room, that it's quite straightforward. Not only to set up the robot, get it positioned over control and get going, that takes roughly 10 minutes. But also the minute to minute usage of it is super simple.

So what is the ecosystem? Now I have a surprise back here in a box, so we're going to get a better look at the key part of this ecosystem toward the end of the presentation. But I just wanted to give an overview of how it works.

So obviously, you have the robot, right? The HP SitePrint. It ships in a Pelican case, it's got two batteries. Those batteries lasts roughly 4 hours each. I have only seen the battery run down once, because normally you're not given enough layout. You know, given the amount of layout that you can do in four hours, you're not normally handed enough layout that you can just tear right through and do four hours on layout.

But there was one project that I was on that we needed both batteries, because we were getting handed 80,000 square feet all in one go and we wanted to lay it out. So also in the case is a mini tripod that we've developed that enables one man, or one person resectioning on the site, a charger, all the things that you would expect.

There's also a control panel. So the control panel is accessed through any device. You know, you've got Chrome on your phone or your tablet, or what have you, that's served up from the robot. So the robot functions as its own Wi-Fi hotspot. You connect to it through your device, and the software you use to operate the robot is served up to your device from the robot, itself.

Once you dump the job onto the robot, you no longer have to be connected to that Wi-Fi hotspot, which is worth pointing out.

Now, really the limiting factor on what device you use is just screen real estate. You can use it on your iPhone mini, that your 13-year-old kid's using-- I can make that joke because I use an iPhone mini, because my fingers are really short. But anyway, it's not fun to use it on the small screen, so bigger is better. And if you've got a tablet that is running Chrome, or whatever, you can just type right into it.

There's also a cloud solution that you can use to track your usage, manage your fleet, do some accounting about how many square feet you've done. And then there's the total station-- that's the engine, part of the engine, for the positioning. There's some other onboard positioning equipment on the robot, as well.

So it is our intention to work with everyone. We want to be quite open. The total stations that we support today are like the TS16 and the iCON 80 from Leica, but those are not going to be the only two going forward. So stay tuned for that.

So that's the setup in general. Let's hear from a customer. As some of you might-- I see some people in the audience that know Albert, and you might have seen him walking around, so if you want to get him alone and ask his opinion one on one, invite you to do that.

ALBERT ZULPS: I have to say, today is not the first day that I've seen HP Modus, so I've seen great things. And I'm most excited just about the speed with which it executes and performs layout. But what I've observed with Modus is that it only needs one operator. So I think that just-- in trying to be more efficient [INAUDIBLE], I think doing more with less is always important.

And also, the idea that with one operator, you can spend more time, you can take that extra labor and use it to do more quality control and oversee the process, versus actually doing the labor and laying out the project. So I think that is kind of a game-changer to reduce the time taken and the labor needed.

And related to that, I think we foresee a shortfall in construction-- people entering in construction going forward. And so this is one of the ways to address that shortfall is being more efficient.

It's hard to use this word loosely with technology, but I think this is a game-changing technology. I saw previously with 360 cameras, something simple that looked kind of absurd, but it's really had a lot of value in construction. And intuitively, the reactions we're getting, and my reaction to it, is that this is another construction game changer.

ANDY DICKEY: Yeah, so I want to add some practical background to what Albert is saying. Like what was one of the key things that he mentioned was one-person operation-- I'll add a qualifier to that. So if you're on a job with a book hoist, you can operate completely solo. Why a book hoist? That's an elevator for those who don't know that term, or who are not sort of OSHA-obsessed-- like me, you'll understand when I get to the end.

So you can carry the robot in one hand, the total station in the other hand, and throw the tripod on your back. If you've got an elevator that you can use to get up to the whatever floor, with the mini tripod that we've developed, you are a one-person operation. With one exception-- if you've got to hold a handrail, you'll need someone to help you carry one of those cases to the place where you're going to be working, then that person can leave.

So I want to just be super clear about that. But otherwise, it's a complete one-person operation. It's very rapid to set up and start printing.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MICHAEL HILL: Today's project is to show you how efficiencies and effectiveness can be increased with modern-day layout with a robot. We're here to increase accuracy, but also how you can get more work done in a less amount of time.

On a recent project we did with Skanska-- it was a 2,400-square feet-- we printed all walls in 45 minutes. It took the layout technician seven hours to do that work.

Everything is run by the brain-- the total station over here. The total station knows exactly where it is on the ground.

ALBERT ZULPS: It only needs one operator. Trying to be more efficient, more green, I think doing more with less is always important. And use it to do more quality control.

THORE CHRISTOFFERS: So for me, it's personally very exciting. I'm in the survey business, and already 20 years, and I'm always open for modern technique.

LISA SANQUINI: Layout is only really been done by hand before in the past. When this opportunity to oversee this layout, I couldn't say no.

ANDY DICKEY: We're going to continue to put the construction layout professional at the center of the story, but also making it faster.

LISA SANQUINI: I think it was absolutely amazing to see the thing in action. There's like no doubt in my mind that this is going to be used on construction sites worldwide someday.

ANDY DICKEY: Who else hates to see themselves on film? I absolutely hate that. Or the sound of my own voice.

So that's HP SitePrint, because I wanted to leave plenty of time for questions, and plenty of time for you all to get hands on. But before we get hands on and you ask your questions, this is a QR code that you can use to register for the demo sessions that we have in room 268. They're also on the handouts.

The nice thing about scheduling it, is that-- I've been doing these conferences for a lot of years, you guys are really, really busy, right? And so you're in a ton of classes, and you want to carve out time to meet with your colleagues, your clients, those sorts of things. So this is just a mechanism for us to make sure that you get to see the robot in action whenever you want.

So with that, before I take the robot out, I'm going to open up the floor to some questions. And I am going to ask John Mahomes to man the mic, if somebody has a question. So don't all ask questions at once.

AUDIENCE: Hey, I appreciate the presentation. Certainly cool to see, and one of the reasons I came down to the conference was to see it in person after the fanfare, I guess, when you guys launched a couple of weeks ago. One question I had was-- or I guess a two-part question-- is, how HP decided, and like this group got formed to get into the construction industry. And then, two, for this project, what technology did you guys develop specific for this product, versus be able to repurpose from HP's vast portfolio of printing and other technologies?

ANDY DICKEY: OK, those are excellent questions. So I will answer the things that I'm allowed to answer, right? So I promise you that you will get 100% of what I'm allowed to answer. This project came about as an innovation contest in the company. So a person who never set foot on a construction site in their life, it is not plugged into this business at all, who's been at HP for a really, really long time, won that contest-- a former Israeli fighter pilot.

And it's such a good idea, and it's such a big need. We recognized that it was a big need at the time, because we're so plugged into the AEC business already in our large format printing business. And then we have such a long history, because most people don't know this, we used to make a total station. And as far as I know, we made the first data collector.

So it's what became the TDS data collector. So this isn't our first trip through this business. So that's the first thing.

The second thing is, we have a lot of really smart people-- so we make printers that people have never seen-- not no one-- but the people in this room have never seen in person, that have multiple sets of stairs, they're so big, like to get up on top of them and things like that. So as you can imagine, we develop a lot of expertise learning how to push media right through those units.

And so, you know, I'm trying to dance around the question. So you can imagine that you learn some things in the process of doing that, because if you're printing drawings, they have to be accurate, or you're printing on large pieces of vinyl, and those sort of things. So we've reused a lot of technology.

One of the things that lured me-- I had no plans to join HP, I was with Trimble for 15 years, starting a couple of businesses from scratch there, and writing an integration between one of our BIM solutions. And total stations, it's like the first one that I'm aware of to ever do that.

So what lured me away is just having spent a lot of time in my life on a job site, and in construction tech, was the approach that they took. So it's using technology on the positioning side that's widely available. Like it's becoming-- I wouldn't use the word ubiquitous with total stations, because I run into a lot of people using plum lasers.

But a total station is a super common thing. They're experts in ink, and I'm thinking, you know what, I think they're going to nail this thing. I think if I miss this, I'm going to be really upset. So that's what brought me here.

I hope that answered both of your questions as well as I could.

AUDIENCE: One last follow-up--

ANDY DICKEY: Sure, sure.

AUDIENCE: How long ago was that hackathon, or whatever that person--

ANDY DICKEY: Are we allowed to answer that, Joe?

PRESENTER: No, and in fact, I would like to add that, so in reality, we have been in the AEC market for more than 25 years, but more in the workstation space, or in the large format printing space. But now we realize that the construction needed help. And that's why we are trying to bring technology in the construction space.

And that's why we announced last week that we have a new organization called construction services.

ANDY DICKEY: yeah, no problem. There was a question over here, I think. Yeah?

AUDIENCE: What software are you guys primarily tying into? Are you guys tying into Civil 3D? Are you guys--

ANDY DICKEY: Oh, actually, yeah, that's a great question. So the file that the robot uses to print is a DXF, because it's the most neutral. So we're a global operation, and so there are a lot of different solutions that write a lot of-- I'm trying to be politically correct here, given where we are-- a lot of different solutions that write a lot of different files, and some of those files have different nuances, depending on who's making them.

But you find that less with the DXF. So that's why that choice, you know. Does that answer the question? Yeah, good. I always check-- I don't want to move on until somebody gets the answer.

AUDIENCE: It was like a total station, correct, that we saw a bit ago?

ANDY DICKEY: Yeah, the TS 16 in the video, all which is there one of their survey total stations. And we also support the iCON 80.

AUDIENCE: OK, and you said that there would be more, as in such as Trimble total station?

ANDY DICKEY: I didn't say that. I said, we want to be open. And it is our intention to be-- you read into that whatever you wish. Yeah, stay tuned. Yeah.

AUDIENCE: I heard you say, laying out position wise, and there's also a way to differentiate wall types. So does this have capability to print with a different ink? Or maybe print with different line work, or thickness, or of some sort?

ANDY DICKEY: Well, that's a big question. So I'm going to try to answer it quickly. So we have a huge, huge collection of inks to draw from, depending on the application. There's different dimensions and categories. Like one is water-based and ethanol-based, the other is how permanent, how temporary they are. The other is color.

The other is how inert the ink is. So you have to be careful when you're printing on a deck-- if you're going to put high traffic vinyl on it, you don't want something that's reactive. I think the biggest headache for me and my team working with a customer is choosing. Because if you need an ink, we pretty much have the ink.

So insofar as what you're printing, the biggest thing people do with wall types and things like that is number one, get the call out there. So like a wall type, door type-- we've got QR code capability. With the QR code capability, it depends on the application and the ink you've chosen. So some ink will spread more than others, and so then that makes the QR code less reliable.

So part of what we do, and our channel partners do, is sit down with the customer and understand, hey, what are your priorities? What are you trying to achieve? And try to match the best ink to whatever it is you're trying to do. Yeah.

PRESENTER: More questions.

AUDIENCE: Have you considered going outside of the hardscape environment, like a stake layout for grading and dirt work?

ANDY DICKEY: Not at the moment, no. That's always a possibility, I suppose. But we want to perfect-- we have a few focuses. So our primary focus are things like interiors, concrete contracting, you know, like slab edge layout, PT heads, embeds, those kind of things, on the interior side, the obvious things, the track, the drywall, the callouts for the doors, frames, and hardware, reflected ceilings-- you know the whole list. And then mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection callouts-- those types of things.

Those are our primary focuses right now. So printing on concrete, printing on plywood, we could run down the list. And the nice thing about the UI, if you come to the demo room, you'll see that there's a big long list of floor surfaces. So we have-- that controls the amount of volume of ink you're putting down, so you don't have to know microns, you can just say, oh, I'm doing ceramic tile right now. So I'm just going to pick that and print on that.

AUDIENCE: So keeping on the topic of the surface he was at, what about like metal deck insert for hangers? Because lay it on the ground is great, but anything to hang it and get up there before on the deck, to have that layout.

ANDY DICKEY: Yeah, it won't traverse the corrugations in a metal deck. But if you want to lay something above your head-- what our customers are doing, they print on the floor and then drop a laser. So that's how our interiors customers that are doing acoustical ceiling, that's what they do.

Particularly in health care-- if you've got a certain HEPA filter that's got to land in that location, they'll lay out the grid. And then they'll have a callout on the floor that says-- does that answer it?

AUDIENCE: Yeah, but as we see with Trimble, right, how we hit the machines, and we're dropping for deck, for hangers on construction, and everything, as they move towards this, are they starting to look for other trains? Like they say, for dirt, you can start doing your underground or layout for trenching. On decks, like a tank track or something that would come.

ANDY DICKEY: It's a good point.

AUDIENCE: Further with these, so--

ANDY DICKEY: We definitely have an open mind about the next steps. So obviously, we're not allowed to share those things. But I can say that this is just-- there's a reason why this group is not called the HP SitePrint business unit. Right? So I guess I'll just leave it there. We're going to be doing quite a lot of things in the coming years.

Oh, one thing I did have to point out-- like you maybe saw in the videos from Albert that he was referring to this thing called Modus, that was the code name. So I meant to say it back then, and I forgot. So I just wanted to let you know why it's labeled that in the PowerPoint, so there's no confusion.

AUDIENCE: So right now in the market, a lot of the players that are in this are really treating it as a Haas-SaaS type deployment-- where they're coming out providing that service, that software, and then they leave. Is your approach going to be actually shipping these units out for the end customer to go use?

ANDY DICKEY: That's correct. Yeah, so the way the model works-- we sell you the robot, and then there's a service fee by the square foot on top of that. And the service fee gets you unlimited ink. I know that might shock some people-- it's a pain to sell ink, right? Unlimited ink, unlimited printheads, unlimited repairs.

And a lot of what we're doing is just swapping. We don't want to be-- because when you charge by the square foot, it's in your interest to keep the robot running. So we want to make sure you're up all the time. Unlimited support.

So when something happens, the first step is to tap into the robot via the 5G connection that's on there. If they can't fix it that way, then our channel partner will swap it for you. And what they're doing in the shop is doing straightforward repairs. I mean, it's a modular system, so it's very easy to repair. Is that--

AUDIENCE: Yeah, does the cyan run out before any of the other colors?

ANDY DICKEY: That's hilarious. I actually only run the tank out myself once. I usually end up purging it before I actually use it all, like it's a ridiculous amount of ink.

So all right, let's save some time. If there's a question, you can come up and ask me. I want you to see this thing.

So this is the robot here in this case. You see a shipping label on it-- it's a Pelican case. It's got a handle. Just turn it around here. It weighs about 40 pounds in the case.

And you can get up if you want. This isn't church. I guess some people at church will get up and move around, too, right?

So this is the case. We'll start with the mini prism-- this enables the one-man set-up-- one person set-up. I've got to stop doing that, right?

Yeah, just be careful with that. I'm too lazy to recalibrate the bubble level. All right, so this weighs about 22 pounds, or 10 kilos, for the Canadians or whoever else in the audience. All right, Christian, you're taking this. Be very careful with it.

We've got one minute. Why don't you take it, Uis, and show it around. Because we've only got one minute, and they are very hardcore about kicking us out of here.

So some things in here in place for the prism-- spray bottle to wipe down the printheads when you're done for the day. Yeah, we have this controller if you want an emergency stop it. This little thing here is a support for when you're shipping it, yeah.

AUDIENCE: Are there any hard metal indications, like water, heat?

ANDY DICKEY: It's pretty much the same as chalk, you know. Like you're not going to can run it over a puddle of water, but the ink is not going to penetrate the water.

AUDIENCE: But the device, itself?

ANDY DICKEY: You've got to give it the same care that you would give a total station. That's the best rule of thumb. You know, that's not really a scientific way to explain it, but I take care of it just like I take care of a total station.

AUDIENCE: So it prints on concrete?

ANDY DICKEY: Concrete, plywood, tile, yeah. A lot of surfaces. You can print on carpet-- I don't know why you'd want to do that, but--

Yeah, keep asking questions.

AUDIENCE: Seen any creative wrapping with it?

ANDY DICKEY: We have definitely seen some creative wrapping. So that cover is actually cosmetic, and you can use it to-- you can paint it, if you want, vinyl wrap it.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

ANDY DICKEY: Yeah, we're trying to match the marketing with the colors that we do. But if it's your robot, by all means, go crazy.

AUDIENCE: How would [INAUDIBLE]?

ANDY DICKEY: I usually tell people, like it needs to be-- whatever you would do with the chalk line, that's--

PRESENTER: Maybe want to repeat the question.

ANDY DICKEY: So the question was, how dust free-- how clean does the area need to be? I tell people, whatever you're going to do with a chalk line, that needs to be like that. But in reality, it can be dirtier than that, because the ink is not chalk. The ink will penetrate dust. But it's hard to explain just how much dust, because it could be an inch of dust or an inch of debris of some kind.

AUDIENCE: What's the proximity range?

ANDY DICKEY: Well, you have to be-- I guess within-- Uis, you can help me with this-- about 50 feet for the Wi-Fi is a good rule of thumb. 100, you know. I've never exceeded it, so that's why I'm asking. Because I've been out using it in practice, so how much did you do you say the distance you can be for the Wi-Fi for dumping a job onto it, or sending a job?

PRESENTER: 80 feet.

ANDY DICKEY: 80 feet, something like that. The total station, it's a laser. So it can go really far. So whatever the total station will normally do with a rod and prism-- because it's going to differ from total station to total station, and prism to prism. Long-range Bluetooth?

PRESENTER: That goes 500 feet.

ANDY DICKEY: 500 feet for the long-range Bluetooth, which is how it communicates with the total station. So pretty far, yeah. You're more likely for some guy to drop a pallet in your way before you get to that distance, you know what I mean? But I guess the answer to that question in a practical sense is long enough. Because usually, you're going to have people on one half of the deck, if it's 20,000 square feet deck, you're going to have a quarter of it or half of it that you can work on, and the rest is being abused with all sorts of tools and pipes and everything else.

So well let's wrap up here. We can carry it into the hall, these questions in the hall. Or room 268, if you want to continue. But I want to thank everybody for coming in. I know you've got a lot of choices here at AU, thank you for choosing HP.