PLEASED, BUT NOT SATISFIED The Kiewit Innovation Newsletter

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KIEWIT INNOVATION

Scanning Electrical Transformers When the MECT Federal Way Link Extension project needed to procure a transformer that was interchangeable with existing owner equipment they worked with the Geospatial Services team to capture LiDAR scans of existing spare equipment and created 3D overlays to identify variances.

Documenting Road Conditions  After winning the 75-mile Gen Tie Transmission Line portion of the Highbanks Wind Farm project, Kiewit Power Delivery needed an efficient way to document the condition of both road surfaces and side ditches before starting construction. The team found a way to create a custom Google Earth map of the rural roads which included interactive "street view" functionality.

Hydraulic Grounding Rod Driving  Soil conditions on the Drake Temporary Natural Gas Generation project in Colorado made it difficult for crews to drive ground rods with handheld tools. The team learned that hydraulic driving attachments like those available from Vibe Drive improve efficiency, safety, and quality.

Autonomous Survey Point Marking  The Innovation team recently helped Kiewit Power Constructors test two autonomous surveying point marking robots, the Civdot+ and TinySurveyor, on the Gemini solar project near Las Vegas. Read the report to find out which robot could navigate the terrain and which one failed miserably.

Visualization  Did you know the Kiewit Innovation team publishes detailed reports on emerging technology trends? Check out this month's report on Visualization, which includes 3D Modeling, BIM, Digital Twins, and Extended Reality (VR/AR/MR).

Tell us about your Kiewit innovation so we can help you get it documented and published. Click here to get started. When we publish your report you'll earn 50 points you can spend on one or more items listed here.

Kiewit Innovator Spotlight Timothy Fairman Senior Technical L&D Program Manager Kiewit Technology Group (KTG)

I believe innovation is the process of seeking answers to questions. Being open to questioning assumptions and not being afraid to ask "why" are important parts of the process. There's a reason Kiewit has existed for over 138 years. The company would not have survived so long without being able to innovate. Whether that involved finding new and better ways to build work, partnering with or acquiring companies that provided value, or taking calculated risks with new technology to differentiate us from the competition, Kiewit found ways to thrive. While I love to read about the inventive ways our company uses technology to overcome problems, I tend to focus on the importance of people in the innovation process. The recent realignment of the Kiewit Technology Group to better connect us with the business is incredibly exciting and has the potential to create a tsunami of innovation that impacts the entire enterprise. We just need to work together to ask the right questions and give the right people the resources to find answers.

Do you want to be featured in a future edition of the newsletter? Contact innovate@kiewit.com.

KIEWIT NEWS

LSA Visual Reference Guide  The LSA Visual Reference Guide is a guide for our craft members to use in the field. The book visually demonstrates what a SAFE operation looks like with each LSA Category Safeguard applied to it, and what an UNSAFE operation would look like if it lacks that specific safeguard.

Utopia Transit Project Workshop  A two-day event envisioned, planned and hosted by Kiewit Infrastructure Engineering and attended by people from around the world envisioned how transit projects could be delivered more effectively and more efficiently.

Engineering Software Initiative  As part of this year’s company business initiatives, the Engineering Software Initiative team engaged with key stakeholders across the Engineering and Technology Groups to review current software spend, identify overlapping software functionality, and develop a governance tool suite, resulting in $1.6 million in potential savings.

KSN Supplier Insights Report  The Corporate Contracts KSN Supplier Insights report is now live! This new report gives you a quick snapshot into Kiewit's corporate agreements and provides convenient links to agreements stored in GEP.

P2P PO Layout  GEP began changing the PO PDF in mid-December. Over 140 company codes were changed and the remainder of the company codes will be completed the first week of January.  The layout delivers better use of real estate which means fewer pages, with redundant and irrelevant fields no longer visible.

Do you have news you'd like to share in our next issue? Send it to innovate@kiewit.com.

HISTORY

Resteel Tying Jig (1996) In 1996, Kiewit subsidiaries Gilbert Central and Gilbert Western project personnel designed an innovative resteel tying jig to efficiently tie 1,600,000 pounds of structural reinforcement for the Highway 71 project near Chester, Arkansas.

Do you enjoy the monthly innovation history article? If so, check out the Innovation History timeline where you'll find every history article we've ever published organized by decade.

INDUSTRY NEWS

USDOTs Every Day Counts The US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has announced the latest round of transportation innovations through the Every Day Counts (EDC) Program.

Battery Storage Units  Kier becomes the UK’s first business to switch to the use of Battery Storage Units (BSUs) to reduce carbon emissions across its sites. Following a trial of ten battery storage units on sites, Kier established a monthly saving per unit of seven tones of carbon, an overall reduction in generator run time of 59%, and a cost saving of over £2,000.

Basalt Rebar  Over the past year Skanska has carried out a trial on a low carbon reinforced concrete – made with no cement and no steel. Cement-free concrete with basalt fibre reinforcement was used on a temporary haul road for construction vehicles. Analysis, now published, shows no loss of resilience or product performance.

Self-healing Concrete Using Water Treatment Sludge  Water treatment sludge could be used to prevent 117,000 kilometers of sewer pipes in Australia from cracking in the future, without any intervention by humans, helping to save $1.4 billion in annual maintenance costs.

Steel Climbing Robot A trio of researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, working with a colleague at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has designed and built a working quadruped robot with magnetized feet that can climb on the walls and ceilings of metal buildings and structures.

Want more? Click here to browse other interesting articles and videos about new technology trends from the last 30 days.

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