Milwaukee Tool, Autodesk Integration Raises Stakes In Equipment Management Systems

Just days after we posted our Briefing on Equipment Management Systems indicating that project management and equipment management integrations would be the next big opportunity in the sector, major construction industry project management system player, Autodesk, and major tool and equipment company, Milwaukee Tool, announced a partnership to integrate Autodesk’s Construction Cloud software with Milwaukee Tool’s One-Key system. As we indicated in our previous briefing, moves like this are potentially transformative in the construction asset tracking and management arena because they hold out the possibility of going beyond predictive maintenance, geolocation, and utilization reporting for tools and equipment. They introduce the possibility actually to automate data gathering for processes like managing cost resource loaded schedules, reducing double entry between systems, and proving more powerful analytics around critical processes like quality and craft productivity.

Manufacturers, Dealers, Rental Shops and Others Vie For the Equipment Management Market.

This kind of tie-up is not without precedent in the equipment management and project management sectors, but it does raise the stakes for tool and equipment manufacturers, rental companies, dealers, pure play asset tracking and management companies, and project management software companies that are all vying for dominance in the space. For challengers and incumbents, the potential dollars involved are big. If, for example, the new data flows impact buying behaviors, the impact could be in the billions of dollars on equipment sales, alone. According to Stastica, the global market for construction equipment in 2020 was a whopping $133 billion dollars, with one player, Caterpillar, generating $23 billion in sales from the business.

If new data flows impact buying behaviors, the impact could be in the billions of dollars, on equipment sales, alone.

BuiltWorlds has long predicted this trend, and the implications for the players on both sides of the siloing wall that up until recently has divided the worlds of construction equipment management from the worlds of project management are profound.  While software is certainly critical to the industry’s transformation, like other major manufacturing industry transformations, the Buildings and Infrastructure Industry will only truly see significant reductions in cost, increases in quality, and improvements in its labor problems when it learns how to make more effective use of machinery and the necessary accompanying better materials.

The Industry is Just Beginning to Understand The Implications of the Data Integration between Equipment and Project Management

In an industry where the construction managers are typically not even the companies that own the equipment and tools, the divide between project management and equipment management has been wide. However, as project managers and estimators in construction management companies begin to get better data about and from the tools and equipment on their projects, we will see those groups begin to affect rental and buying decisions in entirely new ways. In the past couple of years, we have showcased initiatives from companies like Mortenson, Haskell, Vinci and others around different ways to leverage smarter equipment for better project results. In many cases, these efforts involve tie-ups between tech companies and general contractor VDC groups, with traditional stakeholders in the construction equipment management space or equipment manufacturers getting engaged in new and different ways. As groups like Milwaukee Tool and Autodesk continue to punch holes in the wall that separates the data in these two worlds, the result could also be some significant shifts within contractor organizations in the years to come as well.

To help us better understand the integration and the potential for game changing benefits from better integrations between equipment management systems and project management systems, Andrew Lambert, Group Program Manager for Milwaukee One-Key and Sophat Sam, Integration Solutions Engineer for Autodesk will be joining BuiltWorlds’ Mike Latiner for our November Smart Job Sites Analyst Call, November 4th at 10 am, central time. Join us then and every week, as we look to understand the opportunities and challenges of the changes taking place in the world of Buildings and Infrastructure.