Various efforts have been made to innovate the civil engineering and construction industry.
LANDLOG was born to help solve more problems that came to light in the process.
Komatsu was one of the first to use ICT to improve productivity at construction sites.
Komatsu, which has many customers in the civil engineering and construction industries, was one of the first in the industry to focus on using ICT to solve problems. In 2001, Komatsu made KOMTRAX, which uses the IoT to constantly monitor the operational data of our construction equipment at construction sites around the world, a standard feature. In addition, the construction equipment itself has been upgraded in terms of functionality. By combining 3D design data and ICT construction equipment has made semi-automatic operation possible, significantly improving construction efficiency. However, there were some issues that came to light during our efforts. For example, improving the embankment capacity of a single piece of ICT construction equipment will not improve the overall efficiency of the construction process if the transport capacity is the same. To solve these issues, we continue to update our solutions that organically connect the entire construction site with construction equipment, and we are now offering Digital Transformation Smart Construction.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s “i-Construction” for attractive construction sites
The government has also set out to resolve these issues surrounding the civil engineering and construction industry. At the first Investment in the Future Conference on September 12, 2016, he declared a 20% increase in productivity on construction sites by 2025. Therefore, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has launched “i-Construction” as a great opportunity to improve productivity. Among the “top-runner measures” formulated in this plan, the “comprehensive use of ICT (ICT earthworks)” is at the top of the list. It is expected to revitalize the industry by leveraging the knowledge gained from earlier efforts.
The requirement was an “open” platform that brings together internal and external forces.
The movements of these countries have helped many players to embark on initiatives that utilize ICT, but in most cases, they have limited the functions of their respective areas of expertise. In order to improve the entire construction production process, it has become clear that we need a vessel to connect these dots into a “line” or even a “surface”. It was also felt that the resources of players indirectly involved in the civil engineering and construction industry, in addition to the traditional construction equipment and construction process-centric approach, would be essential. Therefore, Komatsu separated the “function for collecting, accumulating and analyzing information on the entire construction production process at each construction site” from “KomConnect”, a platform operated by Komatsu, and released it to the public. NTT DoCoMo, SAP Japan and Optim, who have been working together on the IoT for many years, have joined forces to create a new platform called “LANDLOG” that encompasses the entire construction production process.
