Hilti system for on-site efficiency
6 July 2022
It has been estimated that the UK construction industry directly accounts for 10 per cent of the country’s emissions and that it influences no less than 47% of all emissions through its activities.
The blog has reported on many examples of how new technology can help contractors and suppliers boost on-site efficiency, not just giving economic benefits, but also offering environmental improvements as work is done smarter and consumes less energy.
Power tool manufacturer Hilti states that, to raise productivity and efficiency, more and more construction firms are increasingly looking at digital methods, a trend that has accelerated in the wake of the pandemic.
To overcome challenges that can arise because users implement different digital technologies to solve specific problems but use software systems that not interact, Hilti has developed a number of solutions.
These include the previously announced acquisition of the project management software Fieldwire, the partnership with Trackunit in the heavy equipment telematics space, and the launch of a new 22V tool battery platform with Data Drive Services as part of its standard offering. Hilti also offers the software solution ON!Track, launched in 2015, for managing construction assets by simplifying processes and workflows for customers across the world.
The company has now introduced ON!Track Unite, a new open API (application programming interface) for software integration. Hilti says that this, along with the open API from Fieldwire and the Fieldwire/ON!Track integration, enables data to flow from the field to the office and across other customers’ applications - mainly construction business management software or construction Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
The open API is designed to facilitate seamless exchange of data between ON!Track, Fieldwire, and a wide range of other applications that customers use to run their businesses. Clients can use off-the-shelf integrations available on the marketplace, or create their own integrations in a flexible manner by leveraging the ON!Track Unite open API.
Hilti says that developers can rely on guidance and modern API documentation on the ON!Track Unite Hub to build scalable integrations and that relevant construction software providers can offer to joint customers a pre-built integration between ON!Track and the application they develop or distribute, and be listed on the integration marketplace. This already includes integrations such as the one with Fieldwire and Procore.
Rainer Ringgenberg, general manager for GB and head of region Northern Europe said: “Hilti invests in software as a way to increase customer productivity, and customers expect us to provide options to integrate other software products. With the launch of ON!Track Unite our customers can truly take productivity to new heights.”
ON!Track Unite is designed to remove the need for customers having to duplicate manual data entries, as well as helping to correctly allocate asset and consumables costs. In addition, the newly launched Nuron 22 V battery platform sends to the cloud during every charge, securely and automatically, data related to tool usage, charging location and battery health. This information can be accessed on mobile devices and desktops via Hilti’s ON!Track software platform, and relevant tool data will be accessible via ON!Track Unite open API in the near future.
