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Information Technology: Fast Cat
Tablet computer allows multiple access to field drawings
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Field personnel can go directly to the specific set of drawings they need, jot down questions right on the drawings and send them electronically to other project partners. |
“It would be nice if it had a hand warmer.” That’s the only suggestion that Jack Jones, a project superintendent with contractor P.J. Dick Inc., Pittsburgh, has for the creator of the Fast Cat field unit. It is the rugged tablet computer he carries with him that holds the construction documents for eight Veterans Administration buildings under construction.
Fast Cat’s founder and creator, Ray Steeb, wanted to improve productivity for people working on the front lines in construction. Steeb, a general manager for many years for Turner Construction before starting his own construction company, saw that supervisors wasted a lot of time going back and forth from their trailer to the jobsite.
Steeb’s goal was to bring the information from the trailer to the field in a way that would be intuitive and seamless for project foremen or superintendents—even if they had never used a computer before.
Fast Cat, based in Wexford, Pa., loads project plans onto a server and downloads them into a tablet computer specifically made for the harsh environment of the construction site. Fast Cat charges $3 to install each construction drawing and leases the Itronix PC tablet for $499 a month.
“When the foreman turns on the tablet, he or she puts in an access code and a pick-list of projects shows up on the screen,” Steeb says. “That could be one project or 10, depending on who’s looking.”
After picking a project, field personnel can go directly to the specific set of drawings they need. Jones says he jots down questions right on the drawings and sends them on to his project engineers. “They’ll review them and send them off to the owner if necessary,” he adds. “Of course, we have cell phones, but it’s much easier to circle an item on the drawing itself and ask the engineer to look at it.”
Even the communications aspect of the program was made with computer novices in mind, Steeb says. “The user just selects a name from a list and attaches the drawing detail, and the e-mail or fax goes out,” he says. “The user does not have to know the e-mail address.”
All additions—the program calls them “bookmarks”—made to the drawings are archived in the company server for future reference. The program even documents when change orders are initialed, with a time-and-date stamp that cannot be overwritten. The ability to write directly on the drawings creates more accurate as-builts.
The efficiency of having all construction drawings in the superintendent’s hands may even save a company the expense of putting a second person in the field. “The superintendent can be very efficient from the beginning,” Steeb says.
Fast Cat
10475 Perry Highway, Suite 107
Wexford, Pa. 15090
978-392-9000
Toll free: 888-336-FAST
www.Fast-cat.net
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