Hyundai Engineering and Construction has begun upgrading its AI- and big data-based quality management system.
The company plans to expand the functions of Q-Pocket, a smart, integrated inspection system developed in 2021, to cover all areas of quality management and develop it into a collaborative platform where clients, inspection teams, contractors and partner companies can share information in real time.
Q-Pocket is a system for preparing inspection and testing plans, inspecting materials and managing concrete cracks via mobile devices and the web. When a defect occurs, it can handle everything from preparing a report on site to verifying it and coordinating action by partner companies. This upgrade adds a concrete quality management system, QCON v3, as well as new functions for managing defects such as material segregation and exposed rebar, and for managing factory-made products used in off-site construction (OSC).
In particular, the company applied AI-based intelligent character recognition (ICR) technology to enable quality managers to automatically register handwritten information using photographs. The goal is to improve data-entry accuracy and work efficiency.
QCON v3, a core function, has evolved from its 2018 launch, which enabled inspection results to be entered on mobile devices, through v2, which added big-data-based features such as real-time checks on ready-mixed concrete shipments and mix status, quality indices by supplier, and concrete-strength predictions. The latest version links to weather forecast data from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) to plan concrete placement according to temperature and rainfall, and includes functions for curing concrete in cold weather and managing defects and cracks.
This has brought the entire concrete quality management process together in one system, from planning concrete placement to monitoring ready-mixed concrete production and shipments, curing, defect management, compressive-strength testing and crack management.
Hyundai Engineering and Construction is also working with specialized IT company Softzion to expand the technology’s adoption. Last August, the two signed an agreement covering the use of three QCON-related patents, enabling the technology to be used throughout the construction industry.
A Hyundai Engineering and Construction official said, “Through continuous system upgrades and technology development, we have systematized the entire on-site quality management process,” adding, “We will continue to advance AI-based analytical functions and systems for using on-site data, and work to expand the use of smart quality management technologies and achieve 100% adoption at construction sites.”
Reporter Sohyoung Kim compact@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
