Host: Bob Crossen
Guest: Rajan Ray | Digital Solutions Leader | CDM Smith
Category: 🌐 Digital
Podcast’s Essential Bites:
[15:35] “Everything is evolving to digital. […] Utilities are collecting more data than ever before, something like 2.65 quintillion bytes of data each day. […] There's still that existing problem [in utilities] that's been there for the longest time, […] [which is] a communications and collaboration challenge. And a lot of that […] affects not only the utility in terms of their daily operations, and planning, but also interactions with consulting firms […] if you look at any project timelines schedule, waiting for data, data interactions, data processing, all that is time, which equates to money, which equates to more billable hours to longer project cycles etc. And so the more we can [refine] that and […] provide more value with those data streams, the better. […] [Also] a new generation of […] more digital savvy operators and engineers are […] joining the forces in both utilities and engineering firms. […] So the timing is […] right for doing things smarter and better with […] digital technology solutions.”
[18:58] “The pandemic really was […] a force multiplier to get technology evolve and in use. […] We were working on a treatment plan in the Middle East,and with the travel restrictions were like, what are we going to do? […] And so the use of HoloLens and some of […] that extended reality technology, it was paramount to getting that project rolling and doing that. […] Being able to design and […] see before they're actually in the ground or in the facility […] how [it] works and to model it prior to see where you need to position machinery […] is huge. […] It's a big shift and a positive shift, in my opinion, of really being more efficient with projects, especially projects where there's a geographical distance between the consultant and the client.”
[22:59] “The Lead and Copper Rule […] is a big deal and there's a lot of resources and investments going into it. We did a project with city of Newark, New Jersey, and we shortened the timeframe of the service line replacement from 10 years to 2 1/2 years, just by being a little bit smarter with construction management, using GIS […], having dashboards and field data and devices, all […] talking synchronous, and getting things done just so much more efficiently. […] So the visualization is […] actually establishing actions from those software tools is […] where I see […] the industry going.”
[29:56] “I really think […] we're just touching the surface around […] digital twins and the smart water side of things. […] The cloud is kind of changing the speed to implement, the affordability of […] getting up these systems and the simplicity. […] What's gonna win is simplicity is going to be king. […] So what's neat about […] simplicity to your utility, you still won't have the time for operators and their engineers to spend days on training or go through training manuals, you need […] simple tools to get specific jobs done.”
Rating: 💧💧
🎙️ Full Episode: Apple | Spotify
🕰️ 38 min | 🗓️ 05/20/2021
✅ Time saved: 36 min
