Bituminous Roadways Wins with Technology Build for FedEx in Minnesota
BY Vicki Speed
The newly constructed, 217,000-square-foot FedEx Ground Distribution Center in Rosemount, Minnesota, may look like just a new place to sort and distribute packages. A little deeper dive reveals a powerful demonstration of how construction technology and data, especially when they are interconnected, can drive better project—and ultimately, product—delivery.
Asphalt paving firm Bituminous Roadways, Twin Cities, was tasked by R.J. Ryan Construction with paving 282,000 square yards of surface around the new facility—the largest asphalt parking lot project in the company’s history. The job required 204,000 tons of rock and 63,500 tons of asphalt.
From initial bid to delivery, the entire project was facilitated via a cohesive technology workflow that helped Bituminous Roadways deliver this award-winning project with efficiency, ease and accuracy.
Prepped with Purpose
Bituminous Roadways has long taken a strategic and transformative approach to projects. It’s a foundational principle that has kept the company at the top of the industry for more than 75 years. In today’s environment, increasingly connected technology is both integral and essential to the firm.
For the FedEx paving project, estimating software—in this case B2W Estimate—helped Bituminous Roadways do more than win the bid. Bid data went directly to the B2W performance tracking and scheduling applications to help managers establish daily field logs and assign resources according to how the job was envisioned in the bid.
“Because these systems are connected, data moves seamlessly,” explained Kim Scales, IS technology manager. “This allows us to collaborate more effectively across departments and to eliminate redundant data entry and all the wasted time and opportunity for error that go along with that.”
Data transfer efficiency continues from the field to the Viewpoint Spectrum ERP system. Labor hours, production quantities and material and equipment utilization, for example, are imported directly to the accounting system after they are recorded on daily electronic field logs.
Nate Larson, construction technologist with Bituminous Roadways, said, “Our dispatchers, foremen and superintendents rely on the real-time updates and digital visualization of the scheduling software to coordinate crews, equipment, materials and up to 200 trucks daily during peak season. The daily visibility into project progress via the performance tracking software is especially important on long-term projects where scope creep can be a concern.”
In parallel, a Bituminous Roadways survey team took a Trimble® SPS986 GNSS Smart Antenna rover with a Trimble TSC7 Controller running Trimble Siteworks Software for field measurements, as well as a Trimble SPS930 Universal Total Station. A Trimble R750 GNSS Modular Receiver base station was already set up on site. And, for one of the first times, a drone was added to the field survey workflow to verify subgrade and calibrate the surface conditions.
Bituminous Roadways was awarded the 2023 Commercial Parking Lot Paving Excellence Award from The Minnesota Asphalt Paving Association (MAPA) for the FedEx paving project.
Subgrade Highs and Lows
At the beginning of the FedEx project in 2022, Bituminous Roadways had invested in a drone and Trimble Stratus Software for as-builts and progress scans. Because of its scope and scale, the project became somewhat of a proving ground for the technology and its integration into the operational workflow.
Larson explained, “Initially we flew the entire site to verify subgrade was to spec (plus or minus 1/10-foot). Since we were new to the aerial data, we verified that data with the rover. The imagery aligned well with the ground survey data—and helped us find several issues, such as low drainage areas that would have caused warranty issues in the future. If we didn’t have these tools to find issues early on, we would likely have delays and change orders down the road.”
He pointed to one particular condition. “Because we had the rover walking the site, we found a 2-foot grade bust on one side that ended up delaying the project about a month as we waited for a redesign. If we hadn’t caught these types of issues early on, we probably would have overrun this project by 10%. Today, drone surveys are a standard tool for most jobs,” he added.
A Blade of Control
Once the team was ready to begin paving, Bituminous Roadways shifted gears to jobsite production, also a technology enabled workflow that works in parallel with the bidding, estimating and jobsite planning.
The project team received a digital model from the customer that was then built out in AutoCAD. That model was shared with Trimble Business Center to develop the machine guidance files.
“We’ve used machine guidance solutions on our equipment for so long that I think we often underestimate the value, particularly on a large paving job,” Larson said. “It wasn’t that long ago, we’d send out two operators with a dozer and a motor grader to install the aggregate. On a project this big, we would have needed four people. Overall, I think our efficiency improvement is around 30%.”
For the FedEx job, Bituminous Roadways used a Cat 140M motor grader equipped with the Trimble Earthworks Grade Control Platform and a Cat D6T dozer equipped with the Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System. The models were sent to the machines seamlessly via Trimble WorksManager Software.
Of particular benefit because of the job size was the Trimble Earthworks “autos” or automatics mode. In this case, the operator controls the machine’s speed and steering, while the Trimble Earthworks system controls the blade so that it stays on grade, allowing operators to achieve high accuracy grade at a consistent rate.
“We use WorksManager on a daily basis to transport files and just navigate to different job sites,” Larson said. “As work is completed, whether it’s laying aggregate or paving, that data is uploaded back to Trimble Business Center.” At the time, the group was also evaluating the benefits of Trimble WorksOS Software for jobsite management.
“We tested it [WorksOS] out on the FedEx project to track job progress from the blades and dozers and to see how fast we’re putting in the rock, etc.,” Larson confirmed. “We see that technology as a way to get better insight into our productivity, a real-time estimate of our capabilities, whether it’s installing rock tolerancing or checking operator efficiency. It could even help with the takeoffs to supplement the drone data—and there’s no data disconnect. Everything just moves seamlessly from one system to another.”
Ecosystem of Opportunity
Bituminous Roadways met and even exceeded tolerance specifications on the FedEx paving project.
“Typically, it’s a lot harder to hit estimated productions on the paving side. With this workflow, we are pretty dialed in—and that showed on the FedEx job,” Larson said. “We hit our production per crew hour thresholds, even with some additional training for our new operators.”
The advantages of technology such as grade control has them considering investment in 3D milling machines, skid blades and paving systems, while also looking to expand the use of drones in more creative ways and further build connections between various solutions.
Scales added, “We do over 1,000 jobs in a nine-month period in any given year. We have to be efficient and cost-effective to get all of that work done.”
Larson concluded, “Right now, from a data perspective, the schedule is our link—and that drives our digital workflow from the start, both on the operational side and in the field with survey and paving. It gives everyone, from the survey and civil team to the superintendent, a starting point. While our digital workflow is working well—it’s a source of continuous improvement and it helps to have integrated solutions and a more cohesive technology ecosystem to build on.”
Vicki Speed is a freelance writer covering the construction industry.