PATRICIA RESER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

The project’s design and construction team included Skanska USA Building’s Oregon operations., OPSIS Architecture, Gerding Edlen, and Bratton Masonry. This project had both 8” and 12” normal weight concrete masonry units being used and Due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements and 2-man lift requirements, the project was at a standstill as the team looked for a solution. Working with the CR implementation team they decided to start with 6 MULEs on this project, which was the first time for both the GC and the mason contractor.

Once the team was training and Construction Robotics Best Practices were implemented the field staff fully embraced the MULEs and recognized immediate productivity gains.

Bratton masonry added 3 additional MULEs to the project after seeing massive results, bringing the total to 9.

By utilizing the MULEs the teams were able to gain many significant benefits including safety to the mason, reduced fatigue, maintain social distancing, and improved productivity.  The teams went from 75 12” block per day per 2 man team, to 89 12” block per day per mason.  That is over a 100% increase in productivity! We are all looking for ways to innovate and optimize our efforts. The MULE empowers all trades to re-think the way they perform repetitive heavy lifting, empowering teams to increase productivity and reduce injury/fatigue.

Construction Robotics (CR) is a world leader in robotics, semi-autonomous and lift-assist equipment robotics and automation equipment focused on the construction industry.