Why "Heat and Margin"? — Thoughts from the Front Lines of Construction DX
Why "Heat and Margin"? — Thoughts from the Front Lines of Construction DX
There are two origins for why I am drawn to IT.
The first is the desire to eliminate repetitive tasks. When I first started working, I spent my days applying labels and felt, "I don't want to spend my precious life doing this kind of repetition." That was the beginning of everything, when I learned to automate tasks using Excel macros. Since then, I have been passionate about using technology to eliminate waste and allow people to spend their time on more valuable things.
The second is my curiosity—the desire to be interested in everything and to get to the bottom of all things. I want to know what I don't know and peek behind the mechanisms. That impulse has been the driving force behind my diving into new technologies and fields.
As an extension of that, when I focused on the construction industry and walked the job sites, it became clear to me why construction DX is lagging and why it is said to have low productivity.
Construction work does not exist only at a desk. Site supervisors, managers, and engineers—most of them work on the "site." Therefore, I believe the truly necessary theme is not just clearing desk work with AI, but the deeper issue of how to perform DX on the site itself.
This may be a major difference from other industries. I felt while walking the sites that this might be why construction struggles to adopt DX and AI, and why it is said to have low productivity.
However, looking at the world, there is now rapidly growing interest in physical AI (AI that perceives and acts upon the real world). What we are tackling first is the entry point of that "perception." It is about using AI to "see and understand" actual construction sites. As a first step, we aim to go from LiDAR and images to BIM and CAD. We are turning the site itself into digital data. And beyond that, we will connect it to AI that supports the actual work on site.
Even so, there is still untouched inefficiency remaining at the last mile of the site. This is the very origin of "eliminating waste" that I have always faced. We want to pick those up one by one as well.
I am betting on this work. So that it brings joy to people in the construction industry. And so that everyone who handles it can lead a prosperous life.
Last year, the founding members decided on a keyword: "Curiosity Challenge." Looking back now, these were the two origins of my own. Heat is Challenge. Margin is Curiosity. Curiosity is born from margin, and curiosity becomes the heat of challenge. That is why I named this place "Heat and Margin."
What am I pouring that "heat" into now?
Turning actual construction sites into data easily with an iPhone or LiDAR, and into drawings or BIM. And picking up the "untouched inefficiencies" remaining on site one by one. — I have summarized the story of actually trying my hand at this here.
▶ No drawings? You can still start with just an iPhone — Two examples of site DX and recruiting team members
If you think, "We could do that at our site," please feel free to reach out as a co-creation partner to solve it together.
▶ One Technology Japan: onetech.jp
Also, almost every day, I distribute construction news from Vietnam that catches my eye, written from the perspective of a Japanese company so it can be "read in 3 minutes."
▶ Understand in 3 minutes: Vietnam Construction News
WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY TODAY!