SmartBarrel Turns Orange Construction Barrels into a “Virtual Superintendent”

Tracking time sheets is a difficult task on a construction site.  Unlike most businesses, you don’t have the luxury of a static workplace with one central area for hourly employees to clock in and out. I recently had a conversation with founder of SmartBarrel, Albert Bou Fadel, and he told me about how his company can help solve a lot of the woes contractors are feeling in regards to time keeping and other field-based reporting tasks.

First, SmartBarrel is exactly what it sounds like.  A typical orange construction barrel turned into a smart tool.  With only a few simple steps, the SmartBarrel device attaches to the top of a standard barrel, creating an instant hub for employee timekeeping throughout the site. 

There are no wires, it’s powered by a small solar panel and has its own modem for wireless communication. The device is also weatherproof and built like “a tank,” according to Fadel, so it can withstand tough jobsite conditions.

Ease of use is a huge factor to any technology adoption, so Fadel designed the device to operate with a simple keypad. To clock in, workers just type their phone number into the keypad and the device snaps a picture of their face for verification.  Once the worker clocks in, they get a text message verifying that they have clocked in at their location. You can see the process in the video below:

In order to set up workers in the software for data collection, the site superintendent or foreman just needs to add the worker’s first name, last name, and phone number into the system.

There are many other time tracking applications and systems available for the construction market currently, but Fadel says that SmartBarrel solves a lot of the common problems those applications face.  Namely, by having the simple physical device on-site, you no longer have to deal with excuses like workers forgetting or failing to charge their smartphones, not having a smartphone, or just the backlash from perceived privacy issues.  He said that, in his experience, workers are very good at finding ways to work around most systems.

courtesy of SmartBarrel

Not only can the app be used for time tracking, but foremen and superintendents can also gather weather data and send text messages to a specified number to create daily logs without needing to download an app at all.

SmartBarrel is currently available on the market and used by specialty trades for time keeping and GCs for head count tracking purposes.  Pricing is based on a monthly fee per device, which includes the rented equipment and software access.

The company is also working on a second device, which is much smaller and magnetic, so it can easily connect onto job trailers or storage boxes, which you can see in the picture below.

What do you think of the SmartBarrel system?  Let me know in the comment section below!

courtesy of SmartBarrel

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