Exploring the Application of QR Codes in Construction Engineering
Original: https://cli.im/article/detail/1889
Nowadays, QR codes are familiar to everyone, from kindergarten children to square dancers. From mobile payments widely used in daily life aspects like clothing, food, housing, and transportation, to mature applications in various processes of factory production and manufacturing, and even to integrated services in healthcare such as appointment registration, triage, diagnosis, medication pickup, and evaluation—we constantly enjoy the convenience brought by QR codes. If used appropriately in construction engineering, QR codes can also help us achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Applications of QR Codes in Construction Engineering
1. Project Presentation
We work every day on a project that we will be immensely proud of and remember forever. To introduce this highly distinctive and representative project to others, we can create a large, highly personalized QR code and place it in the most prominent location at the project's main entrance. Every visitor can scan it to learn about the project overview, key construction challenges, construction layout, construction processes, project milestones, and more.
During project negotiations or bidding processes, we can categorize the content to be presented and create QR codes accordingly. This allows leaders or clients to scan the codes to understand the project details, eliminating the need to carry stacks of documents or a computer.
During the construction of the Chengdu XX District Elderly and Disabled Assistance Center project, QR codes containing the project overview and information about participating units were created and posted at the main entrances and exits, making it convenient for people to scan and learn more.
2. Technical Briefings
Currently, the knowledge level of labor workers is relatively low. After each technical briefing, workers either cannot remember the details or fail to fully understand them. Additionally, the high mobility of labor workers means that if personnel change mid-project, new workers may miss the initial briefing.
During the construction of the Chengdu XX District Elderly and Disabled Assistance Center project, after each technical briefing, the briefing documents and related materials were converted into QR codes and printed at the daily morning meeting area. This allowed for real-time updates of various technical briefings and enabled workers to scan the codes for secondary learning.
3. Component Management
What should you do if you suspect an issue with the cross-section of a steel beam about to be lifted but don't have time to go to the office to check? How can you quickly contact the factory's quality control manager if a batch of newly arrived components has quality issues but you don't have their contact information? What if someone on-site frequently struggles to understand blueprints? How can you avoid carrying stacks of drawings for every component inspection? Before QR codes, handling these issues in construction projects was entirely different—complex, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and often ineffective. Now, the solution is simple: require manufacturers to attach a QR code to each component, containing information such as component number, length, quality, weight, cross-section, and drawings. By scanning the code on-site, the above problems can be easily resolved.
During the construction of the Chengdu XX District Elderly and Disabled Assistance Center project, for manufacturers unable to batch-produce QR codes for components, we created QR codes for some critical and key components ourselves. The manufacturers attached these codes to the components, making it easy to verify component information at any time.
4. Construction Plans
There are numerous construction plans, such as those for column anchor bolts, first-stage columns, welding, temporary electrical safety, winter and rainy season construction, etc. What if construction personnel don't want to read them? What if they often can't remember the details after reading? What if the plans are too粗略 and others have suggestions? Besides distributing electronic versions or printing thick stacks of plans, we can also convert various construction plans into QR codes.
During the construction of the Chengdu XX District Elderly and Disabled Assistance Center project, construction plans were converted into QR codes and updated regularly, allowing construction teams to access the latest versions of the plans anytime.
5. Equipment Management
What if you don't understand the various parameters of welding equipment? How to manage the numerous firefighting器材 effectively? What if no one conducts timely inspections of on-site equipment? QR codes can help solve these problems. By creating QR codes for equipment such as welding machines, distribution boxes, various firefighting器材, and tower cranes, you can include not only basic information and key parameters but also inspection records from responsible personnel of subcontractors, general contractors, supervisors, and owners. This greatly facilitates the management of various on-site equipment and ensures safety throughout the construction process.
During the construction of the Chengdu XX District Elderly and Disabled Assistance Center project, a QR code was posted on each piece of on-site equipment. The code contained inspection results, check items, descriptions, on-site photos, and videos. Inspectors could scan the code to fill in inspection details, promptly identify issues, and facilitate on-site management and safety.
6. Personnel Management
What if there are too many on-site construction workers to remember? How to track whether a specific worker has received safety training, committed major违规 operations, participated in emergency drills, or received personal protective equipment? What if worker information is scattered, difficult to organize, prone to changes, loss, or damage? QR codes can also address these issues. For example, by converting each person's identity information and various activity records into a QR code and attaching it to their safety helmet.
During the construction of the Chengdu XX District Elderly and Disabled Assistance Center project, every on-site worker had their own QR code. By scanning the code on their safety helmets, responsible personnel at various professional levels and hierarchies could easily access relevant worker information.
After each scan, the backend records the activity and generates various statistical data, allowing project managers to easily grasp project dynamics. Beyond the aforementioned applications in construction engineering, QR codes can also be used in areas such as actual measurement and recording (scanning to input real-time measured data and generating inspection records), component positioning, and report management. On-site management is complex and cumbersome. If QR codes are used effectively, WeChat—commonly used for chatting and posting on Moments—can serve as a mobile work platform for every construction worker, facilitating on-site management.
The emergence of QR codes has brought new changes to our lives. Applying QR codes to the construction industry also brings significant transformations and conveniences to the presentation and management of various processes. As a core sensing technology of the Internet of Things, an important information entry point for the internet, and a key means of acquiring big data resources, QR codes have been widely applied and developed across various sectors of the national economy, continuously giving rise to new industries, models, and formats, and becoming a new highlight in the global digital economy.
Against the backdrop of the mobile terminal revolution, QR codes hold immense development value and broad application potential. With the widespread adoption of 5G, the use of mobile internet will become even more extensive, fostering more QR code application scenarios. It is believed that QR codes will continue to bring more changes to the future construction industry.
Article source: WeChat Public Platform "Chengdu Engineering Cost Association" 《Exploring the Application of QR Codes in Construction Engineering (Second Prize)》