Background
The European retail giant wanted to scale their presence in the region, namely in France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. They needed an efficient tool to monitor expansion projects. The goal was to leverage technology and do away with legacy reporting and archiving. They were introduced to HoloBuilder™, now FARO Sphere XG, in late 2020, beginning their digital transformation journey.
Challenge
The goal was to overcome three major obstacles: manually populated and error-prone spreadsheets to track progress, expensive and time-consuming site visits across the continent, and bad collaboration between teams.
Solution
The company’s construction arm piloted reality capture on a project in Barcelona, Spain, in December 2020. It involved a three-story building with an area of over 17,000 square feet (1,579 m²). The new technology allowed the retail company to leverage:
- Fast and easy captures of 360° photos to monitor progress.
- An up-to-date, remotely accessible digital jobsite.
- Input from all team members and stakeholders.
“We started using 360° photo capture during Covid-19 restrictions when traveling was not an option, and this is when we first experienced the outsized impact of monitoring our projects virtually. It has since become an indispensable tool in reducing travel time and expenses, and for effectively delivering our projects on time and under budget.”
– Director of Construction -
Results
With the success of the Barcelona project, 360° photos became their primary site capturing method. Utilizing HoloBuilder, now Sphere XG, unlocked new levels of efficiency for the retailers, enabling accurate planning and execution of expansions. Among the key benefits are:
- A 50% reduction in site visits, resulting in cost savings and sustainability goals.
- Realizing 50 to 75 expansion projects annually since 2019 across 14 European nations ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet.
- Facilitating continuous improvement and adoption of HoloBuilder by all 20 internal teams in 14 countries.
