Plugging the
Visibility Gap
Turning remote equipment monitoring into a daily discipline
By Joe Frigo
Ask an operations manager why a job went sideways and the answer is rarely“ lack of talent.” More often, the culprit is a pin‐hole leak in visibility: a spreader bar double‐booked, a crew member missing a certification or the wrong paperwork still sitting on a dispatcher’ s desk. None of this happens because people are careless. It happens because the operation is a vessel with dozens of small leaks that drain time and margin. Patch one hole and five more open.
Most owners attack leaks one at a time. They buy a sensor, bolt on a point solution or build a spreadsheet. Maybe an immediate hole is plugged, but a new one opens because the job is scheduled on a white board, the work order is on paper, a job hazard analysis isn’ t filled out, or the stack of paperwork lives on someone’ s desk and still needs to be processed. The cost shows up as idle cranes,
overtime and invoices that linger unbilled.
Global studies confirm what we see on the yard: 98 % of construction projects run late or over budget and 96 % of the data we generate on those jobsites is never reused. For crane owners, that lost data translates directly into wasted motion.
Technology alone does not fix those operational problems. Daily operational discipline does. Sensors, apps, tags and technology earn their keep only when they fit into workflows crews already trust. Real gains happen when data flows into the daily operations that guide decisions long before a crane leaves the yard.
Remote monitoring often promises quick fixes, but its value must be measured against how a company operates. If the technology does not fit, it is asking the company to change. Instead, companies should seek tools that enhance how they already work.
When technology moves in parallel with operations, three clear benefits follow:
• First, resources are leveraged to their full potential. That means more than just equipment. It includes people, documents tied to the job, certifications for crews and assets and smarter scheduling. It is about aligning all these resources efficiently and removing the discrepancies that cause delays and frustrate customers.
• Second, operations become
12 September 5, 2025 www. contractorshotline. com