Suffolk Construction To Use Vela Systems Field Software On Nine New Projects

Vela Systems, a developer of mobile field software for the AECO (Architecture-Engineering-Contractor-Owner) industry, today announced a major expansion of Vela Systems’ usage with Suffolk Construction Company, Inc., one of the leading privately-held building contracting firms in the country. Suffolk, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, will use Vela Systems’ software to manage field operations on nine new projects in four states. Vela Systems’ mobile field software replaces the notebooks and tubes of drawings normally carried by construction personnel with software that was designed from the ground up for use on a Tablet PC. Using a special pen or stylus, field personnel can write directly on the screen in their own handwriting, and the Tablet automatically converts this writing to electronic text. The software suite includes modules that replace each of the field tasks that take place on a job site, including work lists, punch lists, field reports and safety inspections. With Vela Systems, customers have accelerated project delivery by up to two days per month and saved millions of dollars in averted litigation for more than 300 projects from Las Vegas to Dubai. Last year, Suffolk Construction used Vela Systems to ensure quality services on an aggressive schedule and budget during the transformation of the 19th century-era Charles Street Jail in Boston into the elegant 21st Century, four-star Liberty Hotel. Suffolk used Vela Systems on its Trilogy project as well, which was a 1 million square-foot mixed-use project in the heart of Boston’s Fenway Park area that was completed in 2006. With the Liberty Hotel and Trilogy projects, Suffolk has helped bring construction field administration out of the paper-based era and into the digital age using Vela Systems. Working together, Suffolk and Vela are paving a new way to deliver construction services that consistently exceed client expectations. Through its use of Vela Systems’ software, Suffolk found that it was able to: * Save time: Suffolk was able to cut in half the amount of time spent capturing, consolidating and distributing field notes, from four hours each day to just two hours.
* Track the Cost of Quality™: With Vela Systems, Suffolk now knows if there is work that still needs attention on any given job and how much it will cost to complete or correct that work. With this information, Suffolk can hold subcontractors accountable before they leave the site and can rest assured that the software’s automatically-created audit trail will clearly document and record past construction activities.
* Easily share information and collaborate: Vela Systems’ software enables multiple parties to collaborate in the same field document and synchronize multiple versions of the same document automatically. Based on the benefits that Suffolk saw from the use of Vela Systems on Trilogy and the Liberty Hotel, the company has selected Vela Systems for deployment on at least nine projects in 2008. Vela Systems is currently in use on two ongoing Boston projects: the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Cambridge Residential in Boston. New projects for 2008 include: 1330 Boylston in Boston; Silo Point in Baltimore, MD; Torrey Pines, Ransom Everglades, and Met 1, 2, and 3, all in Miami, Florida. Suffolk is also considering using Vela Systems for two additional projects on the West Coast. “At Suffolk, our goal is to always exceed our clients’ expectations,” said Robert Neumann, CIO at Suffolk. “Our early experience with Vela Systems clearly demonstrated that we can save time and money and deliver a higher level of quality by using their mobile field software. For that reason, we have decided to expand our use of Vela Systems to more of our building construction projects across the country.” “Suffolk Construction and other world-class AECO organizations are on the leading edge of a movement that is completely transforming how this industry operates in the field,” said Tim Curran, CEO of Vela Systems. “In the course of just a few years, construction job sites are abandoning paper processes in favor of electronic data collection with mobile devices. As a result, they’re delivering high-quality projects faster and more efficiently.” About Suffolk Construction Company, Inc.:
Celebrating over 25 years of transforming city skylines, Suffolk Construction Company, Inc. is one of the leading privately-held building contracting firms in the country, with main offices on the East Coast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West Coast regions of the country. Suffolk has a strong reputation for delivering challenging building construction projects on schedule and on budget. Suffolk employees are experienced construction professionals and are committed to client service and relationship building. They are influencers in the construction industry and in their local communities, and consistently lead by example while striving to exceed expectations with clients, partners and the people and businesses in the surrounding neighborhoods. For more information about Suffolk, visit the company website at www.suffolkconstruction.com. About Vela Systems, Inc.:
Vela Systems is The Leader in Field Software for the AEC Industry™. Vela Systems software streamlines and accelerates all field processes in construction and capital projects. By replacing their field notebooks with Vela software and Tablet PCs, Vela’s customers save 4-8 hours per week per user, accelerate project delivery by two days per month, capture the true cost of quality and reduce litigation risk through standardized documentation. Industry leading architects, engineers, contractors and owners agree that Vela Systems helps them Work Faster, Collaborate Easier, and Finish Sooner™. To see how Vela’s customers are improving construction delivery from Las Vegas to Dubai, please visit www.velasystems.com.