30% cost savings
How a Global EPC Firm Transformed Inspections Through Emerging Technology
30%
cost savings vs. initial hardware
1st
remote China↔US inspection
80%+
of inspections passed first time
The Challenge
Traditional inspections needed multiple on-site inspectors, scaffolding, and manual measurements — driving up time and cost even though 80%+ of inspections passed on the first attempt. The firm wanted to test whether emerging technology like Microsoft's HoloLens V1 could enable remote or exception-based inspections.
The Approach
We convened the partners and let field evidence — not the technology — drive the design:
- Facilitated collaboration between the EPC firm, Microsoft, software partner Visual Live, and an inspection agency
- Extensive field testing surfaced real limits: alignment drift, remote-site bandwidth, hardware constraints (battery, heat), and environmental sensor interference
- When HoloLens scaling proved cost-prohibitive, pivoted to testing lidar-equipped iPads for the same tasks
The Solution
We delivered a scalable digital-inspection framework built for accessibility, safety, and ROI:
- An iPad-based pilot that matched the HoloLens on spatial mapping and measurement accuracy — at a fraction of the cost and with minimal training
- A deployment framework adaptable across inspection sites and user skill levels
- A best-practice guide that later supported remote inspections during COVID-19
The Outcome
- 30% cost savings versus the initial hardware investment
- Completed the first remote mixed-reality inspection between China and Houston, Texas
- A deployment plan adaptable across sites and user skill levels
- A foundation for the firm's continued rollout of scalable, safer digital inspection tools
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