MBN brings Lean Construction into the AI era with Buildots and koppla

MBN, a German construction leader, successfully took Lean Principles into the AI era on the Rhinstrasse 143 residential project in Berlin (330 units). By integrating koppla’s intuitive Lean scheduling system with Buildots’ AI-powered site analysis, MBN established a fluid, uninterrupted construction process that minimizes waste and maximizes customer value.

Challenge

To facilitate a Lean approach in the field, MBN works with koppla, a ConTech startup from Potsdam. koppla acts as the central scheduling and production system used by the on-site team, providing an intuitive schedule for easy construction planning. Changes are made in real time, ensuring efficient documentation and data-supported process optimization.

To keep its progress scheduling up-to-date, koppla typically relies on feedback from subcontractors and project managers on-site. However, this can result in subjective data, which causes resource inefficiencies and results in difficulties carrying out detailed site inspections.

Solution

Integrating Buildots and koppla creates a powerful double-checking system that surpasses the accuracy of manual inspections. While koppla ensures reliable documentation and real-time scheduling for all subcontractors, Buildots uses AI to compare 360 site captures against the BIM model to verify what's actually happening on-site. This unlocks several benefits:

• Early error detection: Buildots identifies omissions (like a misplaced drywall) that human inspectors might miss.
• Preventing interruptions: By catching mistakes immediately, MBN avoids the disruption caused when a subcontractor moves to the next TAKT area with unresolved errors.
• Avoiding costly rework: Early detection prevents “worst-case scenarios” where defects are only discovered during final acceptance, requiring expensive and time-consuming rebuilding.

Results

By integrating Buildots and koppla, MBN transformed site data into actionable insights that protected both the project's budget and schedule:

• Optimized resource use: Errors caught before subcontractors moved to the next area allowed resources to be utilized efficiently, keeping the project on its critical path.
• Significant cost avoidance: In one specific instance, detecting a misplaced drywall right after the studs were installed saved approximately €7,000.
• Preventing compound errors: Without early detection, MBN would have had to remove and rebuild multiple finished layers, including underfloor heating, screed, flooring, and drywalls.
• Project-wide impact: Buildots identified a total of 38 relevant errors throughout the project, all of which were pushed to the koppla platform for immediate resolution.

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