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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District (USACE ? NO) has issued a contract to Dataforensics, a leader in geotechnical data management software development and implementation, for its PLog Enterprise software. Read more...
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FINE Software?s GEO5 FEM and Tunnel software is newly available in North America through its exclusive distributor, gINT Software. GEO5 FEM is designed for civil engineering firms looking for cost-effective solutions. Read more...
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DFI's Educational Trust will hold its Golf Outing at the Harborside International Golf Center to raise monies for DFI's existing memorial and scholarship funds. Read more...
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DFI's Educational Trust will hold their annual fundraising event at the Chartiers Country Club to raise monies for DFI's existing memorial and scholarships funds.Read more...
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The latest edition, June 2009, of Fine Ltd. E-Newsletter has been published. Read more...
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Blog: AEC Marketing

I like working in the Construction Industry - its dynamic. I like the people. I like watching things get built. I'm starstruck by good engineering and design. I'm amazed when individuals pull together multiple systems, supplies and personalities and build structures.

I'm frustrated when, with a little of those same organization and building skills, companies could operate a marketing program to support their growth plans and put their best foot forward.

Putting your best foot forward is good business, whether you're low bid, contemplating a JV, selling steel, or walking into a meeting with the owner.

But this industry is dynamic - sometimes a bit of a roller coaster, and that is the major challenge of carrying out effective marketing initiatives in the construction industry - consistency. Hard to put your Marketing Hat on regularly when the fires that pop up around construction work need immediate attention.

Marketing in the AEC (Architecture/Engineering/Construction) Industry has its own dynamics. That's another challenge. Learning the "industry waters" of how to get your name out there is something learned over time. What works? What will work for you? How much do you want to spend on it this quarter, this year?

After reading my two prior articles on "I know I should be doing something..." and "20 Questions..." you have an idea of the concerns that help direct a marketing program. This will help orient the initiatives you may launch to best serve your marketing goals, and frame the decision process. (This is where it can get a lot more complicated and we'll assume hours are limited for research. If you can get deep into it great - more's the better, but that is a decision for your individual priorities and resources. Performance measurement? Let's not worry about that just yet.)

The initiatives? This is where it gets fun. But that's a tale for another day...

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Blog: AEC Marketing

THE BIG PICTURE

1. Simple Question: What do you want?

2. What resources do you require to make that happen?

YOUR CUSTOMERS: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

3. Identify/explain your customers (See: I know I should be doing something...):

4. Can you subdivide your customers into distinct groups or segments?

5. What are the requirements of various customer segments?

6. Rate the importance of:
a. Sales response time,
b. Delivery speed,
c. Product customization,
d. Price sensitivity,
e. Service response time,
... for each of these segments:

7. Where do your customers first encounter your company?

8. Describe likely point of purchase for each segment:

9. Honestly assess the loss of past customers:

SALES REQUIREMENTS

10. Sales force and promotional approaches:
a. Appropriate size?
b. Adequate resources?
c. Clear expectations?

11. Provide analysis of how sales decisions are made:

MARKETING REQUIREMENTS

12. What is annual cost of acquiring/retaining customers?

13. What is annual marketing budget?

14. What is vision for the company's organization and development of marketing components?

15. For Example, what is Policy & Procedure for your company's contacts database?

16. For Example, what are all the current marketing components/tools in use?
a. Rate in order of potency.

COMPETITION & THE MARKET

17. What are the strengths and weaknesses of competitors . . .

18. Provide market intelligence:
a. Domestic product volume?
b. Competitor breakdown?
c. The number of potential customers and potential sales revenues?

VISION

19. Describe the company 12 months from today:

20. Describe the company 5 years from today:

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Blog: AEC Marketing

Stop and think about it.
No really - just think about it.
Don't "Ready, Fire, Aim..."

Take a deep breath and allow yourself the luxury of thinking.

No one knows who buys what you're selling as well as you do, or who's going to buy it. Not some fancy marketing firm, or management consultant - YOU DO.
OK, maybe your competitors, but put them aside for a moment.
Who are you trying to reach?
What will they respond to?
What do they read?
How much time do they have to read it?
Where are they?

Do they want to know enough about you to tune in for the whole story?
Or do you need to create some curiosity first?
What's going to get their attention?
ETCETERA.

OK, Construct Marketing is just trying to illustrate a point. Before you consider the appropriate vehicle(s) to reach your potential clients, you need to identify them. You'll need to know them BEFORE you start to budget, or plan or even think about how to reach them.

Please tender every single marketing effort with careful consideration and reconsideration of your potential client audience.

To be continued...

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Blog: GeoLogismiki

http://www.geologismiki.gr/Trial/StoneC 2D_trial.zip

We are every excited to announce the latest beta release of our new StoneC 2D software. This version addresses a new feature where the user can override the use of Priebe's improvement factor for Es thus the software performs settlements calculation based on a user defined value. We also added the option to import geotechical sections directly for CPeT-IT project files. Some minor bugs are also fixed.

The latest version can be found here.

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Blog: VMS-Geotechnical

Let's assume that you want to see a doctor to get a diagnosis for a potential medical problem. When you make the appointment you get told that the doctor won't be able to see you (as a matter of fact, he is not even close to where you are), but instead a nurse will see you and run some tests on you. She will then forward the test results to the doctor and that doctor will then determine what treatment, if any, you need. I fully expect that you would not accept something like that, but you may be wondering why I am mentioning this.

The reason is that it is similar to a practice that is strongly promoted by some in the geotechnical industry: take the measurements during a Dynamic Load Test, send them to somebody who has never been on the job site, and that person will determine the capacity of the pile. To me that makes about as much sense as the example I mentioned at the beginning of this message. The outcome of a Dynamic Load Test determines whether a pile can be accepted as is, but in order to properly analyze the data you need to be fully aware of the local conditions, and that is impossible if it is done by somebody who has never set foot on the job site.

I'm sure that some of you disagree with the above and I look forward to hearing from you. Hopefully your response will address the need for awareness of local site conditions during a load test and how somebody far away could possibly have this knowledge, because that is really what this issue is all about.

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Author: geoadmin
Subject: US Army Corps of Engineers issues contract to Dataforensics
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:52 am (GMT 0)



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District (USACE
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Author: geoadmin
Subject: Discussion Design Process of Deep Soil Mixed Walls
Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:20 pm (GMT 0)

Reference: Thomas D. Richards Jr. (2009), Discussion of: "Design Process of Deep Soil Mixed Walls for Excavation Support" by Casandra J. Rutherford, Giovanna Biscontin, Demetrious Koutsoftas, and Jean-Louis Briaud, Volume 1, Issue #2, pp. 56-72, International Journal of Geoengineering Case histories, http://casehistories.geoengineer.org , Vol.1, Issue 3, p.154-155.


Visit, read and download for free at:
http://www.geoengineer.org/casehistories/volume/volume1/issue3/IJGCH_1_3_1.html

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Author: geoadmin
Subject: Leaning Tower of Pisa: Behaviour after Stabilization Operati
Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:16 pm (GMT 0)

Reference: John B. Burland, Michele B. Jamiolkowski, Carlo Viggiani (2009), Leaning Tower of Pisa: Behaviour after Stabilization Operations, International Journal of Geoengineering Case histories, http://casehistories.geoengineer.org , Vol.1, Issue 3, p.156-169.


Visit, read and download for free at:
http://www.geoengineer.org/casehistories/volume/volume1/issue3/IJGCH_1_3_2.html

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Author: geoadmin
Subject: FINE Software
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Author: geoadmin
Subject: Geoengineer.org Newsletter Issue#54
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:56 am (GMT 0)

The latest Issue#54 of the Geoengineer.org Newsletter has been published and is available online at:
http://www.geoengineer.org/geonews54.htm

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Geology: Earth-shattering research Nature 460, 155 (2009). doi:10.1038/460155b Geology37, 615–618 (2009) 10.1130/G25699A.1How does a rock weather away into clay? Usually, it is helped along by fungi, in a process now examined in detail by Steeve Bonneville at the University of Leeds...
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KABUL Wednesday, July 01, 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people who lost their houses in January-May flooding in different parts of Afghanistan need help to repair or rebuild their homes, or find new ones, before winter.
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KABUL Wednesday, July 01, 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people who lost their houses in January-May flooding in different parts of Afghanistan need help to repair or rebuild their homes, or find new ones, before winter.
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ION Geophysical Corporation has initiated the next phase of its ArcticSPANTM seismic data program. Recognizing the hydrocarbon potential of the Arctic region which the United States Geological Surv
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Five students (three from the US, two from Brazil) were arrested last month while doing paleoclimate research in Brazil. They were collecting sediment cores from lakes and wetlands, in order to understand past climate change in western Brazil. The charges were based on Brazilian laws dealing with...
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