Automated ordering on the construction site with Inpera

The next exciting company in our “Digital Tools” series is Inpera. The team around Kilian Winnen, Arne Viebrock, Jannes Viebrock, Richard Liehmann and Johannes Lensges digitizes the tender and bidding process in the construction industry through transparency and simple as well as automated processes.

What problem does Inpera solve?

One of the best-known industry problems in construction is the high manual effort involved in bid comparison and the associated susceptibility to errors. Inpera specifically addresses these and reduces them to a minimum.

The tool makes it easier to consider alternative system solutions in the bidding phase. Inpera Cloud also facilitates renegotiations of supplementary contracts. In addition, the company is making the entire procurement process for plant and material services more efficient. This makes both the pure procurement of materials and the negotiation for materials including processing faster and clearer.

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Inpera serves the entire process from tendering to procurement. In doing so, the company addresses the following users in the respective construction phases:

How does the Inpera Cloud work?

Inpera simplifies the tendering and procurement process in the construction industry by digitally processing and standardizing tenders and material requests. In this way, the company enables automated bid and price comparison. Manual activities and media breaks in the information transfer chain are thus a thing of the past. The highlight: The tool compares the service specifications of the planners with the parts lists of the manufacturers and thus creates shopping baskets for automated ordering on the construction site. The matches of bills of quantities and bills of materials provide a high degree of comparability and enable the placement of alternative system solutions within the bidding phase.

For the creation of a floor slab, for example, firmly defined components such as steel, concrete or insulation are required. After the concrete slab has been put out to tender by the planner, the tool automatically collects offers that come into question in a shopping cart specific to the project. The order for the favored offer is then placed from this shopping cart.

By bundling procurement channels, automating information flows, unifying interfaces, standardizing processes and providing qualitative master data, Inpera redefines construction workflows. Online registration is free of charge and thus enables rapid networking of all parties involved in a construction project.

The declared goal: The optimized procurement process

Inpera describes itself as a proud member of the construction industry and cannot and will not accept the back places in productivity and the degree of digitalization in the European industry comparison. That is why the company has set itself the goal of developing a platform that helps optimize the procurement process in construction. Because there is a lot to be done here.

Currently, contractors are working at the limits of their capacity, so that orders often have to be canceled. At the same time, productivity has developed below average compared to other industries over the last ten years. No wonder: Almost every construction project results in the creation of a prototype. In addition, the strong fragmentation of the market results in a multitude of market participants who exchange information with the help of handwritten documents. As a result, trade contractors, manufacturers, and specialty retailers are feeding their disparate digital tools using manual input, risking errors and losing valuable time to further orders.

Inpera believes that the predominantly vertical solution approaches currently available on the market merely optimize individual process steps or business models. However, they are not sufficient to solve the fundamental productivity problem of the entire industry. Inpera sees itself in the future as the leading European provider in the tendering and procurement of plant services and materials.

Inpera’s look into the crystal ball: the future of the construction industry

Affordable housing in metropolitan areas, flexible living, climate protection, smart living and the modernization of existing properties are topics that will occupy the construction industry in the coming years, according to Inpera. The shortage of skilled workers will continue to be a problem, and serial construction will increase efficiency in new construction.

The platform itself pursues the vision of sustainably increasing efficiency and productivity in the construction industry. In doing so, Inpera aims to network with providers of other solutions that lie outside its core business. Thus, the effort in the tendering, bidding, procurement and execution process is to be reduced to a minimum.