COMPANY BACKGROUND
Carvana, one of America’s fastest-growing auto retailers, is changing the car buying process. Founded in 2012, the online-only car dealer interrupted the market with their no-haggle pricing model and shortly after, launched the first iteration of a car vending machine. Since then, they’ve built 27, fully automated, coin-operated vending machines across the country.
THE CHALLENGE
“Our current process was not sustainable. We were a skeleton crew and all the travel was spreading us thin,” said Bret Sassenberg, Senior Director of Real Estate and Development.
As the company designed vending machines and inspection centers in major metropolitan areas, they needed visibility to monitor progress and ensure milestones were met. Each project required at least 12 overnight stays and 10 visits to get as much detail as possible.
“After just two projects, it became quickly apparent that we needed a better way to conduct oversights and document progress,” said Sassenberg.
THE SOLUTION
By introducing OxBlue’s Cobalt Series professional jobsite camera, Sassenberg and his team can now remotely monitor construction work — minimizing the team’s long hours on-site and cutting travel costs. The Cobalt’s high-resolution images and high image-taking frequency gave the team greater visibility and improved documentation.
“The team is able to make better judgment calls around onsite work and essential travel. They can also effectively monitor construction progress remotely without missing a beat,” said Sassenberg.
After working with the visual data from one camera, Carvana quickly saw the value in capturing as much detail as possible. The company added Indigo Series interior cameras and used OxBlue’s high-quality Cobalt systems to view the site’s layout at a high and granular level. 16MP cameras were set from a distance for a full view of the project, whereas 8MP cameras were implemented to document details close to the construction site.
Using jobsite cameras and OxBlue’s seamless mobile app, slideshow tools and intuitive software interface for easy sharing, Carvana can monitor progress and identity problems regardless of the angle or hour.
THE RESULTS
OxBlue’s cameras improved employee’s work-life balance by cutting excess time on-site and additional travel costs. But Carvana also found that OxBlue was an easy way to communicate
progress and boost morale.
“OxBlue really helps us alleviate work-life balance pressures on our employees. We can now look at our projects every day to monitor where contractors are with work,” said Sassenberg. “We show the visual construction data on a large screen in headquarters which even helps us better communicate progress to our executives.”
With detailed visibility, the team was able to anticipate weather delays, defend credits with subcontractors and specialty trades, and pivot at the start of the pandemic. OxBlue’s mobile application meant they could keep eyes on their jobsites regardless of the location, avoiding the difficulty of travel bans and health concerns.
Despite being at home, employees were still able to be part of the jobsite’s progress. At the end of each project, the marketing team used the included and professionally edited time-lapse video to celebrate the team’s success and keep up morale.
“OxBlue cameras will continue to be a part of our projects,” said Sassenberg. “We’re hooked.”
