S T Bunn Construction
Summer 2026 Semester
APC Intern Brings AI Innovation to S T Bunn Construction
Samuel “Alex” Campbell, a Physics PhD student at The University of Alabama, spent his summer internship with S T Bunn Construction Company, a highway contractor and asphalt producer, through the Alabama Productivity Center.
Challenge
Alex started the internship with no experience building AI agents and little knowledge of asphalt operations. Rather than treating these two hurdles as obstacles, he approached them as research problems, independently studying agent architecture while spending time with company employees to understand how jobs, trucks, drivers, and existing systems worked together. That groundwork let him translate operational pain points into technical requirements he could build against.
Solutions
Working closely with the vice president and the operations manager, Alex accessed detailed GPS and production data through the company's Fleetwatcher system and used Python to build a custom internal AI agent. The tool optimized fleet allocation, flagged inefficient trucking behavior, tracked routing and job productivity, and gave leadership a clearer, data-driven view of hauling operations.
Alex also built an Excel automation program that streamlined the company's daily trucking report, reducing manual work and improving accuracy, a report the company relies on to estimate job cost and performance. Through regular check-ins with the vice president, Alex refined the tools based on direct feedback, ensuring what he built addressed real needs rather than a theoretical fix.
Impacts
$500,000
in operational savings
Quote
We believe this program has the potential to save our company money on hauling costs by allowing us to analyze trucking performance in ways that were not previously practical. It should help us compare costs, identify inefficiencies, evaluate truck usage and hauling times, and make better-informed operating decisions.
Taylor Davis
Vice President, S T Bunn Construction
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