Eshan Jayamanne of Krane: Fixing the Gaps in Construction Procurement

Construction supply chains rarely fail because of one major mistake. More often, risk builds in the handoffs: between design and procurement, procurement and vendors, submittals and fabrication, delivery and installation, commissioning and owner turnover.

In this episode of AEC Trailblazers, Valentin Noves sits down with Eshan Jayamanne, Founder and CEO of Krane, to unpack why those handoffs are so difficult to manage and why traditional procurement software often struggles with the realities of construction.

Eshan’s perspective comes straight from the field. A third-generation builder and licensed Professional Engineer, he grew up around job sites before moving into civil and structural engineering. That experience exposed him to a recurring disconnect between the people designing projects and the teams responsible for building them, especially when information has to move from engineering decisions into field execution.

That gap became one of the central themes of the conversation.

Valentin and Eshan explore what makes construction supply chains fundamentally different from more standardized industries. Every project can introduce a different mix of equipment, vendors, specifications, compliance requirements, warranties, lead times, and custom materials.

For complex systems such as switchgear, generators, chillers, and air handling units, procurement begins long before equipment reaches the job site. Teams must evaluate availability, lead times, performance, compliance, warranties, and whether vendor bids actually meet project requirements.

Then come submittals, product data approvals, fabrication tracking, delivery, installation, commissioning, owner handoff, and ongoing operational information.

The material moves through one chain. The approvals and project data move through another.

Keeping those two aligned is where things get tricky.

Eshan explains why risk tends to accumulate between these stages and why so much critical information still lives across spreadsheets and disconnected systems. That fragmentation makes it harder to maintain visibility from specification through installation and identify problems early enough to protect the schedule.

The conversation also examines why off-the-shelf ERP and procurement platforms often fall short. Construction workflows are highly project-specific, spec-driven, and dependent on coordination across multiple stakeholders, making them difficult to fit into generic software models.

That is also the problem behind Krane. Drawing on experience across engineering, construction, and major-project material coordination, Eshan is building an AI-native approach to procurement and material management focused on earlier risk detection, better visibility, and a more predictable path from spec to install.

For anyone working in construction technology, procurement, engineering, or project delivery, this episode is a sharp look at the messy middle of how projects actually get built.

Listen to the full episode of AEC Trailblazers.