While there remains no agreed universal definition of digital engineering, it is a term associated with the digitization of the processes involved in the delivery and operation of a built asset, supported by one central data source, intended to add value and streamline practices.

Digital engineering can be viewed as not just the uptake of new technologies but, instead, the concerted effort to use smart technologies to unlock greater value across the entire lifecycle of a capital asset. A new report, ‘Digital Engineering: Optimizing Constructions Digital Future,’ examines how the construction industry can optimize its approach to digital engineering and take advantage of the benefits it offers.

United States driving change

The construction industry is currently witnessing an increase in the adoption of digital engineering technologies and tools, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In conjunction with this, governments around the world are becoming key drivers in the push to adopt more digital engineering processes along the project lifecycle. Across regions, these initiatives are encouraging and, in some cases, mandating the adoption of technologies and digital engineering processes.

In the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Building Construction Initiative, led by the Department’s Building Technologies Office, is promoting advanced building construction techniques, such as off-site manufacturing, robotics, and the digitalization of building design and construction processes.

Although currently focused on the housing sector, the initiative seeks to improve overall construction productivity and ensure that assets are smarter, healthier, more sustainable, more resilient and more responsive to the needs of their users.

Technologies set to make a difference

The construction industry has a significant number of digital engineering technologies at its disposal, which, if utilized, could unlock greater value across the asset lifecycle.

Advanced Building Materials, smart buildings, BIM, digital twins and Modern Methods of Construction were identified in the report as the technologies that are at the forefront of the digital engineering journey. They have the capacity to be the most transformative, while also helping to meet the societal, economic, and environmental demands placed on the construction industry.

By identifying what technologies are needed at different stages and adopting them across the asset lifecycle, stakeholders can streamline practices, ensure project fulfillment, and increase overall value.

Barriers to overcome

Despite the obvious benefits of adopting digital engineering technologies, uptake remains low. At its very essence, the AEC sector is based on one-off projects and temporary relationships and, therefore, is fragmented and uncoordinated, offering arid ground for successful and scalable digital transformation.

The lack of data sharing processes is also a dominant barrier. How data and project information is shared across the project lifecycle has fast become one of the key challenges to a digitally-enabled industry. Projects now generate vast amounts of data, but most of it remains uncaptured, unprocessed, and unintegrated. Digital engineering relies on the seamless flow of data from the beginning of the project through the lifecycle and beyond; without this, digital solutions are effectively redundant.

Therefore, the burden on the AEC sector here is not necessarily the uptake of the latest technologies but maintaining transparency and good housekeeping throughout the asset lifecycle.

Creating an environment where digital engineering can thrive

For digital engineering to truly transform the AEC sector and allow the industry to harness its benefits, technologies need to be deployed in an environment where they can thrive. A global digital framework could facilitate this.

Borrowing from the U.K.’s National Infrastructure Commission, a digital framework can harness the benefits from sharing better quality information, enable a better understanding of the interdependencies between sectors, and help break down silos. Although referring to infrastructure, this concept could be expanded across the AEC sector in general.

The first step to achieving this is the consolidation of existing data; thereby, setting the foundation for more sophisticated data collection and analytical techniques down the line. This process should be extrapolated globally to abate the issue of fragmentation and create the foundation for the transformation of the global industry.

Global open interoperability standards are crucial to extracting actionable insights from this data. Ultimately, the ability to freely share data and insights, as well as interpret them, will create the optimal conditions for digital engineering to transform the AEC sector.

Meeting the challenge together

The integration of digital engineering technologies and processes is the construction industry’s next great challenge and one the industry must meet together, ensuring no one gets left behind. If implemented correctly, digital engineering has the capability to streamline construction and transform the industry.

If industry players can agree to a basic framework, opportunities to develop scalable products and services could be significant.