Recent construction technology reports and surveys cover big data, robotics, AI, digitization and IT strategies and budget. Another looks at the economic consequences of automation.
Digitize or Be Left Behind: Five Keys to Unlocking Engineering & Construction Performance
Digitize or Be Left Behind: Five Keys to Unlocking Engineering & Construction Performance examines challenges to digitization, outlines solutions and offers lessons learned and best practices. According to the report, there are six advantages of investing and implementing digital project delivery for E&C companies:
- remaining competitive;
- helping to retain/grow market share;
- lowering costs;
- increasing productivity;
- ensuring safety; and
- delivering projects on time and on budget.
To understand how organizations can make the transformation, Aconex established the Global Industry Council of leaders who share their expertise and industry knowledge on challenges faced by the E&C industry as it digitizes and identifies practical solutions.
The GIC identified five key challenges that the industry currently faces and propose solutions:
- Integration Across the Ecosystem. Organizations are grappling with complex digital ecosystems that have multiple platforms creating and duplicating data.
- Rationalization and Standardization. Complex and non-standard processes and systems need to be rationalized across projects.
Building Digital Talent. Organizations not only lack teams of IT experts but also senior leaders who can lead the change, as well as a broader workforce that is digitally savvy. - Securing Digital Adoption. Workforce apprehension arises from cultural and technical challenges and can slow IT adoption and value realization.
- Establishing Value and Return on Investment. Organizations find it difficult to communicate the benefits gained from large digital investments.
- Contractors can leverage digitization to increase efficiency, improve productivity, boost competitiveness, enhance performance and shape the future of the industry.
FMI Big Data = Big Questions for the Engineering and Construction Industry
FMI’s white paper, Big Data = Big Questions for the Engineering and Construction Industry, explores the challenges of big data usage, explains opportunities when using big data and analytics, and examines the long-term powers of using big data as a business tool. The paper offers recommendations to leverage big data without a large investment in labor, equipment and devices. The paper covers:
- industry pain points, such as understanding how data is useful and how it translates into business intelligence;
- how E&C firms leverage big data;
- increasing collaboration with big data to increase productivity and profitability; and
- implementing a strong data strategy.
Technology Trends in Heavy Construction – Mobile Connected & Data Driven
B2W Software’s and Dodge Data & Analytics‘ 2018 Research Survey Results Reveal the Technology Trends in Heavy Construction1. The survey found that 99 percent use mobile technology:
- smart phones (89 percent);
- tablets (80 percent);
- laptops (65 percent); and
- GPS device (56 percent).
While the majority use mobile devices to improve access to data and coordination among team members, only 31 percent use mobile devices for structural data to drive data analytics – missing an opportunity to leverage mobile data technology to improve scheduling and dispatching, fleet maintenance and management, safety and inspections.
The three most important technologies for managing project costs are:
- mobile apps for managing operations in the field (55 percent);
- mobile devices (49 percent); and
- cloud and web real-time connectivity (32 percent).
However, when asked how important those technologies would be in two years, the respondents ranked the above at 95, 94 and 92 percent respectively. All respondents said big data and data analytics, machine automation and drones were extremely important or very important two years from now – yet most of those same respondents said they were not planning to make investments in those technologies.
1 Registration required to download the report.
Artificial Intelligence: Construction Technology’s Next Frontier
A McKinsey & Co. report, Artificial Intelligence: Construction Technology’s Next Frontier, offers predictions for where and how AI can infiltrate construction by:
- examining where AI solutions are beginning to emerge in construction today;
- exploring AI-powered applications and use cases that have already made an impact in other sectors and that can be applied in the construction industry; and
- assessing additional machine learning algorithms and their potential E&C applications.
A McKinsey & Co. report from July 2017, The New Age of Engineering and Construction Technology, found a growing focus on technological solutions that incorporate artificial intelligence-powered algorithms to address some of the E&C industry’s greatest challenges, including cost and schedule overruns and safety concerns. While the report’s authors expect AI’s proliferation in the E&C sector to be modest despite proven high return on investment and widespread management interest in AI solutions, few E&C firms or owners currently have the capabilities—including the personnel, processes, and tools—to implement them. Project stakeholders, including contractors, operators, owners, and service providers, need to embrace AI by changing internal processes to accommodate AI innovation.
Construction Disconnected: Rethinking the management of project data and mobile collaboration to reduce costs and improve schedules
PlanGrid partnered with FMI to survey nearly 600 construction leaders from around the world about how their teams spend time and leverage technology investments. Construction Disconnected: Rethinking the Management of Project Data and Mobile Collaboration to Reduce Costs and Improve Schedules reveals:
- what activities require the most time during their week and the costs associated with each activity;
- the causes of poor data and communication on projects and the costs to the industry;
- top reasons for investing in construction-specific technology and what factors influence decision making; and
- if the deployment and usage of technology align with how technology investment decisions are made.
The survey concludes that Industry leaders need to strategize the rollout of mobile devices alongside best in class solutions to support the workflows of teams in the field; include potential users in technology investment decisions; and plan integration of new technology.
FMI Automation and Robotics: Rethinking Engineering and Construction Jobs
FMI’s 2017 Talent Development in the Construction Industry survey found that recruiting talent in the E&C industry will become even more severe in the future, primarily because many firms don’t see talent development as a strategic priority, are not building an attractive corporate culture to attract talent, do not use performance management effectively, and are not identifying and developing high-potential employees. FMI ‘s Automation and Robotics: Rethinking Engineering and Construction Jobs offers case studies of companies with the right leadership and mindset to drive learning and embrace change, such as robotics, drones and software in with workplace. Examples include:
- a Colorado masonry firm using the SAM bricklaying robot;
- a modular solution for eight to 45 story multifamily housing, dormitories and hotels; and
- a GC that envisions a human-free worksite by 2050.
The report includes key takeaways from three leading industry disruptors on the power of innovation and change management.
The Potential Economic Consequences of a Highly Automated Construction Industry: What If Construction Becomes the Next Manufacturing?
The Midwest Economic Policy Institute report, The Potential Economic Consequences of a Highly Automated Construction Industry: What If Construction Becomes the Next Manufacturing? Asks “What if construction is the next manufacturing, with automation replacing hundreds of thousands of middle-class workers over the next generation?” The report, a theoretical assessment of the potential economic impacts of a highly automated construction industry, addresses the rise of capital in the construction industry and the potential economic consequences of a highly automated construction industry. It offers three public policy recommendations:
- Apprenticeship programs in the building trades should be utilized and adapted to train new workers and re-skill employees as specific trades become more automated.
- States and local communities should collaborate with educational institutions to invest in vocational training and worker re-training to prepare individuals for the jobs of the future.
- As construction becomes more automated, lawmakers should consider taxing capital owned by contractors and investing the proceeds into young and displaced workers.
Adoption of more technology in the construction industry could cause both economic prosperity and economic hardship. Proactive steps can be taken to ensure that the benefits of a highly automated construction industry are shared broadly across the economy.
JB Knowledge’s 2018 Construction Technology Report
Just released is JB Knowledge’s 2018 Construction Technology Report2, a survey of 3,000 builders on their construction technology solutions, staffing and budget. The report covers contractors’ strategies for IT, mobile, apps, software, BIM and innovations in 2019. The report has become a guide for construction industry professionals to benchmark their company’s standards for technology budgeting and adoption, and track rising trends in software and apps.
2 Registration required to download the report.
