Engineering and construction (E&C) industry has been the slowest to adopt the latest technologies and is more or less resistant to changes. It hasn’t ever undergone a major transformation, resulting in stagnating productivity over the last 40 years.
But one good news is it is soon to adapt to the changes, though not dramatically. Profound transformations are already taking place, though not yet on a sufficiently wide scale. The effects aren’t well equal; as writer William Gibson suggests, the future is already here—it is just not evenly distributed.
The key to revolutionizing the construction industry is digitalization. More and more construction projects are embracing digitalization
n incorporating systems of digital sensors, intelligent machines, mobile devices, and software applications, increasingly integrated with a central platform of building information modeling (BIM).
The challenge now is to achieve widespread adoption with an even distribution of the digital resources for all industries and proper traction. As the new technologies have properly infused this fragmented industry, almost a 20% reduction in a project’s total life cycle expenses as well as substantial improvements in completion time, excellence, and safety.
Technology Driven Construction
Technological developments are now reforming almost all points in the life cycle of a built asset, from conceptualization to demolition.
Digitalization is transforming the major aspects of construction projects. During the design and engineering phase, BIM identifies potential design clashes and constructability problems, thereby preventing expensive corrective revisions, and it improves the tendering process by making the information transparent and accessible.
The most noticeable area of change is the materials used. New technologies allow innovative steps like recycling concrete. The industry researchers are also dedicated at work developing more eco-friendly materials. Carbon fiber is known for its strength as a construction material.
Tech tools are also transforming how construction businesses work with these materials. Prefabrication is nothing novel, but 3D printers are. Innovative businesses are experimenting with 3D printing the whole construction. Once printed, the sections can be taken to the job site and assembled.
During the actual construction phase, drones survey and inspect the site. Three-dimensional printers prefabricate many of the building components and work materials. GPS and radio-frequency identification (RFID) are used
to track the materials, equipment, and workers, to coordinate, connect and optimize work. Robots and autonomous vehicles preferably do much of the building work. And 3-D laser scanning or aerial mapping is used to compare labor in progress with a virtual model, enabling instant corrections and minimizing revisions.
For instance, the Japanese equipment manufacturer has developed fully autonomous bulldozers, led by drones that map the area in real-time to come up with data on the workload.
During the operations phase, embedded sensors continue to monitor, checking for deterioration, facilitating guided maintenance, and regularly updating a central database. Augmented reality is utilized to lead the maintenance crews.
Big data—on traffic movements, electricity consumption, and so on is collected digitally and exposed to innovative analytics, to optimize decision-making and generally enhance operative efficiency.
By way of illustration, consider the approach of the Japanese building service provider NTT Facilities to the examination, maintenance, and reparation of R&D premises: by integrating BIM into the building’s facility, and making intelligent use of this combined resource, the company was able to reduce the cost of operations and maintenance by 20%.
Increasing affinity to technology in construction
On average, acceptance of technology in construction has been slow initially. It has faced some resistance to adoption, and some companies that do employ technology struggle to leverage all the potential benefits. However, the difficulties have been overcome. More and more companies are now embracing technological opportunities with promising productivity.
A full-scale digitalization on is expected to revolutionize and lead to huge annual global cost savings in 10 years. Also, the growth in productivity will vary not only across the life cycle phases but also across the subsectors: vertical, industrial, and infrastructure.
The gap between digital leaders and laggards is widening—for construction companies themselves, for technology providers, and for governments in their role as project possessors and controllers. All these stakeholders need to master the dynamics, elevate their competencies and investments, and adapt to the processes.
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