There is no industry in the world left untouched by technology. From technological updates in the tools, hardware, and software, people have been taking all the possible advantages of easy and precise work enhancing productivity simultaneously. Various changes came up with the new engineering and construction (E&C) advances in the construction industry. Start-ups, new and advanced construction solutions companies have been launching some of the ultimate applications supporting quicker and improved versions of software and the tools supporting the design, plan, and execution of the new construction projects. These tools and software are now solving a load full of problems that have been inhabiting in the industry for decades.
The E&C sector comes with complexities with the compiling and sharing of information that is crucial for the completion of any project. Undoubtedly they have made the industry suffer a lot in terms of increased costs, delays in the timeline, and also the efficiency of the workers. Good for general contractors as well as the project owners that the new era of 2020 is moving forward considering all the demands of the new construction. Let us dive into what has affected E&C and how will it turn out.
COVID-19
How can we not consider one of the biggest impacter or the ‘modifier genes’ of this industrial revolution? COVID-19, the pandemic is known to be the ‘bad guy’, but with all due consideration, this only made the construction industry to become standardized, consolidated, and integrated from being an exceptionally fragmented and highly complex one. Technology has made a significant impact on the pandemic driven issues that were acting as a roadblock. People were now Although the industry was collaborating with technology, there were other painful backdrops as well out of which lay-offs were the ones in the new construction era of 2020.
The construction tech
Construction technology has been rooting the industry since 2018. After research done by McKinsey & Company in 2020, the results showed that the majority of the general contractor construction companies have been encompassing supply-chain optimization and marketplaces, 3-D printing, digital twin technology, modularization and robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and analytics at specific phases of the project life-cycle.
The three main clusters in the use case involve:
- Digital collaboration: this usually includes the effective ways people communicate digitally while working to keep chores in order.
- Back-office: several functions are involved in back-office from, accounting, human resource, and finance that helps the construction companies to access and analyze the project data to capitalize on finances, costs, and schedules.
- On-site execution: this contains a lot of particulars from project consultation, design supervision to project management.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the three clusters to define how technology has been interfacing with all of them.
Digital collaboration
- The construction technology companies have been focusing on the tools and software that could bridge the gap between communication and collaborative productivity. Most of the compelling tools are developed for the effortless online exchange of information. Other platforms facilitating technology include CRM, manpower optimization, equipment management, predictive assessment performance, and so on.
Contract and document management
- Construction companies are under a huge burden of looking at the heavy loads of documentation and contracts. New construction tech companies are thus making the life of the staff working with documents and contracts easy by launching software that can make the process of uploading them simple to make the job effortless aiding easy access to them anytime and anywhere.
Performance management
- Collecting and sharing information becomes easier with this easy interfaced software even when you are working accessing or uploading the data. This is made possible with advanced features available on the automated performance dashboards.
Design management
- The designers have to upload or make changes in the blueprint of the architecture. Rather than meeting in-person and delaying the tasks, people can easily make changes, add annotations and remarks on the blueprints that are within reach even to their mobiles, laptops, or tablets.
Back-office
- Back office includes functions focusing on scheduling, managing equipment, and enterprise resource planning. These functions involve accounting, finance, and human resources useful to derive valuable data accounting, finance, and human resources. Analysts need real-time data and to assist the same, startups and construction tech companies are devising new construction era technology.
On-site execution
- E&C faces a lot of difficulties that can be held responsible for low productivity and delayed task completion. Thus, to save the industry from the crisis, construction tech companies are developing tools and solutions to assist the best.
Safety monitoring
- The applications are developed keeping in mind the easy tracking and alerting features about the safety incidents across job sites. This way the managers can easily communicate the safety alerts and tips to the workforce spread across the construction site.
Field productivity
- The smart tools are paving their way to the construction fields as well to track down the workers’ and staff’s productivity. This is made possible with the managers getting the real-time data of the total working hours, the location, and tracking other activities immediately. There are either mobile-friendly software support or wearable GPS devices that make the delivery of the data easy.
Quality control
- Quality control is one of the aspects that are best benefitted from when the technology integrates and the outcome is accurate. These quality control solutions are serviceable for transportation, supply-chain logistics, and other on-site activities. Start-ups and construction tech companies are constructing autonomous quality-control systems combining technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
- There have been too many improvements and innovations in the tech industry that has built a new construction era in 2020. Even in the coming age, the industry will undoubtedly fall into a dynamic space. This space will surely equip the growth and adaptation of ‘construction’ with effective planning and managing technology eradicating manual work as far as possible.