Digital Disruption In Construction

[edit] Digital Disruption In Construction

The construction industry is poised with a constant challenge for digital transformation in order to change how projects are delivered, cut costs of executing projects and improve the overall project execution and timeliness. This goes hand in hand with the demand for increased profitability. Every day, around the world, more than 200,000 people are moving into cities. To support this influx, cities need to build. Global trends such as increased competition, urbanisation, and limited natural resources, as well as pervasive challenges such as talent access and engagement, tend to make construction projects complex to manage and execute. As project complexity increases, it is critical for construction companies to harness the impact of digitisation and technology adoption in order to execute projects effectively.

According to Deloitte analysis of MIT Sloan Management, few construction companies are using technology to not only improve margins but also create new business opportunities. The industry should seriously consider transformational innovation, connectedness and digital technologies to generate cost effective and sustained competitive advantage.

As technology evolves and is adopted, one of the key components in maintaining or improving construction projects is connectedness. Connectedness in job sites involves visibility on-site and making data available to all members of the project. Creating dashboards to analytically monitor progress, performance and resource performance, and environmental conditions such as workers’ safety give the team the insights they need to make data-driven decisions.

[edit] Technology In Construction

[edit] Real-time Visibility

In today’s competitive landscape, construction companies have little to no choice but to leverage current technologies in their business strategy. Innovations in real-time visibility using construction cameras enable remote site monitoring which has proven to increase efficiency and productivity while improving communication.

The insights that real-time monitoring delivers transform how projects are managed. The visual data collected during the execution phase can significantly influence project outcomes relating to schedule, quality, and safety. Construction cameras impact many challenges construction managers face every day such as the need for increased productivity and improved collaboration, while also performing as a tool for site security during and outside of working hours.

[edit] Worker Safety

In the Internet of Things in construction, these cameras provide high resolution, wide view panoramic views of an entire construction site 24/7. Round-the-clock monitoring enables contractors to keep an eye on their site at all times. In the event of an incident, footage gathered by these cameras helps deliver a clear picture of what happened and how the situation could have been prevented. This helps in identifying problem cases, which will ultimately improve Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations at the worksite. Construction cameras provide video evidence in case there are any injuries that are a result of neglect in adhering to OSHA regulations. Fatal injuries can be prevented as the concerned authorities are able to react and respond in time. Cameras can create a culture of safety on site as workers are more likely to follow precautions when they are being monitored.

[edit] Fleet Management

Construction teams have now adopted fleet managers as part of their teams to efficiently coordinate vehicle and equipment dispatch to keep construction projects on schedule. With the help of fleet tracking software, managers can find the best routes and send the nearest available drivers to fulfil site requirements. This increases the construction company’s ability to respond to urgent changes in site requests and enables them to quickly adapt on the go without delays. Construction cameras have also been integrated with artificial intelligence, such as gate report features which identifies the types of vehicle that enters and exits the site, as well as provides the relative data required by project stakeholders.

[edit] Dynamic Work Planning & Collaboration.

Installing construction cameras breaks through the barriers of project management. Project managers juggle multiple projects at any given time in order to make up for the shortfall of skilled labour. Being able to access construction site cameras from any device at any time frees up project managers from having to visit worksites as often and enables them to monitor multiple sites from anywhere that they have an internet connection.

[edit] Building information Modelling

Undoubtedly, BIM has become one of the greatest advancements that have taken place within the construction industry in recent years. This element has replaced the need for a blueprint which had to be produced before the start of the project. When an incredibly detailed and interactive 3D model of the intended structure is produced, it brings together all the necessary information about the project in one place. Using BIM methodologies and standards to collaboratively create digital representations of assets, organisations have brought new consistency and efficiency to their design, construction and operation. BIM has proven itself as a valuable mechanism for connecting information and ideas between different stakeholders. Now, forward-thinking leaders are evolving their BIM outputs beyond design and construction and are finding new ways of deepening the use of collaborative data models in operational strategies through digital twin adoption. Digital twins allow visualisation, monitoring and optimisation of operational assets, processes and resources by harnessing live data. This provides vital, real-time insights into performance and activity. At its core, is essentially a ‘living’ version of the project or asset view that BIM processes exist to create – able to evolve and transform using real-time data once the asset is in use.

By adopting digitisation, on a broader, strategic scale, construction firms are given the power to analyse and improve their operating procedures for further increases in efficiency, quality, and consequently, profitability. Considering how technology is transforming businesses in every other sector, there is little doubt regarding the fact that it is also transforming construction companies and the sector as a whole. Thus, construction companies need to identify opportunities to disrupt their operations and invest in adopting tech tools through pilot projects to gain the early-adopter advantage.

[edit] External links

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/digital-maturity/digital-mindset-mit-smr-report.html

https://evercam.com/features/gate-report

https://evercam.com

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Access control.
• Access to construction sites.
• CCTV.
• Commercial security systems.
• Entry control.
• Fire detection and alarm systems.
• Hostile architecture.
• Intruder alarm.
• Perimeter security.
• Ram raid.
• Security and the built environment.
• Smart surveillance, video surveillance and VSaaS.
• Time-lapse project management cameras.