How Technology Will Ease Construction’s Labor Shortage Crisis
It is no secret that the construction industry is suffering from a skilled labor shortage. Countless industry experts stress the need to attract more talent, but so far, efforts have failed to keep up with demand.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 200,000 construction positions are unfilled across the country, an increase of 81% in two years, and it isn’t improving. Housing and infrastructure demand continues, while the average construction worker continues to age. To add to the strain, the promised immigration crackdown could rapidly remove up to 13% of the already stretched workforce.
Necessity is the mother of invention, though, and new technology could be the answer to the labor shortage. By investing in technologies like the ones we’ve highlighted below, forward thinking companies will do more with their existing labor force and get an edge on the competition.
Robotics and Pre-Construction
In the past few years, advancements in robotics have made their way into the construction industry. In 2015, a race was conducted showing that robotic bricklayers could lay three times as many bricks as human masons in the same time. Less than a year later, a new robot developed by Fastbrick Robotics Limited demonstrated the ability to work four times faster than a human, and robots will only gain speed. While these robotic bricklayers require some human oversight, the fact remains that more bricks can be laid, in less time, with the need of fewer skilled masons.
The potential of robotics is bolstered with a new trend towards the use of pre-fabricated products in construction. Assembling much of a building in a factory before construction greatly increases efficiency, but the efficiencies are even more impressive when the assembly line is supplemented with modern robotics. Buildings that would take years and hundreds of workers to finish using traditional methods can be completed with only a few skilled technicians to oversee the process, and a few skilled laborers to fit the pieces together on site.
Fleet Management and Service Maintenance Software
Skilled service technicians have become an increasingly rare commodity in the construction industry. In spite of the shortage, technicians are often inefficiently scheduled, shuttling from one jobsite to the next for each service request, only to have to return to the first job site the next day for a different machine. As a result, service technicians spend much of their time on the road instead of fixing downed equipment. Equipment managers do their best to avoid such inefficiency, but but tracking preventative maintenance requirements and down machines is incredibly complex with larger fleets. With modern service scheduling and fleet management software, however, these dispatching difficulties become easy.
By keeping track of service requests, machine locations, and preventative maintenance schedules, fleet management software can automatically display all approaching service and maintenance needs at each job site. When a technician is sent to a job to fix a downed machine, he can immediately see every other task that he should cover while there. Does the oil in that excavator need to be changed in the next couple weeks? Is the seatbelt of the skidsteer being temperamental? The service technician can handle all of these issues in one trip instead of leaving only to be forced to drive back to that site a few days later.
By giving your equipment managers the tools to keep their technicians servicing machines instead of constantly on the road, fleet management software can reduce the strain of the technician shortage.
3D Printing
The most memorable exhibit at ConExpo this year was the 3D printed, functional excavator. 3D printing is not limited to machinery, however. All kinds of surfaces and structures are already being printed with limited human skilled labor needed. Earlier this year, San Francisco based company Apis Cor 3D printed an entire home in only 24 hours. While the house was small, it demonstrated what the future could have in store. As 3D printing technology improves, one could see the entire structures of luxury homes being 3D printed, only requiring humans to install the finishings.
3D printing may have even more use in industrial projects. In Amsterdam, company MX3D is constructing a fully functional steel bridge over one of the city’s famous canals. The video of the bridge’s construction highlights how such technology could affect the labor shortage crisis — there is scarcely a human being in sight as the entire structure is built.
Remote and Self-Driving Vehicles
Some of the most promising technologies that will help ease the burden of the construction labor shortage are Remote and Self-Driving vehicles. While much has been made of self-driving personal cars and trucks, this year at ConExpo, attendees saw another possibility of self-driving technology: Construction Equipment.
Across the conference, the capabilities of virtual reality and other remote systems to control machines were on full display. One of the more notable examples could be found at Caterpillar’s outdoor booth. There, participants used a simulator to remotely operate a D8T located 1,700 miles away using a system of cameras and dashboards. Another example of remote technology was Movex Innovation’s Track-O MINIDOZER, which customers operated using a more traditional remote control.
According to Movex sales and marketing manager Jean-Yves Bacle, however, this remote technology is just a first step. “We think autonomy in construction is just three to five years away, compared to another 20 or so years for over-the-road vehicles, simply because in construction you are dealing with a more controlled environment.” Movex is not alone, either. Some of the biggest names in construction equipment are already hard at work on autonomous machines, including CAT, John Deere, and Komatsu. With skilled heavy machinery operators in short supply, it is unsurprising that such investments are going into the development of autonomous equipment.
Conclusion
The labor shortage for skilled workers may have delayed growth in the construction industry, but exceptional technologies are being developed to compensate. Not only will these technologies bridge the gap of labor in the short-run, they could usher in a new generation of what it means to be in construction. Even if the labor market returns to surplus, construction companies will now be able to build more for less cost and in a shorter time with these technologies. Those companies that embrace technology today will not only ease current labor shortage stresses, but will also have a leg up on the competition in tomorrow’s construction industry.
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