New Technologies for E&C
The Engineering and Construction industry already has a myriad of innovations that, as the Boston Consulting Group highlighted, support all stages of the value chain of that market.
With increasing computing power available to process a huge amount of data, digitalization is a key factor in construction and new technologies open up a whole new world of opportunity for the segment. Cloud-running tools enable faster job agility: price quotes from construction parts suppliers, quality inspection routines, and real-time contract performance management. In addition, technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning can support much of the growth in this market, by enabling identification of patterns and trends from the construction site’s data. This opens doors for the generation of new business models in companies and for creating new products and processes that increase productivity.
IOT and mobility are also a relevant part of this reality. Innovations are found in the various phases: Design & Engineering, Construction and Operations:
· Drones: for inspection of construction sites
· 3D Printers: for pre-fabrication of construction parts or componentes
· Geolocators: GPS and radio frequency (RFID) are used to track materials, equipment and teams, in order to optimize flow and inventory levels
· Robots and autonomous vehicles: do a lot of the construction work
· 3D scan or air mapping: to compare work in progress to planned
· Sensors: to monitor assets, checking asset deterioration, facilitating preventive maintenance
· Augmented Reality: for guidance of maintenance teams
In addition to tools that enhance projects and automate time sheet control, for example, a highlight is given to the BIM product category, Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM is a process that involves the generation and management of digital representations of the physical and functional characteristics of places. The BIM tool offers a graphical 3D interface for project management, presents a graphical view to compare between planned and executed and what is delayed, highlights bottlenecks at the job site, allowing rapid intervention, and is linked to all other project information. BIM can even plot the areas where cost has exceeded budget graphically to show the investors.
There are innovations not only for construction companies, but also for workers and contractors:
ContractorTools: Smartphone or tablet application for contractors to create construction estimates and issue notes. The application also runs offline and synchronizes the data when connecting to the internet, without the need for contractor rework (https://contractortools.com )
Much innovation is already available in the day-to-day engineering and construction industry. It is estimated that with the adoption of new tools, it is possible to achieve up to 20% reduction in the total cost associated with the project life cycle. Benefits go beyond costs. There is also an expected significant improvement in project completion time, increased quality and increased project safety. However, the biggest challenge still lies in fostering the adoption of new technologies in the engineering and construction industry, with the goal of bringing greater efficiency to the projects.
Sources:
· https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/building-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/
· https://futureofconstruction.org/
· https://www.weforum.org/projects/future-of-construction/
· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_information_modeling
