Every day, around the world, more than 200,000 people are moving into cities. Cities need to expand. Yet, only 25% of the infrastructure we’ll need in 2050 exists today. As a result, (E&C) industry must snowball at around 3% per year through 2021.
However, profitability and margins in the industry continue to be low. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) from construction activities are, on average, just 5% of sales. This is primarily because 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 engineering and construction (E&C) projects complex to manage and execute.
Deloitte has published a paper on Winning with connected construction: digital opportunities in engineering and construction. It says that to meet demand and improve the bottom line for construction projects, E&C firms should consider industrialising construction. What does this mean? It means digital transformation at a level that can allow builders to connect construction, assets, suppliers, and contractors seamlessly; automate processes, and synchronise equipment, labour, and supply chains.
Connected construction technology could enhance how E&C companies deliver construction and infrastructure projects, drive down costs, and improve overall project execution and timeliness.
Using connected construction tools, such as active and passive asset tracking, connected time clocks, computer vision, AR/VR, real-time data analytics, predictive maintenance, and automation, E&C companies could create smart, connected job sites of the future.
Connected construction could make assets work smarter, reduce downtime through proactive asset monitoring, optimise asset utilisation and efficiency, gain visibility and predictive actionable insights, and trigger automated business processes.
