Construction Planning and Management Automation in Action

Automation in construction is not only about robots or drones that help companies get manual work done fast. Automation starts with the proper estimation of resources and human labour, team schedules, and communication with suppliers, contractors, and other project members.

FREMONT, CA: While the idea of robots taking over occupations may come to mind when one hears the word automation, the reality is considerably more complex. Automation, for instance, is more likely to boost production than it is to reduce employment prospects in the building industry.

Automation can influence the trajectory of the sector, along with the worldwide need for modernised infrastructure and better, more affordable housing. The key will be anticipating and becoming ready for the transformation, which includes equipping the present and future workers with new skills.

Automation has three primary potentials in construction. The first is the automation of what is seen as conventional physical jobs on-site, such as machines paving roads and robots laying bricks. The automation of modular construction—or production—in factories, which includes 3-D printing of components like facades, presents the second opportunity. The third, meantime, is focused on digitisation and the ensuing automation of design, planning, and management processes, as well as the enormous on-site efficiencies that can produce. Planning is made more effective, for instance, by building information modelling, which essentially combines the ideas of planners and general contractors to discover problems before they go to the site. However, more crucially, it increases the effectiveness of on-site execution, enabling project teams to cut out errors and better manage the workforce.

The construction workforce could be significantly impacted by a big shift to off-site modular construction, but the change will take decades. It is far easier to employ machines to produce individual components or modules in factories than it is to do it on-site. Although most factory construction is still executed manually, automation will gradually take over as factories grow. Despite the large market and growing market share, the process is gradual, and many on-site activities will continue for some time to come.

Although automation offers significant prospects across industries, employment in the construction sector would likely suffer less than in those with more repetitive work, like manufacturing. In predictable situations, repeated physical jobs are the easiest to automate; nevertheless, aside from when modular construction techniques are applied, the environment in construction is typically unpredictable. In addition to the fact that parts move about, each building site and the project is customised to meet the unique needs of the client, the architectural vision, and the geographical and site restrictions.

It's unlikely that a business will fire a carpenter and hire the newest robot to accomplish what the carpenter did for those tasks that do remain on-site.