The construction industry has seen sustained growth during the past decade. According to a report published by Statista, the combined public and private construction spending in the United States alone reached $1.23 trillion in 2017. Globally speaking, this upward trend is set to continue. Global Construction 2030, a report published by Oxford Economics and Global Construction Perspectives, forecasts that construction output will reach $15.5 trillion worldwide by 2030, with the U.S., China, and India accounting for 57% of that growth.

However, despite these growth trends, the construction industry is experiencing a shortage of workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey reports that there are nearly 200,000 unfilled construction industry jobs in the United States. Worker shortages, when combined with an industry that is experiencing continued growth, have resulted in many construction sites operating with skeleton crews. Understaffed construction sites present a number of compromises in both time and productivity that could ultimately hurt the bottom line of construction companies and the developers that engage their services. As a result, companies are looking to the Internet of Things (IoT) to pick up the slack and work smarter with smaller construction crews.

IoT Enhanced Collaboration and Automated Workflows

Through the use of IoT-enabled collaboration tools, construction workers have the ability to work smarter than ever before, reducing the number of people needed for complex projects and helping lower labor costs. For example, drones mounted with sophisticated 3D mapping capabilities can scan the job site and feed the information into a Building Information Modeling (BIM) system, which then creates accurate 3D models of the work in progress. These models can then be updated with ease by the job manager, instantly notifying every worker and manager of the changes. Capturing data on the job site and uploading it to an IoT platform in real time also allows stakeholders to receive up-to-the-minute progress reports and access video of the construction site, giving them the ability to gauge the status of a project and make adjustments, as necessary, to keep the project on track.

Sensors and RFID tags on building materials and equipment can help in both predictive maintenance and proactive ordering. For example, when an employee checks out or ships material to a job site, an IoT platform automatically can update inventory and send alerts when inventory is low. Similarly, sensors on equipment can monitor usage levels and provide information about the health of mechanical assets, such as pumps, elevators, and HVAC compressors. The IoT platform then can flag potential issues and recommend preventive maintenance to increase equipment uptime and reduce maintenance costs.

Keep reading this blog on aeris.com

Find more news here

Find events calendar here

Find media kit here

Join Construction Links Network

Submit your FREE Business Directory listing

Subscribe to E-newsletter