Table of Contents
Introduction
Construction as everyone knows is known to move slowly and very ineffectively but with the introduction of the right technology it could change the way construction operates. The field of construction management needs to implement new technology, because it could increase efficiency of workers, and it would help the industry grow with the new youth interests. There is no reason why the construction industry should not be implementing new technology and make it more attractive for the younger generations in which 74% of millennials say tech is a factor in the appeal of a job according to Conner Forrest from (TechRepublic). This really does show that the construction industry is lacking to join into industries with the implementation of new technology and will not get the younger generations interested into the industry unless changes are made to how they operate and how efficiently they are running. The efficiency issues that are present in a lot of current construction projects and how they are ran are easily fixable with construction monitoring and data tracking apps that are available.
Background
The field of construction management is facing a problem that could change the whole face of the job, the implementation of new technology into the workplace. For example, the implementation of construction management software is designed to increase efficiency and keep things on schedule. This is proving to be an invaluable resource to companies of keeping all members of a project fully informed. The biggest example of the technology that is mentioned above is building information management or BIM which contains almost all the aspects that are needed to keep a project on schedule, but at the same time incorporating 3D building models built into the software which in turn with the technology requires less work on lower people in the company and an increase on safety. With the implementation of this new technology into this field comes the interest of the younger generation into the field. For example, a poll by (CompTIA) asking if a company’s use of technology played a role into the decision to work somewhere 74% of millennials said tech is a factor, which means that if you have more technology involved into the field of construction management there is going to be more youth interest into the field itself and in turn make the somewhat stagnant field of construction into a booming industry again.
Evidence
Youth Interests
The future of the construction industry is going to be based on if millennials and Gen Y are going to be tempted into going into an industry around certain opportunities to make the field more technologically acceptant and make it more efficient and in general make the world a better place. With these changes will come a change of attitude towards the construction industry and make the industry boom like it once did. According to The National Association of Home Builders “only 3% of young people want to pursue something in construction” (Construction’s Image Crisis, Why and How Construction Needs to Attract Youth). But with the implementation of tech this could change dramatically and make more young people interested into pursuing careers within the construction field. According to another study “74% of millennials say that tech is a factor when applying for a job” (CompTIA). This study shows that the problem with tech in the construction isn’t just in this field it’s across the board. That if you want your certain industry to grow than you almost need to implement some type of technology into the job.
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The amount of young people that are interested in going into the construction industry is just going to become more of a problem as time goes on, it can be blamed on the construction industry itself. By being not able to engage young and bright workers and using their talent to make the industry more efficient and diverse. This has been attributed to a lot of the problems today within the construction industry. A Study conducted by Mckinsey and Company “Construction is predicted to see approximately 13 trillion dollars in spending globally”(Siriam Changali, Azam Mohammed and Mark Van Nieuwland), which means if you can make construction more desirable for the younger generation than you could have a dying industry turn into a booming one, when industry does not change they are just destroyed by innovative companies for example Amazon with retail or Uber with taxis. So, in the end the industry of construction is going to change if they like it or not. But with the implementation of technology and youth into construction can come with a lot of innovation and wealth that could be spread around to all the current companies before another amazon comes in and takes all the wealth for themselves.
New Technology in Construction
With new technology being invented every single day jobs in the future are going to be totally different than what they currently are today, and within the construction industry this is and is going to be a very prevalent issue in the upcoming years, there has been numerous research depicting technology being in the benefit of all major industries in the future, here is some of that. Tyler Riddell of (esub.com) states that one of the changes that is coming to the construction industry is going to Building Information Management or BIM allowing contractors and engineers to create 3D building plans on the spot. Which would improve on site safety and allow these plans to be integrated into the construction schedule. Tyler’s point to writing about this new technology is too show that an outdated technologically speaking industry could be transformed into one that relies daily on the technology and allows new innovations for the better of the industry This also allows the more tech savvy generations to be more interested into pursuing something in construction which in turn will greatly benefit the construction field.
With the countless data and time tracking that construction managers have to do on a daily basis, the integration of new technology is available and ready to be utilized for better productivity and for getting jobs done quicker and safer. Sergey Sundukovskiy of (Construction Executive) writes that with easy to use cloud-based apps, construction monitoring software that are easily accessible through our phones can give construction managers the ability to file reports from the field and relieve them of the stress of compiling data from notebooks or spreadsheets. These apps would also make the quality of the data collected way higher by making all the data generated from a project including photos, reports safety incidents and weather conditions uploaded almost instantaneously. The real message that Sundukovskiy is trying to relay is that with the new technology that is coming available to construction managers the way a jobsite is ran is going to be forever changed. With the benefit of the workers and the manager in mind by making sure that the conditions that workers are in are safe and by making the process of paper work a minuscule time to what it used to be.
Efficiency of Workers with New Tech
The future of every industry is going to change with the new technology that is being introduced every single day, but the construction industry can really take advantage of these new technological advances. For example, from the author Stacey Phillips of (iconnectengineers.com) says that “the delivery and construction of a project are going to be from earlier engagement from the CM and innovative technology will play a key role”. To a certain extent Stacey is right but for some of the older school CM’s these changes are going to come in scary for them and is going to be hard for them to adapt to these new technological changes. These old school CM’s are correct to a certain point, but the evidence shows that with more technology in the construction industry the more efficient and safer it will become. With efficiency as one of the main downfalls of the construction industry the newest up to date technology will come in handy for the safety and the efficiency of the future of construction management.
The new technology that is becoming increasing available is going to help the construction industry tremendously with the lack of efficiency that the whole industry is lacking and has been for a long time. For example, Dan Taylor of (Capterra) mentions something called Boston’s Big Dig “the city launched the project in 1991 to deal with the miserable traffic in central Boston, it was scheduled to be completed in 1998 and cost 2.6 billion but it ended up costing 14.8 billion and completed in 2007”. This is a perfect example of the inefficiency within construction and how it can cost some much money and time because of the inefficiency. All of this could be fixed with the right implementation of technology into the construction industry which would help speed up the process of a project and save a lot of money and man hours in the process.
Conclusion
Technology in construction is going to happen whether people like it or not but the only thing that can change is how quickly this technology is going to be implemented, this is going to determine the future of the industry and the efficiency and safety of the future workers in the industry. With the new Technology the amount of young people that are going to be interested in the industry which will turn a somewhat dying industry into a booming one with a future that is sustainable and more efficient than the current system we currently have. The construction industry without technology is still just going to be the same inefficient system that we are so used to seeing in our everyday lives, so why not implement the technology and benefit a whole industry but more importantly a whole society.
