Richard Clement, General Manager at Smart Construction and Dan Smith, Head of Technology Solutions at MDiG, examine the challenges in construction and why the key lies in earth moving as the first step to digitising the construction industry
The construction industry has fallen behind other sectors as the nation moves towards a digital future. To tackle this challenge, experts from Smart Construction, led in the UK by Deputy General Manager, Richard Clement and MDiG, the team specialising in digital solutions, discuss how taking the first step in digital construction is crucial for developing and progressing the modern-day job site in 2023 and beyond.
What is the digital opportunity?
Richard Clement explains that digitisation is the biggest challenge facing the industry today. He says: “Cross-sector, we’re seeing huge steps in digital transformation as a vehicle for improving systems, processes and overall efficiency for businesses and organisations. Unfortunately, the construction industry has fallen behind other industries as we tackle age-old processes that include an immense amount of data transmission, hefty commuting times and costs, and struggles to efficiently resource materials and manpower at the earliest stages of the construction journey.”
Dan Smith, Head of Technology Solutions at MDiG, agrees: “On a global scale, we can see that our industry is falling behind, so the time to act is now. Digital solutions have advanced so much in recent years that we now have a plethora of ways we can tackle contemporary challenges at the job site and improve decision making processes leading to greater efficiency, shorter project times and overall cost effectiveness.
“The key here is data and being able to access precise information that can offer valuable insights to those in planning and management roles. In recent years, we’ve seen a huge uplift in people interested in improving processes with the help of digital solutions.”
What are the solutions?
MDiG and Smart Construction are working together on a rollout of multiple digital solutions to a wide customer base. MDiG works with construction teams on the ground to assess and analyse the challenges that contractors and managers are currently facing. Smart Construction has partnered with MDiG to offer its brand-new range of products to clients, which each provide a bespoke solution with the primary aim of improving forecasting and project delivery for the end customer.
Richard says: “We’re already seeing the introduction of digital technologies across the industry, but what we need to encourage is their optimisation and our ability to reach the potential that these changes instil. This in turn will enable us to reap the subsequent benefits.
“Smart Construction is a rapidly growing raft of new technologies. These products offer solutions to contemporary construction, bridging the gap between the present day and the idyll of the digital future. Solutions include the visualisation of terrain data, processing drone technology, retrofitting machinery at site to assess payload and much more.
“Working together with MDiG, we’ve developed these new technologies to answer the need for improved efficiency across the industry. By digitally transforming the jobsite, we offer increased flexibility for site managers and leaders who work cross-sites, facing delays in information availability, lengthy travel times and more.”
Dan Smith also adds: “Customers are now delving even more into alternatives and options for ways to be more sustainable, as well as putting safety and the environmental impact of the construction industry first. This, alongside issues around skilled staff shortages, means we have found the Smart Construction portfolio can assist with all these areas through enabling efficiencies and increased productivity by digitally transforming the job site.
“MDiG provides the full Smart Construction portfolio to gain this increased productivity and the benefits that accompany this, coupled with training to ensure the operators are utilising all the tools available.”
There are multiple benefits to investing in digital solutions. From upskilling the workforce, reducing the amount of time required at site or remotely to gather information and communicate changes, to providing tracking data to the customer, now is the perfect opportunity to diversify processes.
