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Writer's pictureBill Allen

The AEC Industry Has A Problem


The Economist published an article last year that discusses one of the most critical issues facing the construction industry today: a lack of productivity.

Since 1995, global productivity in the industry has grown at a quarter of the rate of manufacturing. And in America it's even worse.

There is certainly no lack of technology available to architects, engineers, contractors, and developers. We have seen a major push towards BIM (Building Information Modeling) over the last decade, yet many companies are still hesitant to embrace the software. And BIM is just the tip of the iceberg.

"The trade as a whole is reluctant to spend money on the sorts of technologies, from project-management software to mass production, that have revolutionized so many other industries."

We know technology is advancing at an exponential rate. DVDs have come and gone, yet we're still constructing buildings the same way we've been since the invention of the VHS. The question we need to ask here is why? Is it simply a matter of cost, or is it a lack of understanding of the usefulness of AEC technology?

"The building trade is worth $10trn each year, or 13% of world output. If its productivity growth had matched that of manufacturing in the past 20 years, the world would be $1.6trn better off each year."

What challenges do you see facing technology and the AEC industry and where do you want to see the industry go?

Source:

The Construction Industry’s Productivity Problem, The Economist (August 2017)

<https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21726693-and-how-governments-can-catalyse-change-construction-industrys-productivity-problem>


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