Digital Transformation Takes Hold
Date Posted: June 4, 2019
Posted In: Discussion, Ideas,
From Constructech: Digital transformation is the disruption of business and organizational activities, processes, competencies, and models to leverage change. This change—and the adoption of new and emerging technologies—is not an easy feat.
According to Zion Market Research, www.zionmarketresearch.com, Maharashtra, India, the global digital transformation market is expected to grow 19.2% between 2016 and 2021, with growing markets in the areas of AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and more.
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges as it relates to digital transformation in the construction industry is enabling a culture of change across the business and all its stakeholders.
In the construction industry, this requires transformation across the entire project team—from firms providing design services to specialty trades providing subcontractoring services on the project. Today, many construction companies are identifying how to change in order to build complex structures in a tighter timeframe.
As one example, IWR North America, www.iwr-na.com, St. Louis, a specialty contractor that focuses on building enclosures, completed Liberty Mutual Insurance’s new $325 million regional hub, which opened last November to deliver nearly one million-sq.ft., of space specifically engineered to connect thousands more employees in the next few years.
The schematic was still in development when IWR was awarded the construction project so there was a lot of collaboration on the design and the pricing throughout, explains Mike Smalley, preconstruction manager, IWR North America.
Managing more than 50 field workers, IWR installed 30,000-sq.ft., of geometrically complex aluminum composite panels on the community center, garage canopies, exterior walls, interior stairwells, and main lobby soffits. Also, roughly 54,000-sq.ft., of a custom designed, engineered, and fabricated stainless steel woven mesh was installed in the parking garage by IWR. IWR’s detailed scope was fast tracked and took eight months to complete.
In order to enable this, IWR used multiple advanced technology tools, and methods for field verification, layout, and install of the stainless steel tensioned mesh cladding at the parking garage. The system installed required precise dimensions of substructure steel placement and allowable tolerances were extremely minimal when compared to industry standards. IWR used scanning technology and photometric registration of the garage structure to develop point-cloud data. The scan data was then uploaded into a computer software, which was used to generate cut-sections, plan details, and elevations of the garage structure. This information was then converted into AutoCAD format where it was overlaid with cladding system and developed into a set of documents used during installation.