Digitisation is the ‘glow up’ that construction needs
Topcon
THE call for construction to embrace digital technology is nothing new and there will be few in the industry unaware of the benefits to efficiency and accuracy that the right technology can provide, even if implementation is easier said than done in a difficult economy. But building a proudly digital industry will create positive change that can’t be measured on any one bottom line and help alleviate one of the sector’s most pressing challenges – a generation-sized skills gap.
Not having the right people is a major handbrake on the sector’s ability to capitalise on record demand, particularly in the UK. In Topcon’s Future of Machine Control report, which polled 1,000 construction managers across the UK and Europe, almost a third (32%) of UK respondents selected skills shortages as a major challenge they face on projects, more than any other factor and any other territory.
Time for a makeover
The crisis is the result of an unhealthy combination of more experienced workers leaving the industry and seeming failure to bring the next generation into the sector. Construction has a serious image problem to address to make itself more attractive to potential new recruits, who currently see a strenuous, poorly remunerated, and lowtech sector.
Building a proudly digital industry will create positive change that can’t be measured on any one bottom line and help alleviate one of the sector’s most pressing challenges – a generationsized skills gap.Of course, this is a huge oversimpli fication, but it’s the picture that many people see from the outside, without access to or awareness of the cutting-edge projects that rightly cause excitement in the industry. That’s why construction needs to embrace technology such as machine control with open arms and learn to shout about doing so.
Consider the perspective of a young person weighing up a career as an operator of an excavator or dozer; it’s a role in which machine control vastly eases the training process and provides a leg up into much more complex and engaging work. At the other end of the scale, for the most experienced operators, machine control offers them the opportunity to spend more time supervising and less time in the cab, even on complicated jobs.
The Future of Machine Control research revealed that the sector itself is aware of the benefits and their power in the recruitment process – almost three quarters (73%) agreed advanced technology such as machine control is key to attracting the best talent in the industry. What’s less well understood is that, when they invest in digitising their operations, industry leaders are investing in a better image for construction, closing the skills gap, and better equipping their business in the battle for talent.
Driven by data
Consider the perspective of a young person weighing up a career as an operator of an excavator or dozer; it’s a role in which machine control vastly eases the training process and provides a leg up into much more complex and engaging work.
Machine control is just one part of a larger digital infrastructure for construction and the built environment, an infrastructure that contains millions of data points and requires an entirely new skill set from its workforce.
A quarter (26%) of construction managers told Topcon that managing complex project data was a major challenge on projects, a figure that rose to 57% for those aged 25-34.
This not only shows that the industry is working with data, but that it’s demanding fluency with data from an early stage. Nowhere is this truer than for surveyors, for whom the tools of the trade have shifted significantly in recent years.
So, it’s time to change the perception of the job to include the cutting-edge digital tools used to measure, model, and design new projects. We should be proud of the progress our industry has made, and willing to put it alongside those so revered in the tech sector.
Education, education, education
As well as making the shift towards a digital first way of working within the industry, we need to bring the path from education to construction into focus for young people. This starts with awareness, particularly in the context of the surveying and geospatial professions that aren’t immediately visible or comprehensible from the outside.
Technology adoption has a multi-faceted role to play here – digital solutions both enable construction companies to do more with the people that they do have and transform the industry’s image to bring through the next generation.Building this awareness is the purpose of programmes such as Get Kids into Survey, which began when founder Elaine Ball created a poster that surveyors could take home to explain their work to their children. Now, the programme is working with education institutions around the world, supported by businesses from across the geospatial industry, including Topcon.
If awareness is the on-ramp for the route into construction, there needs to be a clear and attractive off-ramp at the other end. This will be made up of concrete interventions such as the Topcon-supported Class of Your Own “Design, Engineer, Construct” programme.
These initiatives are most effective if they’re backed up by a broad confidence in construction as an industry where digital solutions are the status quo, not the exception, and that this brings with it a wealth of opportunity.
Closing the gap
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimates that the industry will need to add an extra 225,000 people to its workforce between 2023 and 2027 if construction is to continue its invaluable contribution to the UK economy, putting even more emphasis on the actions needed to close the skills gap.
Technology adoption has a multi-faceted role to play here – digital solutions both enable construction companies to do more with the people that they do have and transform the industry’s image to bring through the next generation.
To download the full Future of Machine Control report, visit: www.topconpositioning.com/future-machine-control-2023-report