It’s no secret construction projects are becoming increasingly complex and expensive, putting contractors under greater pressure to reduce costs, improve timelines and increase efficiency.

Advancements in technology are having a transformative impact on jobsites today, as digitization and integrated site operations are helping contractors increase accuracy, reduce job time and improve safety. With that in mind, AEM is committed to helping foster the continued digitization of the construction industry and facilitate ways to increase adoption of new technologies through the development of a new Construction Digitization Task Force.

“Construction contractors today are continually looking for efficiencies on the jobsite and within their fleets, and new technologies are fundamentally transforming both equipment and the construction process,” said AEM Senior Vice President of Construction, Mining & Utility Al Cervero. “AEM’s new Construction Digitization Task Force can help the construction industry navigate these transformative changes by assisting contractors in finding ways to more easily adopt cutting-edge technologies, developing standards between systems for easier implementation of those technologies, as well as advancing digitization across the industry as a whole.”

The inaugural meeting of AEM’s Construction Digitization Task Force took place earlier this summer, where those in attendance discussed a number of key topics poised to drive the group’s activities in the future. They included:

• A proposed overall goal
• Current industry initiatives
• The construction lifecycle
• Areas where inefficiencies are currently being addressed through startup companies and venture capital investments

Task force members were also asked to identify customer pain points and viable solutions capable of driving efficiencies. The pain points were grouped into three categories: end user adoption and awareness, data sharing and integration, and distribution and service. The group identified areas where AEM could potentially address those pain points, emphasizing the need for end user feedback related to contractor awareness and preparedness. The main focus of an upcoming end user research project will be understanding the barriers to adoption and implementation and the subsequent potential need to educate end users and dealers.

During the next task force meeting, the group will follow up on outstanding action items and discuss how to measure jobsite efficiency on an ongoing basis to evaluate industry adoption. The task force will utilize the results of the research to determine additional ways AEM can help drive efficiency.

For more information, contact AEM’s John Somers at jsomers@aem.org or AEM’s Sara Feuling at sfeuling@aem.org.