In 2010 when Benton and McHenry published the seminal work, Construction Purchasing & Supply Chain Management, the objective was to show how construction, a fragmented industry made up of discrete projects, should replicate continuous improvement in manufacturing. Put another way, a new supply chain and operations component must be developed each time a new project begins. The learning that takes place in manufacturing is circumvented in construction by changes from one project to the next. Therefore, construction supply chain management poses an opportunity to adopt lessons learned from the manufacturing sector which practices maximum integration of upstream and downstream supply chain members.
As we approach this important juncture, the third decade of the 21st century, the construction industry remains one of the least digitized business sectors in the United States. In the upcoming second edition of Construction Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, Benton and McHenry change the game as they extend their thesis and discuss how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to address persistent challenges in the construction industry. Project delays, budget overruns, labor shortages, safety incidents, fragmented data limit growth result in a reactive, intuition-heavy workflow environment. Benton and McHenry integrate AI tools while at the same time galvanizing human creativity and institutional knowledge to provide data-driven, proactive, and strategic oversight. Project managers must shift from constant firefighting and coordination of end of day reports to real-time dashboards and predictive alerts, exception management, proactive mitigation, and increased labor productivity.
Traditional methods rely on manual systems in the preconstruction phase across drawings/specifications, quantity take-offs, labor/productivity analysis, equipment costing, overhead, and profit. AI tools are expected to transform the pre-construction process by automating, predicting, and optimizing each step from project selection to estimating and bidding, job costing, labor productivity, risk management, and substantial completion. For example, pre-job planning can be enhanced by generating optimized schedules and efficient resource planning.
In the estimating and bidding phase, computer vision tools can be used to develop quantity take-offs, prices for personnel and equipment, and productivity adjustments. AI will be useful in the tedious, error-prone work involved in estimating. Further, AI tools can be used to allocate overhead accurately based on project data and historical information. Knowledge systems will be used to apply rules for appropriate markups.
There are many uses of AI when the project is underway. AI can be used to analyze historical productivity data against checklist factors (special conditions, confined areas, labor-saving machines, worker experience, quality requirements, supervision needs, weather, prevailing rates, individual worker performance).
AI simulated mitigation strategies can be implemented with labor-saving techniques or sequencing to reduce delays. Drones can be used for day-to-day construction phase management reducing lagging indicators for productivity and risks.
Benton & Associates can execute a full-service plan that includes assessment, consulting components that identify and resolve problem areas, and focused classroom training to assist managers in the implementation of solutions.
At Benton & Associates, we’ve got IDEAS. IDEAS make profitable growth predictable!
At Benton & Associates, we’ve got IDEAS — Innovative Developers of Education that Advances Solutions. Management concerns that are unique and industry specific—investigating the value of sharing information among supply chain partners in the automotive industry, developing outsourcing strategies for manufacturing, analyzing the cost of services in a hospital setting, evaluating quantity discounts for purchases by the military, standardizing procedures to determine disability awards, conducting ABC analyses of retail product lines, integrating Artificial Intelligence while galvanizing human creativity — require custom programming. Our team has capabilities and experiences in multiple sectors and industries. Benton & Associates can execute a full-service plan that includes assessment, consulting components that identify and resolve problem areas, and focused classroom training to assist managers in the implementation of solutions. IDEAS make profitable growth predictable.
At W.C. Benton & Associates, we’ve got IDEAS— Innovative Developers of Education that Advances Solutions. Management concerns that are unique and industry specific—investigating the value of sharing information among supply chain partners in the automotive industry, developing outsourcing strategies for manufacturing, analyzing the cost of services in a hospital setting, evaluating quantity discounts for purchases by the military, standardizing procedures to determine disability awards, conducting ABC analyses of retail product lines—require custom programming. Our exceptional team of business professors, engineers, accountants, and practitioners has capabilities and experiences in many sectors and industries. W. C. Benton & Associates can execute a full service plan that includes assessment and consulting components that identify and resolve problem areas, along with focused classroom training to assist managers in the implementation of solutions. With the IDEAS program profitable growth can be predictable.