According to Statista, the U.S. construction industry contributed $945 billion to the country’s GDP in 2021. This makes it the 9th biggest GDP contributor in the country. Despite the industry being the 9th biggest GDP contributor, it still lags in technological adoption.
For example, construction companies still use traditional construction and scheduling techniques. Some of these techniques are more than 100 years old and are prone to errors. One traditional construction scheduling technique that is more than a hundred years old that many are still using is Gantt charts.
Gantt chart
Henry Gantt invented the Gantt chart more than a hundred years ago. The bar chart shows a construction project’s start and finish date. The chart has horizontal bars with different lengths, representing the time frame of completing a particular task.
A Gantt chart is time-consuming, especially when working on complex projects such as tunnel construction. Another disadvantage of such a technique is that it can be confusing and complicated to follow. This is especially so when thousands of tasks need to be tracked in real-time.
The chart is also not suitable for project recovery. This is because it is difficult to track and identify priorities.
These problems can be solved using modern construction sequencing platforms like ALICE. Construction companies use platforms such as this to construct complex infrastructural projects. It uses optioneering to create construction scenarios within minutes, which enables contractors to visualize and analyze sequencing alternatives in real-time.
Why upgrade from traditional construction scheduling techniques?
Traditional construction scheduling techniques are time-consuming to implement. The more complex a construction challenge, the more likely the conventional technique will cave under pressure. Traditional techniques can be used to track several tasks at once. However, it cannot track thousands of tasks at once.
It is also important to note that traditional techniques cannot identify threats in real-time. This makes it hard for contractors to prevent the project from stalling. In addition, conventional techniques cannot recover a stalled project efficiently. This is because, unlike platforms that use optioneering, these techniques cannot create multiple simulations simultaneously.
How to upgrade from conventional construction scheduling techniques
Despite advancements in modern technology, the construction industry still lags behind in adoption. Most construction companies still use Excel spreadsheets to create a construction schedule. While there is technically nothing wrong with using Excel spreadsheets, this outdated technology does not meet the changing needs of the construction sector.
Certain things need to be done for construction companies to adopt new scheduling technology. Some of these things include the following.
Educating stakeholders about new technology
A construction company cannot adopt new technology without knowing about it. Therefore, if you’re trying to introduce new technology, the first thing you need to do is educate your teammates. It would be best if you did this by involving senior management, pinpointing problems that current systems are not solving.
Stakeholders will reject proposals for adopting new technology if there’s no advantage to using a new technique. Angles to use when vouching for a new construction scheduling platform include: increased efficiency, increased speed, collaboration, and the ability of new technology to integrate with other platforms.
Once key stakeholders see the need to increase efficiency, they will agree to upgrade to newer scheduling techniques.
Choose a suitable modern scheduling platform
Once key stakeholders realize the need to use modern scheduling techniques, a new platform will have to be identified and adopted. However, contractors must consider several factors before upgrading from traditional techniques.
One factor is the functionality of the platform. The chosen platform must solve scheduling challenges that traditional scheduling techniques cannot.
It’s important to remember that data will have to be exported when adopting new technology. Therefore, the platform chosen should be able to retrieve data from the old system. In addition, select a technological platform because they are more intelligent and can detect schedule errors before they cause delays.
Other important functionalities include leveraging technologies such as BIM and P6. Stakeholders should choose a platform that enhances collaboration among contractors and subcontractors.
Have a trained in-house team
To upgrade to modern scheduling techniques, the construction company must be willing to have a trained in-house team. Failure to have a trained in-house team will create confusion and result in modern scheduling techniques being abandoned.
Educate the client
A construction company is at the mercy of the client. If the client prefers using outdated scheduling practices like Excel, nothing much can be done about it. In this regard, it’s clear that the adoption of modern scheduling techniques depends on the client. Therefore, contractors must educate their clients on the importance of modern techniques.
The best strategy is to identify a problem and vouch for the technique as the only solution to that problem. With increased education, project owners will demand more advanced scheduling techniques, making it easy to upgrade from traditional scheduling methods.
Take it easy
When upgrading traditional construction schedules, adopt modern techniques in phases. The approach to use will depend on the contractor. The contractor can use modern scheduling techniques to reduce costs and completion time. The main point is for these techniques to be introduced gradually and not at once.
This way, stakeholders will notice their advantages and adopt them. Stakeholders might experience information overload if new techniques are introduced at once. This will result in them refusing to use modern techniques.
Be persistent
Lastly, be persistent. It is human nature to reject change. This can be because of vested interest or the fear of the unknown. Therefore, when upgrading from traditional to modern scheduling techniques, be patient.
In conclusion, construction companies should strive to adopt modern scheduling techniques because they are more efficient. Modern scheduling techniques enable contractors to reduce costs. New techniques also make it possible to significantly reduce construction time.
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