Transforming the Construction Industry with IoT

Leading firms from different markets are leveraging the transformative power of IoT in construction to ensure maximized client satisfaction and minimized costs.

The construction industry is continuously working on delivering increasingly better services to their clients. At the same time, they are also trying to make construction processes more efficient and consequently, more profitable. To make these operations more efficient, IoT can offer considerable advantages in the construction sector. IoT is helping contractors and builders to improve their processes, minimize waste, and maximize savings. For instance, construction companies can optimize the performance of their equipment with the help of IoT sensors. It helps them to determine the health status of equipment and take precautions accordingly. This way they avoid spending on expensive replacements and extended delays. Similarly, there are many other applications of IoT in construction that are making the building process faster and more efficient.

Applications of IoT in the Construction Industry

Following are a few ways in which construction companies are leveraging IoT technology:

Site Monitoring

Site monitoring is an essential aspect of the construction process. This process can benefit greatly from the use of IoT construction projects, becoming more effective and cost-friendly. Site monitoring is classified into two aspects, mainly for tracking of humans and machines. At a construction site, keeping track of a massive volume and variety of data corresponsing to different workers and tools is necessary. Since this cannot be handled manually, IoT can play a significant role by making this process automatic and precise. Through IoT devices and networks, the information from the machines and vehicles can be accessed on mobile devices. Thus, the construction manager can have real-time insights of employees and machines without keeping track of operations manually. Construction companies can utilize their employees & equipment to their full capacity and optimize the entire construction process. IoT can also ensure the security of construction sites and assets. Facial recognition, RFID tags can detect any unregistered person or an intruder approaching in the restricted areas,machines can be monitored by applying sensors to the vehicles the location can be traced including the health of the engine and its fuel efficiency directly on mobile devices irrespective of the managers’ location.

Machine Control

Areas involving heavy machine work is handled by heavy machines controlled by human operators. This process can be further simplified through IoT-enabled machine control. IoT can make construction machines more effective and autonomous. IoT sensors can guide these machines to function with greater precision and minimal human involvement. These IoT systems can also constantly give the operators informaiton on equipment health to prevent any unexpected breakdowns and failure. Thus, construction processes can be completed in shorter times without compromising building quality.

Construction Safety

Safety is of utmost importance in the construction industry, and it is an area of concern for both the workers and the managers leading them. Construction sites are equipped with various safety measures for ensuring a safe work environment. By using IoT, site safety can be further enhanced by using impactful tools and techniques. Wearable tech is increasingly being used in the construction industry to achieve a wide range of benefits, its biggest gains come in the form of labor tracking and safety. Wearables give you an autogenerated headcount of workers, which shows the location where a person is working, marks hazards, and sends safety alerts at a particular site of construction. Construction is primarily a labor-oriented field, and worker health is a key area of focus for managers. With the help of activity trackers, the workers location and potential hazards can be monitored by the supervisors and the construction managers. Combining other technologies like AI with IoT, safety measures can be further enhanced, thereby assuring the safety and health of workers.

Fleet Management

Unexpected weather conditions and road conditions are among the most critical problems for fleet managers. Project managers and site supervisors can track the status of materials in transit, helping them to plan and coordinate on-site operations more effectiveley. IoT devices can show precisely where vehicles are and how fast they are traveling. Having accurate speed and location information can help in preventing delays and any changes in the schedule can be communicated to the customer with the use of IoT data. IoT fleet management solutions can also be used for optimizing transit routes and maintaining vehicles.

Project Management

Budget plays an essential role in the construction department for any project manager, and completing a project within a limited budget is a key performance indicator for project managers as well as construction companies. The use of IoT in construction can help contractors utillize the resources available to them in an efficient way. IoT devices can facilitate cost-cutting by using site monitoring techniques for monitoring vehicles, equipment, material utilization, thereby keeping the project budget-friendly. IoT provides real-time reporting which reduces the cost of communication. This enables construction firms to offer better and faster services while reducing the workload for project managers. It also helps in completing the project at a faster rate.

Benefits of IoT in Construction

• IoT enables real-time inspection of construction sites for easier control of operations
• IoT sensors used on construction equipment and vehicles help to locate and monitor them around the clock
• IoT can be used to generate equipment health data to guide maintenance operations for timely repairs and prevention of breakdowns
• Using IoT, paperwork can be reduced through digital record maintenace and real-time reporting which can save your business printing costs
• Using wearable tech improves labor health and safety
• IoT enables effective resource and asset management, which reduces the cost due to wastage of resources
• With the help of IoT devices on a construction site, the site inspector can track the workers on the site and respond to emergency situations aptly and rapidly
• Locating and tracking materials and other resources using IoT will improve scheduling and coordination among between different teams involved in construction projects
• IoT can increase revenue by driving cost-savings as well as enhancing overall construction quality

By using IoT in construction, managers and executives can have access to real-time data that can enable them to respond to exigent day-to-day situations promptly. On a broader, strategic scale, IoT data can help construction firms to analyze and improve their operating procedures for further increase in efficiency, quality, and consequently, profitability. Considering how IoT is transforming businesses in every other sector, there is little doubt regarding the fact that IoT will transform construction companies and the sector as a whole. Thus, construction companies need to identify opportunities to use IoT in their operations and invest in pilot projects to gain the early-adopter advantage.