Resources Hub for AEC & MFG professionals

What you’ll find in our resources

Phenomenal changes have taken place globally over the past few decades. In addition to altering our daily work and personal lives, technology is rapidly causing shifts in the industries that serve society. This technological revolution is affecting the ways projects are designed and built in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry and the way products are fashioned and produced in the manufacturing (MFG) industry. It has also resulted in the merger of AEC and MFG in industrialized construction.

In manufacturing, the digital factory promises to make operations more efficient and flexible, reducing time to market and keeping product costs low. Whether through the use of IoT, AI or data analytics, Industry 4.0 is making manufacturing more responsive to market demands.

Construction companies are also faced with challenges around productivity and efficiency, issues that are compounded by rework, budgets, volatile supply chains, tight schedules, and increased emphasis on safety.

Meanwhile, consumers are expecting built projects to be delivered more quickly with specialized planning to minimize their impacts on our ecosystem. Whether during the construction process or for long-term facilities operations and maintenance, targets are being established for sustainable development, carbon footprint, green design, resource conservation, and renewable energy.

In a step toward meeting market demand, the industry is experiencing a renewed trend toward industrialized construction, including modular and prefabrication processes. Along with panelization and automation, these product-based processes hold the promise of increasing safety and productivity, while meeting the demand for projects to be completed faster with tighter budgets.

Construction companies have access to a wide variety of technologically advanced tools that save time, labor and costs. The workflows these tools enable include efficient collaboration using BIM; sustainable design; offsite and industrialized construction; and data collection, analysis, transfer, and management.

One of the advances rapidly overtaking the scene is artificial intelligence (AI). The AI revolution is already transforming design and build processes. The use of generative design, computational design and computational detailing is on the upswing as companies are discovering technology’s time-saving benefits, as well as the ability to magnify customer choices.

In addition, sustainability targets are being facilitated through projects utilizing renovation, revitalization, remodeling, and refurbishing. Wise use of resources and shortened schedules are just two of the reasons why some customers choose not to start a project from scratch.

The increased use of finite element analysis/method (FEA/FEM) software by structural engineers is augmenting the structural discipline. It gives designers the ability to efficiently devise safe, resilient, high quality structures with enhanced building information modeling (BIM) workflows in Autodesk Revit software, cost-effective project management, and significant time savings.