What’s happening with AI and machine learning is going to be the source of big changes to society. Why? Because it’s happening now, in the industrial sector – the sector which quietly affects practically every corner of life, but is often unseen or overlooked.

In the construction sector, a pressing task is to extract value from heavy equipment in order to deliver value to customers. Key challenges for operators to understand include the impact of machine downtime on project schedules and peak operating season; visibility of machine health and maintenance requirements; and the optimization resource and machine allocation across multiple projects and geographies.

The more we educate across the ecosystem, that’s when we’ll start to see the escape velocity happen.

Jay Allardyce

To meet the customer requirement, billions of dollars gets spent on capital equipment. At the same time, tens and tens of millions of dollars on IT trying to improve the value of that equipment and plant. The thing which creates friction and tension between these two siloes is that their budgets and the way that they operate are often disassociated.

AI presents a way of unlocking value, what’s more, it’s use is increasingly tied to financial outcomes in order to justify ongoing investment. Typically, users follow a simple process starting with what outcome is desired, what are the KPIs, what data is needed and what are the analytics. Linking back to the outcome underpins the cultural commitment to investment.

Technology is evolving at a rate fast enough to meet the evolutionary requirements of businesses and industries. But since AI is probably not core to construction company operations, partnership is needed – you have to leverage. There are three criteria to work with; choose a purpose-built platform for scale; partner for competency and importantly, re-imagine your industry with AI.

Probably the most important message to get across is that this is no time for complacency, it is a time for curiosity about how AI can benefit the construction industry. It’s never been more critical for leadership to get involved as we start acting on how data can be utilized to maximize the efficiency and profitability of construction, and eliminate downtime.