Competing in the New Construction Environment

Construction is facing a revolution. No industry will remain untouched by the technological improvements in the communication, processes and tools. The construction industry is no exception. The telltale indicators are arriving. Building Information Modeling (BIM), prefabricated high rises, Google glasses and many other information management tools are showing up on every jobsite and in every industry segment. The signals of market shift, which happened in other markets that industrialized, are here in construction. Like so many other industries, the construction industry is under constant pressure to improve productivity and to reduce cost and waste in its operations. In the era of new industrialization, the construction industry can no longer be content with the "Know-How" of skilled tradesmen but will be looking for the "Know-Why" of resource management. The missing element to make this transition possible is the content, which only exists in the gray cells of the tradesmen. Transferring "Tacit-Knowledge" from its current residence in the heads of skilled tradesmen to an "Explicit-Knowledge" environment requires a careful application of the "Principles of Scientific Management" that developed in the early years of the 20th century.