McKinsey has just released its latest interactive map of the industry’s construction technology ecosystem. The map and its accompanying Technology trend in Construction report track the emergence of technology clusters and shed light on how the industry has been spending its quite $10 billion investment in construction technology over the past decade.

Here are the key findings you would like to understand:

• Constellations of solutions are emerging around established use cases.
• Technology investment continues to accelerate.
• The set of promising use cases is expanding.

Constellations of Solutions are Emerging Around Established Use Cases

In their report, McKinsey includes an interactive map of the present technology landscape. The map reveals constellations of solutions around specific use cases.

The four biggest constellations during this year’s map are:

• 3D printing, modularization, and robotics
• Digital twin technology
• Artificial intelligence and analytics
• Supply chain optimization and marketplaces

3D Printing, Modularization, and Robotics

This constellation of technology solutions contributes to the movement of construction toward a pre-fab and modular construction system of production. McKinsey’s research indicates that consistent use of those three sorts of technology could boost overall productivity within the industry by 5- to 10-fold.

3D printing and modularization technologies include:

• Automated prefabrication processes that turn a 2D drawing or 3D model into a prefabricated building component
• Fabrication directly off 3D models or shop drawings
• Construction robotics like bricklaying and welding robots
• Self-driving heavy machinery to form construction safer, faster and cheaper
• Exoskeletons and wearable robotics to reinforce worker mobility and strength
• Metal 3D printing of long-lead components like joints
• Hardware innovations that enable field augmentation with exoskeletons
• Drone-enabled yard inspection

Together, these technologies contribute to more efficient, safer, and less expensive construction sites.

Digital Twin Technology

Digital twin technology refers to the constellation of applications, software, and hardware that permits off-site team members to interact with real-time representations of on-site features and environments.

These technologies enable unprecedented transparency and proactive problem resolution. They include:

Digital “twin” platforms that make computer game environments that reflect real-time conditions on site
Reality-capture technologies like drones in construction, satellite imagery, and LiDAR and photosphere-based solutions
Seamless integration of dual models with 3D models generated by drone imagery
Live key performance indicator monitoring using Internet of Things sensors
Together, these technologies can enable off-site users to virtually interact with ‘mixed reality’ models that combine 3D design and as-built configurations. they will reduce decision-making cycles from a monthly basis to a day today, and enable the fast identification and determination of issues before they become costly problems.

AI and Analytics

AI and machine learning in construction have the potential to optimize schedules, automatically sequence tasks, and catch divergences from blueprints in near real-time. Intelligent technologies can model multiple possible scenarios faster than humans, making it simple and fast to optimize plans and corrections.

However, these technologies are still in the early stages. consistent with the McKinsey report, few organizations “have the processes, resources, and existing data strategies in situ to power the required algorithms and meaningfully implement the technology.”

However, these technologies are expected to substantially impact the industry to such a degree that no organization can afford to ignore their growth.

Supply Chain Optimization and Marketplaces

Another early-stage constellation of solutions is that the one centering around supply chain optimization and marketplaces. The supply chain within the housing industry is currently a largely manual process that needs substantial human time and energy.

In some regions, solutions are emerging that provide marketplace platforms for the buying and selling of products, also as hiring. As these solutions are acquired by large suppliers, they need to be begun to be deployed at scale.

In theory, they allow contractors to match supply with demand, and intrinsically, they need the potential to optimize the availability chain, improving productivity and profitability. They can also improve competitive bidding and support the increasing use of prefabricated components.

While the McKinsey report indicates that these technologies are going to be important to the development industry, they’re still in the early stages of emergence.

Toward the longer term of Construction Technology
The increased investment is driven partially by the very fact that early investments in technology have delivered on their promises, plus an expanding set of use cases.