Innovative Production And Construction Transforming Construction Through Emerging Technologies

Throughout the 38 chapters, this must-have volume outlines essential information about the implementation of emerging technologies, from building information modeling and 3D printing, to life cycle assessment and information technology in construction and engineering projects.It covers practical case studies to demonstrate the implementation of emerging technologies in a compact style, ensuring that practitioners can adopt these methods to realize immediate benefits in productivity, safety and performance improvement.

This book tackles the complex topic of implementing innovation and the successful application of advanced technology in the construction industry. It provides a practical guide for the transformation of the industry by detailing appropriate and effective implementation methods, required skill sets and structural changes necessary to facilitate the practical and innovative application of technology. The construction industry is behind other industries in its level of innovation and adoption of technology, and is of critical importance to many of today’s global challenges, such as climate change, global warming and resource scarcity. There is therefore a need for smarter and more efficient ways of managing available resources. This book elaborates on how the innovative application of technology could offer hope for the construction industry in it’s imperative to rise to current and future global challenges. It includes the real-world case studies of innovative projects that go beyond the current state-of-the-art academic research, and have improved productivity, quality and performance in the construction sector. This book provides readers from both industrial and academic backgrounds with a comprehensive guide on transforming the construction industry with the efficient and effective implementation of technologies and modern methods of construction.

The offsite and modular market is continuing to grow. This book builds on the success of a number of initiatives, including formative findings from literature, research and development and practice-based evidence (success stories). It presents new thinking and direction from leading experts in the fields of: design, process, construction, engineering, manufacturing, logistics, robotics, delivery platforms, business and transformational strategies, change management, legislation, organisational learning, software design, innovation and biomimetics. This book is particularly novel and timely, as it brings together a number of cogent subjects under one collective ‘umbrella’. Each of these chapters contain original findings, all of which culminate in three 'Key Learning Points' which provide new insight into the cross-cutting themes, interrelationships and symbiotic forces that exist between each of these chapters. This approach also provides readers with new contextualised understanding of the wider issues affecting the offsite market, from the need to embrace societal challenges, through to the development of rich value-laden solutions required for creating sector resilience. Content includes a balance between case studies and practice-based work, through to technical topics, theoretical propositions, pioneering research and future offsite opportunities ready for exploitation. This work includes: stakeholder integration, skills acquisition, new business models and processes, circularity and sustainable business strategies, robotics and automation, innovation and change, lean production methodologies and new construction methods, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, scaled portfolio platforms and customisability, new legal regulatory standards and conformance issues and offsite feasibility scenario development/integration.

In the past decade construction and engineering have changed dramatically, with an explosion of innovative new approaches to construction and new methodologies. By bringing together economic, social and construction/engineering management perspectives, this book offers a unique and comprehensive survey of these approaches and techniques. It presents a history of studies in innovation in construction and engineering, and then presents the most recent models of innovation brokering and risk-management, based on complex project-based industries. Innovation is defined and competing theories are discussed in the light of operational issues. The book covers all aspects, including the importance of construction and engineering 'cultures' in the trades for successful project innovation. It also discusses the role of government and policy makers, the implications of rapid change for the building trades and skilled labour, and the difficulty of measuring innovation quantitatively.

Innovation in construction is essential for growth. The industry strives to remain competitive using a variety of approaches and needs to engage structured initiatives linked to proven innovation concepts, techniques and applications. Even in mature markets like the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector, where business behaviour is generally considered as being risk averse, it is increasingly important to embed innovation into mainstream business practices. In Construction Innovation and Process Improvement a number of wide ranging issues from construction practice in different countries with different contexts are presented to provide a rich collection of literature embracing theory and practice. Chapters are divided into three broad themes of construction innovation relating to: Theory and Practice; Process Drivers; and Future Technologies. Several questions are posed, including for example: What is particularly unique about construction innovation in theory and practice? What are the major drivers of construction innovation? What factors are needed to support and deliver future construction technologies? In attempting to respond to such questions, the book sheds new light on these challenges, and provides readers with a number of ways forward, especially cognisant of the increased role of globalisation, the enhanced impact of knowledge, and importance of innovation. All these can have a significant impact on strategic decision-making, competitive advantage, and sustainable policies and practices. Part One deals with change management, technology, sustainable construction, and supply chain management; Part Two addresses innovation and process improvement drivers, including strategic management, concurrent engineering, risk management, innovative procurement, knowledge management; Part Three explores future technologies in construction – and particularly, how these can be harnessed and leveraged to help procure innovation and process improvement.

This reference text establishes linkages between the user industries and the providers of clean technologies and sustainable materials for a rapid transformation of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The text covers several aspects of sustainable applications including clean technologies, climate change and its effects, sustainable buildings (smart cities), sustainability in road construction, sustainable use of geosynthetic, innovative materials, and sustainable construction practices. The text will be useful for senior undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers in the fields of civil engineering and other infrastructure-related professionals and planners. The book: Discusses clean technologies and sustainable materials in depth Covers concepts of sustainability in road construction, and water retaining structures Examines environmental policies and practices Discusses climate change and its effects in a comprehensive manner Covers sustainable buildings including smart cities As this book discusses concepts related to sustainable civil engineering practices in a single volume, it will be an ideal reference text for everyone aiming at developments of sustainable infrastructures.

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of building design and construction, as presented by researchers and engineers at the International Conference BUILDINTECH BIT 2020, Innovations and Technologies in Construction, held in Belgorod, Russia, on October 8-9, 2020. It covers highly diverse topics, including building materials, industrial and civil construction, structural mechanics and theory of structures, computational methods and IT in construction, organization and technologies of construction production. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book highlights the essence of information technology in the modern digital world in relation to improvements and threats to organisations and e-business in the era of the digital economy. Rapid IT development has created modern business proposals such as digital and virtual currencies, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, mobile banking, online investing and new payment systems. This allows organisations and firms to increase competitiveness by using financial products and services, thus increasing their value. Information technology users receive significant timesaving and a choice of investment options. At the same time, there is a new challenge for regulators who must monitor how this or that technology affects the financial sector. The authors have collected and systematised information on the models of using information technology in e-business as well as issues of applying information technology in smart organisations and public institutions. The book addresses the issues of risk management in organizations and the problems of personal and social risks resulting from the use of information technology. In addition, the book presents a review of e-commerce sectors and models as well as e-commerce tools, international payment systems and modern money systems. Risks, threats and security rules for using banking services, e-commerce and payment systems are reviewed and systematised.