By Mark Bridgers, and Kyle Kerestes, Continuum Capital
- Why is construction productivity flat or worsening for 20+ years?
- Why has the construction industry workforce shortage and constraint been persistent over the last 25 years?
- Why is fear of innovation, Lean Construction techniques, Six Sigma application, and Total Productive Maintenance or Total Process Reliability use pervasive among construction industry trade and field staff?
- Why is the typical facility owner/operator buying the most complex service possible primarily based on price?
- Why are construction field leadership and corporate management embracing the past rather than the future?
- Why are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and robotics the most impactful and transformative forces in the construction industry in its history?
All great questions will get the exploration and attention they deserve at the upcoming 2025 CURT National Conference on February 10-12, 2025, in Tucson, Arizona. Continuum’s Mark Bridgers will share the results of the investigation into 100 AI innovations applicable to the construction industry and will work to answer the questions posed.
You can also gain insight into Continuum’s thinking on this topic in an article titled, “AI TRANSFORMATION: How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Transform Industrial Construction” as published in CURT’s The VOICE magazine, Issue #1, 2025 (it will be posted on CURT’s website for free access late January 2025). We hope to see you in Tucson, AZ!
U.S. Construction Productivity Flat or Falling for 20+ Years
Fear… B.K.S. Iyengar wrote, “Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom.” It is Continuum’s belief that AI is the most powerful force of change that the industrial construction market has ever experienced, and over the coming decade, firms that look forward to and embrace it will have an opportunity to blossom.
In Exhibit 1 above, the construction industry demonstrates that productivity per worker has declined by -0.78% from 1999 to 2018 and, even more recently, -2.78% from 2018 to 2022. While it is true that COVID-19 impacted the most recent figures, the long-term trend is the real issue where 20+ years of flat or falling productivity growth define our industry as a laggard. Forward-looking individuals, trades, field leadership, construction managers, and facility owners/operators have a chance to alter this trend, drive out fear, and embrace change…but how?
One answer is to aggressively drive out waste from the construction process. The application of AI tools to reduce or eliminate the “Eight Wastes” in Lean Construction is one path. The application of AI is designed to augment, not displace, the construction workforce in three ways, driving out eight types of waste:
- Production Increase (Output Expansion): Solutions that allow crews to raise production and perform more work safely, in compliance with specifications, within a given time period.
- Individual/Crew Augmentation (Capable Workforce Expansion): Solutions that increase the number of field staff capable of performing specific activities.
- Accelerating Personal Performance (Average to Superior): Solutions that help individuals with limited experience perform at superior levels, shortening the “on-the-job” experience required.
The application of AI tools makes this type of production improvement possible by compressing schedule performance, driving down total cost, raising achievable profit, and more. Industrial owners, operators, contractors, designers, and unions have a new opportunity, perhaps even a responsibility, to embrace innovation, pursue waste reduction, and improve construction productivity. The time to embrace change is now.
Join us at the 2025 CURT National Conference on February 10-12, 2025, in Tucson, Arizona, to learn how!
Mark Bridgers and Kyle Kerestes are consultants with Continuum Capital, which provides management consulting, training, and investment banking services to the worldwide energy, utility, industrial, and infrastructure construction industry. They can be reached at (919) 345-0403 or MBridgers@ContinuumCapital.net and connected with on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bridgers-0819b412/ and X (formerly Twitter) at @MarkBridgers.
For more information on Continuum, follow at www.linkedin.com/company/continuum-capital or visit www.ContinuumCapital.net.