As a younger cohort coming up with expectations about automation, data access and connectivity in their lives, the Top 20 had some pointed thoughts about the industry’s relatively slow adoption of new technology. But a consensus emerged among the group that change will only happen if people step up and make it so.
Aine O’Dwyer：我来自一家大型建筑公司，我们提供的一件事是现场监控。对于该服务的最终用户，它的完成方式非常古老。您需要人们去网站并读取数据以收集数据。我可以拿出手机监视我的房子；当涉及建筑工地时，为什么我不能做同样的事情？无论是物联网，无论是使设备聪明，我们都处于沟通时代，一切都可以与其他所有事物交谈，所以让我们将更多的东西带入建筑。我认为我们当然会看到所有无人机中都有更多的无人机，而且我们看到了VDC和BIM的增长。
与过去20年相比，最大的区别在于，由于建筑是如此复杂，因此在技术方面有很多挑战。每天都在改变技术时，如何将技术整合到建筑中？您现在看到的少了很多，因为事情变得越来越容易，软件越来越好，它正在适应这种变化。其他每个行业都做到了。在技术方面，建筑是落后的，但终于赶上了。
Iana Tassada：There’s a lot of things we are looking at. From a safety perspective, we’re looking at ways to monitor people’s posture and vitals. And a lot of safety-related incidents come from heat exhaustion or people overextending themselves, so new technology is coming up to monitor that. We see that as something we are going to start using more—things like safety vests that help with overhead work, help support your arms, avoid that fatigue. We’re going to see more robotics come up from the industry. The labor shortage is a big issue right now, but I think that bringing in more automation will require a tough balance on the site.
Joanne Verrips:At Webcor, we started a self-performing drywall group about two years ago. We’re owned by Obayashi, which is a large Japanese civil contractor. So we recently built a test lab for them in San Bruno [California] where we’ve actually purchased robots, and we are looking into using them for the taping and sanding operations for our drywall division.
建造costs are astronomical—labor and material prices just keep going up. And so I think a lot of that work is going to go to prefab, because that’s how we’re going to get to the solution. We’re always trying to look forward to how we can build better, cheaper and faster. Because that’s what our clients are going to want at the end of the day.
Jessica Baker:将技术集成到与之互动的人们的日常使用中非常重要。我们举行的一个例子是在2015年的奥斯丁地区发生了一些重大的山洪泛滥，人们不知道[即将来临]。因此，奥斯汀市将其洪水泛滥的系统与Waze等应用程序相结合，因此流量应用程序将来可以将用户引导在被洪水泛滥的地区周围。
正如我们看到的技术进步一样，我们仍然需要合作伙伴之间的牢固关系。我们必须让当地社区，州和联邦合作伙伴都非常紧密地合作，并协作使应用程序成功。因此，我认为我们可以拥有世界上所有的技术，但是归根结底，我们仍然需要在行业中建立牢固的关系才能真正成功并提出这些解决方案。
