Aiming for Growth 2.0

Growth 2.0 for Trimble is a multistage approach, elaborates HARSH PAREEK.

Over the last few decades, India’s construction sector has grown into a significant contributor to the nation’s economy. Contributing 7.9 per cent of the GDP, this share is likely to sustain and further grow on account of a determined push by the government in the form of manifold initiatives like Smart Cities Mission, Housing for All, Sagarmala project, Industrial Corridor, etc. With the Government of India’s plan to invest Rs.100 trillion in infrastructure, a positive ripple effect in the construction industry is expected in the time ahead.

The current macroeconomic indicators are signalling towards an economic slowdown that is feared to dampen the outlook of the construction sector. 

Although the real estate segment has started reflecting the subdued mood of the market, it is too early to forecast the same for construction sector as 

a whole.

Contemplating the mixed economic sentiment, the idea of growth 2.0 essentially should reflect key parameters that include the foreseeable challenges, short term and long term prospects, and more importantly a precise framework to realise the latent potential. The digital transformation of the construction sector is a critical element of growth 2.0 and in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to declare the year 2019-20 as the year of construction technology, significant strides in this direction are likely to happen.

On the inside, the industry is besieged with twin challenges of lack of technology adoption and consequential low productivity. The low productivity translates into marginal profitability thus marring the prospects of technological adoption. This creates a vicious cycle in which the Indian construction sector 

has been trapped now for quite a while.

When a significant proportion of projects are delayed, costs balloon up from initial estimates, thus creating immense pressure on construction companies’ margins. Given the steep rise in material and labour costs, there is an urgent need to improve productivity and efficiency in order to ensure projects get completed in time and with minimum rework, in order to sustain margins and profitability. It necessitates the holistic transformation of the construction sector and greater role for the advanced technologies like AI, VR and AR and Industry 4.0. Many progressive construction companies in the western economies have started to reap the benefits of digital transformation already.  

Cutting-edge technology solutions available from Trimble have helped construction industry players in significantly improving their productivity and efficiency. The impact is also visible in terms of enhanced quality of finished projects; a major consideration for both public and private project owners. Equally significantly, the construction players benefit from a direct impact on their bottom-line.

To help construction professionals build with confidence, Trimble offers a portfolio of Design-Build-Operate (DBO) solutions portfolio, which combines ground-breaking innovation with advanced features.

The 3D modeling features of Tekla Structures help create an as-built model, which assists in eliminating wastage and rework, thus reducing cost and time to completion of the project. The software is upgraded every year in order to take on board the pertinent demands of industry professionals as well as accommodate the emerging needs of the construction industry. Continuous upgrading ensures compatibility of the software with every type of structure and construction material.

For Trimble, R&D has always been a key priority. The company spends ~14 per cent in R&D and India has 10 per cent of its employee population. Also, the company has made significant strategic investments across five locations of Chennai, NCR, Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru. The goal is to optimise the workflow across the continuum and achieve economic, environmental, and safety RoIs.

From a solution perspective, this commitment manifests itself in ground-breaking innovations for the construction industry like Trimble XR10, which uses mixed reality and allows construction workers to visualise precise alignment of holographic data on the job site itself via hard hat-mounted hardware. Similarly, Tekla PowerFab, the newest software suite from the Trimble portfolio, is designed exclusively for steel fabricators that enables unprecedented collaboration across project teams thus ensuring minimal errors and rework, which in turn results in optimal efficiency and profits.

The disruptive technologies like AI, machine learning and deep neural networks carries the potential to transform the construction industry in the coming years. As per the recent Mckinsey Global Report, the construction industry is among the least digitised industry not just in India, but worldwide too. This is because more than 50 per cent of the construction companies spend 1 per cent or less on their technology and related infrastructure. Reluctance to change, technological diffusion and the lack of technologically sound workforce are major reasons behind this sub-optimal digital transformation of the construction industry.

Contemplating the criticality of digitisation and its central position in achieving the targets under growth 2.0, Trimble’s futuristic constructible process aims to connect all aspects of construction seamlessly. The 3Cs viz. content-enabled, connected and constructible models are at the core of the constructible process, and the information-rich as-built models delivered allow construction professionals to achieve unprecedented efficiency. Users can pre-empt any potential issue that may arise during the construction process even before real-time construction commences. By providing actionable, in-context information constructible models help to transform 3D into reality. This saves time as the RFIs are reduced significantly. Further, the data can even be used in post-construction maintenance and operation of 

the structures.With widespread adoption, this approach will ensure a significantly more productive and profitable Indian construction industry.

In a survey conducted by National Association of Home Builders in the US, more than 56 per cent of construction companies have complained about the shortage of skilled workforce. The situation is no different in India. This acute shortage of skilled workforce is an apparent obstacle in technological adoption and impedes the realisation of growth 2.0.

With the mission to make available industry-ready workforce, Trimble has associated with engineering institutions through Trimble Technology Lab (TTL) to make class-leading Trimble software available. As part of its strategic goal, Trimble would continue to invest in building a talent pool of professionals who would be the growth pillars of the Indian construction industry in times to come. Apart from this, through the Tekla Campus programme, we provide students licenses for self-learning. We also offer education licenses at subsidised cost to colleges for training students. Since Tekla Campus licenses started in 2015, a total of 13,304 licences have been activated in India alone.

As among the global leaders in construction technology, Trimble aims to play a key role in the evolution of the construction industry. The company remains committed to delivering innovative technology solutions that would significantly boost the industry’s productivity and efficiency and would generate real value for all stakeholders: From architects to engineers, from contractors to fabricators and owners or operators.

Growth 2.0 for Trimble is a multistage approach, where we start by identifying the existing potential and challenges of the sector, which is then followed by providing relevant and tailored solutions, and finally, focused research and application of advanced technology. Thus, newer possibilities are explored, and integrated growth 2.0 will fuel industry’s headway in the years to come.

Harsh Pareek, Regional Sales Director-India & SAARC region, Trimble Solutions, has almost two decades of experience in the architectural, engineering and construction industry 

with expertise in BIM, cloud computing, advance surveying techniques, transportation planning, constructability and project-based software implementation.