The Future of Construction: Building Customer Value Through Technology

By Randee Herrin, Sr. Vice President, Construction Technologies and Manufacturing

At TDIndustries, we’re in business to relentlessly pursue customer value. Heading into 2022, that means fully investing in our goal as an engineering- and technology-driven construction company to meet the growing demand from owners and general contractors for better, more efficient and safer construction.

According to Dodge Data & Analytics, about 90 percent of companies who use prefabrication and construction technology report improved productivity and quality as well as increased schedule certainty.

At TD, we see the same results as we invest in construction technology that allows us to offer closer customer collaboration as well as transparent data, precise models, designs and project schedules. Why the shift?

Construction technology is transforming the construction industry to solve some of our biggest problems, including:

1. Skilled-trades shortages

2. More control of the job site through fewer deliveries

3. Certainty in cost and schedule

4. The transition to a digital asset, life-cycle model and process

5. Safer, more controlled manufacturing work environments

It doesn’t happen overnight. Our journey to invest in construction technology is four-plus years in the making, and we are still learning how best to reach our goals.

To shift with the needs of the industry, we started by developing a database that’s our single source of truth used in models in estimating and in VDC, where our BIM modelers design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA).

With this change, the model facilitates the shift from the job site to a manufacturing environment that leverages prefabrication and productization of building components, removing some of the variability and risk in traditional schedules.

The future of construction is here. Taking a data- and model-based approach to design — connected to project schedule and supply chain — advances our opportunities to drive customer value. Our technology investments today ensure that TD, as a united force of field and manufacturing expertise and engineering vision, remains at the forefront of industry innovation.