The effect of automation on the building construction industry

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed a dramatic change in its infrastructure over the last decade, especially after launching Vision 2030, which goes hand in hand with the construction development. Despite the modernity of many projects, the building construction industry remains strongly reliant on traditional practices and lengthy con-struction processes, i.e., the reinforced concrete system. Many traditional method is¬sues become apparent during execution, like worker safety, cost and time overruns, poor quality, construction waste, and shortages of resources and high-skilled labor. According to the Chairman of the Saudi Contractors Authority, the Council of Ministers issued a decision in 2020 in order to study the industrialization of the building construction sector. It was a strategic shift to solve many problems occurring in traditional con¬struction activities. Industrializing this sector would increase its scope by attracting po¬tential stakeholders and encouraging them to build innovative factories. 

It would gen¬erate a shift in labor force dynamics in traditional construction by reducing the number of low-skilled jobs currently dominated by foreign workers. Industrializing the building construction sector should provide new jobs and opportunities for Saudi citizens in ad¬vanced manufacturing. One way to transform the building construction sector is through automation. Con-struction automation plays an essential role in solving many traditional practice issues. There are two types of building construction automation: on-site and off-site. On-site automation involves construction robotics, while off-site automation involves prefabri-cation, which emulates the best practices in advanced manufacturing. Building construction automation contributes to meeting the high demand for infra-structure and buildings and enhances sustainability for the project lifecycle. It has great potential to reduce production time and duration while increasing material efficiencies and labor productivity; thus, it compensates for labor shortages. 

Automation can im-prove worker health and safety, reduce environmental impact, and create new design opportunities. Industrialized construction (IC) is one of the off-site prefabrication methods. It minimiz¬es the number of construction processes conducted on-site. In IC, the building compo¬nents are manufactured and assembled off-site in factories and delivered to the site for erection. Interestingly, IC and construction automation are not similar but com-plementary practices. In IC, the construction automation techniques provide equipment that expedites the manufacturing process while maintaining—or improving—quality. 

In summary, I believe that automated IC is the best solution to meet the high demand for construction projects in the coming years. Automated IC processes move construction activities from on-site locations to factories. A familiar and controlled environment is optimized to capitalize on automation, industrial robotics, and digital production work¬flows in manufacturing and assembly strategies, advancing innovative building design. Industry leaders and stakeholders are encouraged to build a carefully coordinated and collaborative relationship between architects, engineers, and manufacturers aimed at setting up guidelines, rules, aesthetics strategies, and policies in order to industrialize the building con¬struction sector. There is no doubt that this is a crucial step to meet the demand in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and fulfill the aspirations of Saudi citizens.

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