What is Digital Engineering?
Digital engineering is an elusive concept founded in the technological transformation deeply impacting the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector. The introduction of digitalization of the AEC industry led to new forms of the process through which buildings are designed, constructed, and operated, and to new forms of organization through which professionals work and interact.
The conversation surrounding digital engineering could be seen as a response to increasing complexity in the industry. Advanced technologies, tools, construction materials, techniques, and stakeholders’ expectations have inserted new factors into the production process. Together they present a novel and diverse set of challenges. Certain activities of the conventional building process have also disappeared, while others appeared, distribution of work is revised, and new relationships, roles, and responsibilities emerge.
Moving forward with Building Information Modeling (BIM)
Many people have understood digital engineering as Building Information Modeling, and incorporated it in the delivery and management of buildings and infrastructure assets. Although this doesn’t capture the extent of digitization in the industry, the use of 3D modeling was the most comprehensive example of design and development in a digitized environment. BIM technology allows us to create 3D models that support the design, construction, and future operational function of buildings and infrastructure to maximize their full potential and performance. However, the technology we have right now expands beyond BIM. Experts have commented that digital engineering is much more than creating models. It’s about acquiring new knowledge and stimulating insight, gathering data, and creating a platform for true project collaboration.
The digital engineering industry widely represents the meeting of rising technologies to capture insights. It can also be utilized to create and upgrade helpful solutions in a digital environment to improve project results. This technology simply leverages data to produce improvements to applications or even entirely new solutions – all underpinned by traditional engineering.
Even with the success of digital engineering, many architecture and engineering firms are still lacking in awareness of the new forms of process and organization that digitization can bring to their companies. This lack of knowledge about this process and changes makes it difficult to establish a work environment within and between firms that is conducive to digital innovation.
Digital engineering in general sparks a new take and approach to innovation and lifecycle management enabled by these advances in technology that the AEC industry should take advantage of. Using digital engineering to unlock greater value across the entire lifecycle of a capital asset will surely boost positive outcomes on construction projects.
Digital Engineering and BIM
As our technology and digital capabilities expand, it is a must that the engineering skills required on the construction project follow through as well. It’s a plus for digital engineers to not only understand a much broader scope of technology but be able to implement it. The knowledge and experience to train others are also required to add value to the ongoing project.
Experts have spoken that tomorrow’s engineers will be defined by their ability to integrate innovative engineering approaches, digital technologies, and rich data. This new batch or a new generation of digital engineers should have sufficient skills in data science, systems integration, IT, project management, and strategy alongside 3D modeling, construction, and design management.
Just being aware of the new technologies that are emerging is not enough, we need more people who are strategists in terms of utilizing digital tools in the real world of construction. Proper training, quality education, and solid leadership will play a pivotal role in addressing this issue. Traditional schools and teachers should elevate their standards by supplementing their young students’ relevant digital skills and knowledge of information systems.
Elevating your Team
Effective data management is the key to digital and data-driven approaches being truly useful. This simply means that data must be allowed to seamlessly flow through the lifecycle and beyond. The collection of data allows for the most efficient method of delivery and better collaboration. For you to develop accurate virtual models, data capture and handling are a must. Testing the performance of a design in real-time including cost, materials, time, and environmental impact requires a competent digital team.
We can say that the ability to unlock the power and various functions of data is dependent on the engineers. But digital engineering at its finest can bring us through a building or system’s lifecycle to better understand how decisions deeply affect operational performance. It’s all about the execution that will surely affect a project’s processes and success.
Digital engineering is also facilitated by technological advancements and digital processes to come up with more productive methods of designing, planning, operating, and proper handling of assets. This industry can also be seen as a more informed and collective way of working supported by a central data source. This adds value to any project. It gives the supply chain a holistic view of a project’s objectives and vision. All the processes that are happening in digital engineering are rapidly evolving. The development and progress of technologies will always persist, so that’s not an excuse to delay implementation of current technologies.
What is Digital Construction?
Digital Construction is the application of digital tools to further improve the process of delivering and operating the built environment of the construction project. Digital Construction’s goals are to ensure that we always get better results at every stage of an asset lifecycle and construction project.
Digital Construction can also be seen in different forms. It may be simple tools that make communication easier and reduce the need for travel (messaging tools like Slack and WhatsApp or video conferencing systems like Skype and Google Hangouts). It can also be the improvement of manufacturing processes, technological advancements in materials and plants, and even cloud-based computations, software applications for operational management, and digital filing systems.
It can be utilized in simple ways or as advanced as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, sometimes referred to as drones) for site scanning or inspections, 3D and 4D printing, robotics or artificial intelligence (AI). With the emergence of innovative digital tools and technologies around us, we have already seen them being applied in the construction industry. We have seen breakthrough after breakthrough and innovation after innovation from within the industry itself.
How Can Digitalization Help Construction?
Digital construction management through BIM technology and connected data environment, activates both broad and detailed views of all phases of a project, helping mitigate or avoid problems that can stall a project. It is to your advantage to be both predictive and reactive with the help of having a digital construction process. BIM goes beyond speeding up analog processes, rather, it drives improvements in project management practices that help in preventing delays.
These amazing technologies bring us all closer together so the whole team is more productive and connected. With continuous updates provided automatically during construction, problems can be captured as early as possible in order to create an instant remedy. And with the addition of time, costing, and quantities, digital twins can control every aspect of the project lifecycle.
The construction industry has witnessed and experienced the power of digital technologies as they enable new ways of working that hold the mirror up to a lot of our old practices. This is particularly seen in the case of BIM which demands a highly collaborative culture. It’s all about pushing it to the limits with the concepts of “BIM Level 3,” “big data” and “smart cities,” allowing us to make these decisions based on the operation and renewal of our environment from digital information that identifies trends and highlights statistics.
Digital Engineering & Digital Construction
It is an amazing time for the construction industry. These emerging technologies are here to help make our lives easier. They don’t come with the years of experience we all have, but they can help us achieve better results. Digital technologies connect all stakeholders of the project in real-time, allowing them to see the progress at every stage and ensuring the project gets completed in the given deadline. When collaboration is strong, team members pool their resources and knowledge and prioritize meeting shared goals.
We also believe that digitalization is the best vehicle for change in today’s time. One big example is Cloud, it connects every stakeholder, regardless of their geography. With centralized communication, anyone who’s a part of the team can access the current version of plans and schedule of a project at any given time, without having to rely on gatekeepers or traveling to faraway offices in order to get the required information.
Overall, digital engineering and digital construction have both played a vital role in terms of innovation, convenience, effectiveness, and productivity in the construction industry. It’s now a matter of how we will make use of this amazing technology to better help us in our existing construction projects. Let’s maximize the opportunities technology provides and advance the construction and operation of the built environment collaboratively.