Leadership and Management in Engineering

Increased use of information technology, particularly in the form of Web-based portals, is broadening the awareness of innovative building technologies and projects. The consortium BuildingEnvelopes.org demonstrates how an online portal can provide rapid information exchange, build a community of practitioners, and become a working resource for significant projects.

Extensible markup language (XML) is a promising technology for improving the execution of capital projects and capital facility life cycle data management. It confers the greatest value when industry practitioners agree to use a common “electronic vocabulary.” The business motivations for achieving software interoperability are first reviewed. Then XML technology is described and a summary is presented of a joint industry undertaking sponsored by the organization FIATECH to develop and deploy a pragmatic common-industry XML vocabulary for the design, procurement, delivery, and operation of engineered equipment.

The application of 4-D models to the Ray and Maria Stata Center project on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is summarized. The general contractor’s decision to build the 4-D models is discussed, and details of the 4-D modeling process are given to illustrate the effect of the models on the project. It is shown that once a 3-D model is available a 4-D model can be created relatively cheaply, thereby extracting additional benefit from the investment made in generating the 3-D model.

The problems that beset builders before the advent of the Internet because of lapses in communication are recounted. A description is then given of a simple, purpose-built, Web-enabled database that has helped a production builder optimize communication and scheduling. The benefits that the system has conferred on all parties involved in the construction process are summarized.

It is contended that leading constructors will alter the economic model in order to take advantage of information technology (IT) opportunities in the coming years. Strategic business leaders, it is noted, aren’t interested in playing with computer tools that nibble at the margins of individual productivity; they seek the substantial savings in costs and improvements in service that have been achieved in other industries. The construction industry, however, is currently organized on an “every man for himself” basis, each firm holding its information within its walls. Therefore, the compelling IT strategies in construction and engineering will incorporate economic incentives that overcome this barrier and make it worthwhile for individual actors to aid the whole supply chain. Attention is given to the way in which such incentives might be structured. The marriage of technology tools and business incentives is seen as forming the core of a strategic vision for IT in construction during the next decade.

In recent years, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) practitioners have been faced with a large and increasing array of new information technology (IT) products and services as IT has become the dominant technology in modeling AEC projects. It is contended that models need to be multidisciplinary to accommodate the interacting aspects of AEC projects. It is further claimed that managing with particular business objectives in mind and making a commitment to publicly track performance in these areas will make it possible both to extract predictable value from the models and to determine which IT applications to implement and when to implement them.