Part of the “Jobsite of the Future” initiative, Suffolk Construction plans to embed artificial intelligence (AI) into the construction process to improve on-site operations. Using an AI engineer, per a new company directive, construction sites countrywide will have a new layer of support to solve pain points in the building process.
According to CEO John Fish, cost increases and continued labour woes require new solutions, which he hopes to overcome through the initiative. The AI engineers will sit in on project meetings where they can contribute solutions in three core areas: design, schedule, and process. The program builds on Suffolk’s ongoing investments in data and technology.
“We believe Jobsite of the Future and our use of artificial intelligence and data will fundamentally change that trajectory and redefine how America builds for generations to come,” Fish said in the news release.
The program has enabled design review tools that identify drawing conflicts and coordination gaps prior to construction, in addition to an AI-powered procurement and delivery tracking system that optimizes supply chain operations as well as other process improvements.
Jobsite of the Future has enabled Suffolk to build and pilot an AI-powered requisition process for monthly payment applications, which helps to reduce delays caused by missing documentation, approval bottlenecks, and repetition.
Data is an important piece of the puzzle, and from a data collection standpoint, Suffolk has approximately 293 terabytes of structured construction data, the equivalent of roughly 75 billion pages of PDFs which inform decisions and help it deliver projects with greater predictability.
