Emerging technologies and their application in construction engineering

Abstract

This thesis presents the potential applications and benefits that construction engineering could achieve through the implementation of information management technologies. Regarding construction engineering, the area of interest is materials management, specifically site materials management. A series of personal interviews were made with major construction-related companies, which are leaders in the areas of information management and materials management. The result from these interviews was a list of emerging technologies that can considerably improve the efficiency of site materials management. Some of the technologies recommended by the companies include bar coding, radio frequency, electronic data interchange (EDI), and the Internet. The next step was to develop a survey in order to compare the opinion and practices from these major companies against the rest of companies in the construction industry. After the results from the survey were obtained and analyzed, they were verified through telephone interviews with other construction-related companies. The results obtained show that many constructions companies are not interested in implementing any of these technologies due to a lack of knowledge and skeptical mentality toward new technologies. As a result, these companies are not taking advantage of the considerable benefits achievable through these information technologies.