Market Watch – The Corona Virus – How Quarantines Around the Globe Are Impacting Operations and What Owner’s Should Expect When Work Resumes.

If you have been reading this blog consistently for the past few weeks, you probably were expecting this week’s article to be the fourth and final installment detailing my talk from the ProcureCon Conference this past January.

That article will publish next week.  Given the massive impact the Corona virus has had on our lives globally, I could not go on with this blog without addressing it.

So this week, we will talk about the impact the virus could have on ongoing bids and active projects.

ProcureCon 2020 – Another Great Event – What Google and Intel shared and How I Found a Mythbuster’s Job at the Home Depot.

A few weeks ago I shared with you that I would be attending this year’s ProcureCon Facilitiesconference.

You may recall that this is my third year attending the conference.  Once again Frank Musero and his team at WBR have managed to pull together a fantastic event.

Today I want to share some of my highlights.

In previous year’s had not attended the pre-conference tours, but this year I did.  There were two tours to choose from.  I elected to attend the Home Depot tour.

Industry Watch – Payment Protection – Why the US and Other Leading Nations Need Payment Protection Legislation and What Procurement Can Do in the Meantime.

Throughout the world legislative actions are transforming the way the construction industry behaves.  These legislations are not only protecting trade contractors from unfair practices, they are protecting Owners too.

Surprisingly, some of the world’s most sophisticated markets have yet to enact similar protections.  In those parts of the world, certain common and persistent practices continue to put the supply chain and Owners at risk.  

Industry Watch – Construction Technology – BIM Technology – How the Benefits of BIM Might NOT Be Right For Your Project.

Continuing our exploration of trending technologies in construction, Today I want to address Building Information Modeling (BIM) Technology.

BIM Technology has been around for quite some time.  As early as 1985 Architects and Engineers have had access to digital tools that allow virtual modeling.  The earliest software for this was a lesser known tool called Pro/ENEGINEER (now known as Creo).

Now let’s be clear, virtual modeling is not the same as renderings.

Architects have been producing renderings of buildings even before the prominence of computers.  Back then, we relied on artistic skill and formal methods for developing perspective drawings.

Industry Watch – Construction Technology – 3D Printing – How 3D Printing is Poised to be the Most Disruptive Technology in Construction and You Won’t Believe Who’s Behind it.

As we continue our look at construction technology, I wanted to cover what is currently the most disruptive technology in construction.

Conventional methods of construction are extremely labor intensive.  They require many skilled tradesmen working many hours.

As we saw in our look into robotics, there are several companies working to replace workers with machines.

3D Printing however, takes queues from existing technology and scales it up to completely change the way we build.

3D printing technology has come a long way since the concept was first patented in 1986 by Charles Hull.  Today 3D printing is becoming more and more mainstream and more companies (and industries) are embracing this technology.  From the early “on-demand” concepts of 2006 to recent large scale developments, this technology has captured our imagination.

There are several innovators at the forefront of this technology.  Today I want to share who the key players are and where this technology is receiving the greatest attention.