The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that one in every five Americans will reach retirement age by 2030. And beyond that, by 2035 some 78 million people will be over 65, while 76.7 million will be 18 or younger. There are similar trends occurring in almost all other industrialized countries.

From an experience perspective, what do your jobsite crews and managers look like right now?  Today, the experienced workers come from an era where they have acquired their knowledge and experience through the use of manuals, support from suppliers and mentors, and just plain “time on the planet.” Managers have told me “… it takes me two years to train them and two weeks to lose them…” And when they go, they take all of that knowledge and experience with them. For the most part this information and know-how isn’t written down anywhere. It’s in their heads, which causes more of an impact when they leave.

• How are you preparing your teams to be ready when the experienced workers are gone?
• Labor shortages at specialized positions are a real challenge. The same workers are not available when moving from jobsite to jobsite. It will be even more of a challenge as your experienced workers retire. What is your plan?
• Are you having difficulty recruiting younger workers into construction?
• If you have to use lesser skilled workers to perform new tasks, how are you going to enable them to consistently perform their work without needing help?

In many industries, most companies are responding to these types of issues by creating a centralized knowledge base or service data repository that could be accessed by workers when they have a problem. Many of these companies are looking at some kind of chatbot solution as well that can supplement their call center agents’ capabilities. Because these all have drawbacks, many are also looking into AI (artificial intelligence). Younger workers are digital natives, well versed in using apps to look up and store data. They prefer video to written instructions. As a result, they are at the core of a digital transformation for many companies  so that they can offer the tools and environment that younger workers demand.

The research out there shows that construction currently lags behind other industries in terms of technology adaption for knowledge capture.

Applications, utilizing machine learning, can be used to capture your experts’ knowledge and make it available to lesser skilled workers in your organization. As the app is used and exposed to more and more workflows, it learns from its successes and failures and becomes smarter. It can be a tool that your workers use and benefit from every day. It eventually becomes the knowledge repository that your workers can have access to when they need it and where they need it. A worker in Atlanta figures out a better way to resolve an error code with a certain crane, and a worker in Singapore working on the same crane instantly benefits.

AI should also be part of your company’s efforts to transform into the digital age. Having more digital tools will help attract younger workers, who are demanding digital technology to help them do their jobs.

The knowledge of your workers—especially the most experienced ones—is your most important asset. The use of AI can help you not only protect that IP but enhance it over time in a way that brings new benefits to your entire organization and your customers.

I will discuss this in more detail during my presentation at Constructech Technology Days on Friday, Nov. 13, at 12 pm central.

About the Author

David Bennett, vice president of sales, RevTwo