Version 10/12/17 Obayashi Corporation Obayashi’s Challenge Towards Construction Industry 4.0 Request for Proposal 1. INTRODUCTION People over the age of 65 make up a quarter of Japan’s population. This percentage is forecasted to increase to 40 percent within the next 30 years due to Japan’s birthrate – the lowest globally. Casting light on a specific sector will help illuminate the impact of this one-two punch. A current survey by the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors shows that one-third of the labor population will retire in the next decade. Rarely has a call for change been louder. Without a revolution in innovation to boost productivity, Japan’s infrastructure will deteriorate and in turn cause a broader, debilitating economic impact. Unfortunately, the current trends are not in Japan’s favor. Productivity in the construction industry has remained stagnant for decades. While construction methods are stalled, other industries, such as manufacturing, have flourished through the waves of revolution starting with “Industry 2.0” to the current “Industry 4.0.” To drive similar gains in construction, Obayashi Corporation (Obayashi) is issuing an ambitious search for technologies and innovations – “The Obayashi ‘Construction 4.0’ Challenge.” 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION/SCOPE Obayashi is specifically seeking technologies that address one or more of the following four technical topic areas: • Autonomous Design (AiD, AiC) Most of building design is composed of mundane elements such as repetitive data entry, checking against regulations and checking conflicts among multiple disciplines. Obayashi is interested in automating design processes to improve productivity and allow architects to focus their time on creative design elements. • Automated Construction Process Lack of skilled labor is driving the construction site towards automation.
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Version 10/12/17 Obayashi Corporation
Obayashi’s Challenge Towards Construction Industry 4.0
Request for Proposal
1. INTRODUCTION
People over the age of 65 make up a quarter of Japan’s population. This percentage is
forecasted to increase to 40 percent within the next 30 years due to Japan’s birthrate – the
lowest globally.
Casting light on a specific sector will help illuminate the impact of this one-two punch. A
current survey by the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors shows that one-third
of the labor population will retire in the next decade. Rarely has a call for change been
louder. Without a revolution in innovation to boost productivity, Japan’s infrastructure
will deteriorate and in turn cause a broader, debilitating economic impact.
Unfortunately, the current trends are not in Japan’s favor. Productivity in the construction
industry has remained stagnant for decades. While construction methods are stalled, other
industries, such as manufacturing, have flourished through the waves of revolution
starting with “Industry 2.0” to the current “Industry 4.0.”
To drive similar gains in construction, Obayashi Corporation (Obayashi) is issuing an
ambitious search for technologies and innovations – “The Obayashi ‘Construction 4.0’
Challenge.”
2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION/SCOPE
Obayashi is specifically seeking technologies that address one or more of the
following four technical topic areas:
• Autonomous Design (AiD, AiC)
Most of building design is composed of mundane elements such as
repetitive data entry, checking against regulations and checking conflicts
among multiple disciplines. Obayashi is interested in automating design
processes to improve productivity and allow architects to focus their time
on creative design elements.
• Automated Construction Process
Lack of skilled labor is driving the construction site towards automation.
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Obayashi believes that the first area to automate is in-site logistics so that
workers can have access to materials “just in time, just in need, and just
in space”
• Augmented Facility for Users
With IoT., the new value of buildings will be that it can respond to
occupants personally. As a first step, Obayashi is looking for non-contact
technologies that can recognize the physical and emotional needs of
individuals in a building.
• AI Knowledge Assist
Obayashi’s goal is to develop an AI assistant to help young employees
navigate through projects so they can learn quickly and execute without
errors.
Each of these challenges is discussed in detail in following section, “Technical
Topic Area.”
*Even though applicants' technologies/proposals are not directly related to the above four
areas, applicants are encouraged to submit a proposal, since Webcor, one of Obayashi
group company, has broader interests on technologies/innovations such as (a)Sprains &
Strains, (b) Access & Egress, (c) Material Inventory, (d) High Performance Concrete Mix
Designs, (e) Trade Damage, (f) As-built Survey, and (d) Speed of Technology. Your
proposal will be considered as further discussion with Webcor.
3. TECHNICAL TOPIC AREAS
Obayashi is seeking technologies that address an aspect of one or more of the following
four technical topic areas (TTA). Obayashi is interested in innovation across the topic
areas and realizes that a single provider likely cannot fulfill all, or even a substantial
portion of the desired capabilities. Respondents are encouraged to apply even if they only
meet some of these goals.
3.1 TTA #1: Autonomous Design (AiD)
In the last three years, Obayashi has expanded its revenue of domestic design-build (DB)
projects, overwhelming the ability of the design department. From a profit point of view,
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Obayashi would prefer more DB projects1. However, the following several reasons have
prevented the ability to scale up processes, constraining marketing activity.
1) It takes time to train young designers and engineers. New designs must be
checked against multiple disciplines (M/E/P) and regulations, which requires
empirical knowledge and experience to perform efficiently.
2) This type of work can only be outsourced to a limited number of trustworthy and
skilled partners. However, most partners tend to be as busy as our design team.
By reducing the amount of busywork, our designers will have the opportunity to focus on
improving design quality and be more creative.
Need Statement: “Need a way to improve design productivity and creativity for all
designers including architects, structural and MEP engineers, that will achieve high
productivity, high quality, and high creativity despite personal skill and appropriate
human resources.”
Here is the list of requirements and key constraints for an AiD system:
• Automatically check designs against standards and regulations, which are
dependent upon site location.
• Optimize for cost, space allocation, structural performance, and energy
consumption depending on user preferences. The second step will be to optimize
exterior and interior design based on user preferences.
• The primary target for an initial system is to design an office and/or data center.
Future iterations may explore other types of structures such as hotels, restaurants,
shopping centers, factories, dams, bridges, and tunnels.
• These types of rooms must be included: offices, executive offices, conference
rooms, restrooms, closets, copy areas, amenities, elevator shafts, and the
corresponding mechanical, electrical & plumbing (MEP) ducts and pipes.
• Solutions must be compatible with our corporate software: Autodesk Revit and
Tekla.
3.2 TTA#2: Automated bldg./infra. Construction System (Ab/iCS)
The major obstacles to productivity on construction sites are logistics and coordination
issues. This includes (1) moving and distributing the materials to work locations, (2)
1 Please note that the average profit of DB projects tends to be much higher than that of
Design-bid-build projects.
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waiting time to use major equipment such as elevators, (3) cluttering of the floor space
from materials, and (4) waiting for pre-processed work to be done. Pouring the floor
concrete usually triggers many interior and exterior materials to be brought to the floor,
causing congestion for workers and equipment. Thus, improving in-site logistics toward
“just in time, just in need, and just in space,” will have a large potential to improve site
productivity.
Need Statement: “Need a way to deliver/deploy construction materials “just in time,
just in need, and just in space” for construction managers and sub-contractors, that
will not only remove obstacles, but also achieve high productivity.
Here is the list of requirements and key constraints for an Ab/iCS system:
• Automatically coordinate delivery timing and quantity of materials based on
information from the BIM model, master schedule, and subcontractors’ inputs.
• Automatically allocate and deliver materials to the working area, “just in time,
just in need, and just in space”.
• Ability to move and place materials within a site.
• The primary targets are high-rise buildings with steel structures and/or reinforced
concrete structures.
• The target types of materials would be for exterior and interior work such as