Construction companies hungry for expansion

Technology disruption, economic optimism and labour shortage are among several key trends in the global construction market as highlighted by software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, Teletrac Navman, in its first ever ‘Telematics Benchmark Report: Global Construction Edition’.

With demand for services growing, over half of the businesses surveyed are looking to upgrade or expand their fleets of machinery over the next 12 months to cope with the demand, the report revealed. In fact, the global construction market is expected to grow by 85 per cent to $15.5 trillion worldwide by 2030, according to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Investment in technology is high on most companies’ priority list, as they continue to look for ways to improve efficiencies and reduce accidents. Fatigue monitoring (27 per cent), machine vision technology (19 per cent), drones (16 per cent) and big data analytics (14 per cent) are highly sought after pieces of technology, but only 9 per cent cited autonomous/self-driving vehicles, despite the hype.

Over 80 per cent of organisations are already using telematics or plan to do so in the next year, citing equipment tracking as the most common use (75 per cent), followed by tracking speed (61 per cent) and driver hours (53 per cent). Over half of the businesses already using telematics have seen a reduction in fuel costs, some as much as 40 per cent.

A whopping 90 per cent of companies surveyed plan to invest in their businesses in 2017 by upgrading fleets (45 per cent); finding, retaining and developing talent (38 per cent); and integrating new technologies and systems (34 per cent).

More than half of the businesses will be increasing the number of equipment over the next year as a result of more demand for services (64 per cent), replacing older equipment(55 per cent) and domestic growth (34 per cent).

However, a shortage of skilled labour is impeding growth in the industry, Teletrac Navman pointed out, with nearly a quarter of respondents citing ‘Finding, retaining and developing talent’ to be a top business challenge.

Payroll remains the largest business expense area for organisations (55 per cent), followed by equipment maintenance (33 per cent). Despite that, 54 per cent of businesses plan to hire more operators and purchase new equipment this year.

“The construction industry has long faced pressures to do more with less – more output with fewer resources – to meet customer demands, while also ensuring the safety of its workers and profitability of the business,” says Teletrac Navman global vice president of marketing, Rachel Trinidade.

“It’s no easy task to balance these competing interests, which is why so many fleets are turning to modern technologies, such as telematics, to find efficiencies.

“We’re committed to supporting the industry by helping them understand and navigate these market shifts.”

The 2017 Teletrac Navman Telematics Benchmark Report is based on a survey of more than 1200 fleet operations and fleet management professionals within the construction, mining, oil and gas industries from around the world.

The full report can be found here.