Strategies for Accelerating Project Execution
January 28, 2021
More than 75 percent of the companies responding to a recent survey from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) expect the COVID-19 pandemic will have a financial impact on their business, with more than 50 percent anticipating changes to their operations.
Prior to the pandemic many manufacturing companies had design and construction projects, either in progress or in the pipeline, with aggressive schedules. To slow the spread of the disease, many manufacturing operations and construction sites were shut down while new safety precautions were developed and implemented. Furthermore, uncertainty in the market caused many companies to delay committing large capital investments into expanding their operations.
Over the summer, the manufacturing industry has slowly begun its return to pre-pandemic production levels. As this occurs, companies have done little to relax pre-COVID targets for newly constructed facilities, as projected production dates are a key driver for the majority of manufacturers, especially for advanced technology markets like electric vehicles where speed to market is such an important factor. This has resulted in compressed design and construction schedules and a need for the architecture/engineering/construction (A/E/C) industry to offer unique ways to accelerate project delivery.