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Tackling Construction's Productivity Challenge: New HP Build Workspace Leads the Way

Daniel Martinez, Global Head and General Manager, HP Large Format Business

September 24, 2024

Despite its size, the construction industry has long faced a productivity problem. In 2023, $13 trillion was devoted to construction projects globally, according to McKinsey. By 2040, the industry is predicted to grow by 70%. However, engineers and contractors are already struggling to meet today's project demands.

The labor market is fiercely competitive, with shortages in essential roles like engineering and project management. Workforce shortages, retirements, shorter job cycles, and competition for talent have led to a decline in skills and experience. Consequently, construction productivity rose by only 10% between 2000 and 2022, compared to a 50% productivity improvement of the total economy, based on research from McKinsey.

Despite investments in digitalization, manual processes still dominate workflows, risking human error and creating information siloes. Digitizing the construction workflow end-to-end is essential for dramatically reducing the efficiency gap, which could create an estimated $1.6 trillion in additional value and meet half the world’s infrastructure needs.

Introducing HP Build Workspace

Launching today at HP Imagine, HP’s annual product innovation event, HP Build Workspace is a new mobile cloud collaboration platform that brings together all the essential stakeholders on complex building projects, such as urban planning, including architects, designers, contractors, and city planners. By simplifying complexity, improving communication and automating manual processes between the office and field sites, HP Build Workspace reduces construction project lead times from three days to as little as 20 minutes, depending on design complexity.

With seamless integration between digital and physical workflows, the HP Build Workspace platform also features HP Print AI capabilities and enables AEC professionals to:

Effortlessly capture and organize site observations
Vectorize their technical designs using AI
Share floor plans
Enable real-time feedback
Automate field reports

Connecting Construction Site Layouts with HP SitePrint 3.0

In July 2024, ACCIONA delivered the design layout for the Alentejo Central Hospital 6x faster than manual methods and over 25,000 sqm of partition walls thanks to HP SitePrint. This is an example of how our connected technologies can significantly boost productivity in complex construction projects. We believe our innovations have the power to address the construction industry's productivity challenges, and our customers are already demonstrating what's possible.

HP Build Workspace combines three key innovations for an integrated, digitized and efficient construction solution:

HP SitePrint, a robotic solution that prints complex construction site layouts with pinpoint accuracy, increasing productivity up to 10x compared to manual layout techniques¹.
The print point of the HP SitePrint 3.0 is now up to 30% faster, offering boosted navigation speed and improved robotic capabilities to level up efficiencies in onsite operations².
Additionally, we are working with large HP SitePrint customers on a Proof-of-Concept to check surface flatness, which will be available as a subscription service in selected markets by 2025.

Simplifying Your Printing Experience

The DesignJet T200/T600 Printer series 2025 edition is our most sustainable, intuitive, and optimized large-format printer yet, offering reduced energy consumption and minimizing plastic waste by more than 50% with new molded fiber packaging³. AEC professionals can print digital plans on paper with ease using HP Click Driver for real-print previews from any Windows 11 application. Already in beta in the US and Europe, we intend to scale these AI capabilities to the UK & Ireland soon and roll out worldwide starting next year.

More information on HP Build Workspace and our suite of digital construction tools can be found here.

©Copyright 2024 HP Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the expresswarranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

1. Based on data from HP SitePrint customers – comparing HP SitePrint’s performance to manual layout techniques used for the same job, including the customer’s estimation (time/resource) for manual layout based on experience working on similar projects. HP’s data typically finds manual layout methods average between 25m2 and 35m2 covered per hour, with a crew of two people. HP SitePrint’s performance averages between 180m2 and 300m2, with one operator. Exact improvement results will vary from project to project and can be influenced by multiple factors, such as the line density or the dimensions of the site.

2. Productivity improvements of up to 30 percent are in comparison to the performance of the previous software version, VP2.0. These results were obtained from conducting internal tests, where SitePrint printed CAD files with average conditions, including element density per area and printed linear density per area, representative of real user plots across various applications. Actual productivity gains may vary depending on specific customer applications and the unique characteristics of each job.

3. The HP DesignJet T200/T600 Printer series 2025 Edition plotter series use EPS-free packaging with molded pulp cushions made from recycled fiber-based material. The plastic reduction is expressed as a percentage of the total packaging plastic weight. The reduction varies depending on the printer model, with at least a 53% reduction in the new 36-inch model and at least a 72% reduction in the new 24-inch model, compared to the previous T200/T600 models.

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