In the current era of economic globalization and increasingly fierce market competition, enterprises are facing unprecedented pressure to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The CCID Consulting "2023-2024 Annual Research Report on the Development of China's Digital Construction Industry" shows that enterprises' demand for cost control and efficiency improvement continues to rise, and requirements for project quality are also constantly increasing, making refined management the core demand of enterprise operations.

The report analyzes that, from the perspective of the application scenario structure of China's building construction digitalization industry in 2023, the application scale of refined management was 15.75 billion yuan, accounting for 65.8%; the application scale of intelligent construction was 6.34 billion yuan, accounting for 26.5%. Digital transformation aimed at refined management has become a "new model" for the development of the construction industry.

So, what are the core scenarios of refined management in the current construction industry? And how are they practiced?

Refined construction management: redefining the "digital construction site"

Building construction is the core link of a construction engineering project, turning design concepts into concrete buildings. In this process, digital technology plays an indispensable role. The report shows that the frontline construction site has become the largest application scenario for digital building, and applications focused on digital construction sites are also flourishing.

The digital development of construction sites has gradually evolved from the initial IoT-enabled site, which mainly featured hardware data collection and system launch and display functions, into the digital construction site. The digital construction site is the on-site embodiment of systemic digitalization at the construction site. From "manual data entry, massive hardware stacking, and focus on supervision and observation" to "automatic data collection, business-driven applications, and data-driven management," the scenarios include digitalization of position operations, industrialization of on-site production, and integration of business management.

Only by solidly digitalizing the construction site can the transformation needs of projects and enterprises be met. First, there must be accurate, comprehensive, and timely data; second, business management must be driven by data; third, decisions must be driven by industry AI.

Guided by value-driven principles, Glodon provides systematic digital solutions through digital plus business and AI plus projects, covering all links and roles in the production, operation, and management of digital construction sites. The digital construction sites it creates for customers emphasize data, automation, and application. Automatic data collection empowers operations; the combination of digitalization and industrialization empowers production; lean integration empowers management, enabling refined management of materials, personnel, equipment, and progress.

Glodon's "unmanned" solution for group tower crane scheduling in projects applies digital technology to achieve hook visualization, tower operator identity recognition, tower crane anti-collision, and remote autonomous driving, ensuring safe and reliable tower crane operation. Its digital material management system enables integrated material application from single-point acceptance to full-process material connection. AI intelligent materials can help construction sites save costs and increase efficiency across all materials, stopping losses by 1 percentage point. The digital labor management system can connect real-name registration data with the cost performance system, enabling refined cost management and helping improve profits.

The Project Data Decision System (PMSmart) is based on quantity calculation and centered on progress. Through automatic collection, processing, and connection of position and on-site data, it monitors project goals in real time and dynamically, automatically identifies deviations, analyzes the causes of problems, provides timely reminders and alarms, and offers solutions, helping project managers and team members avoid project risks and solve problems at the best possible time, thereby reducing the cost of cross-department collaboration, ensuring project performance, and improving project profits. The Shijiazhuang High-tech Zone International Talent Center Project (Phase II) of China Railway 23rd Bureau Group applied Glodon PMSmart to reduce costs and increase efficiency through rebar optimization rate management and concrete loss management.

Refined design management: "collaborative integration" is key

The report analyzes that, against the backdrop of the state's emphasis on the development of industrial software, planning and design digital software, as the core of the digital building industry, has received strong promotion at the national level. The development of planning and design digital software is expanding toward deeply integrated design, domestic BIM forward design, integrated design, and collaborative design, forming a full-lifecycle digital building solution. In the future, the planning and design digital industry, as an important link in the digital building industry chain, will see significant scale growth.

To achieve refined design, Glodon has built the Shuwei collaborative design platform, enabling the industry to achieve 2D and 3D collaborative design and doubling project collaboration efficiency; multi-party collaboration across upstream and downstream, infinitely extending the value of BIM; strict control of design quality, with no violation of mandatory provisions; and data-driven decision-making, building core competitiveness for enterprises. In addition, after nearly 10 years of refinement, it has launched the Glodon Shuwei design product suite, integrating the usage needs and habits of Chinese designers with the direction of modern development, and providing the design industry with an efficient overall digital design solution, including Shuwei architectural design, Shuwei structural design, Shuwei road design, and Shuwei MEP design products, achieving forward design and one model to the end.

When design and cost are coordinated, Glodon's Shuwei building design-cost integrated solution, based on Glodon's design BIM product system and combined with the products' common underlying data architecture, performs conversion between two information models, organically combining design business and cost quantity calculation business, so that cost engineers can reuse the 3D BIM model from design, connecting design and cost.

When design and construction are coordinated, Glodon's design-construction integrated solution, based on BIM data format standards, achieves one model for multiple uses and systematic detailed design. The design model can be seamlessly transferred to the cost and construction stages, with zero deviation in conveying design intent and more precise process quantity control, achieving digital-driven refined construction and helping projects reduce costs and increase efficiency.

The Design Institute of China MCC17 Group joined hands with Glodon in practice to give play to the design-leading role of EPC projects and improve profit margins. This included using BIM models to complete engineering quantity calculation, effectively controlling project costs, and avoiding design exceeding the budget.

Facing the new model of refined management, Glodon has also built the PaaS platform for the core capabilities of digitalization in the construction industry—the Glodon Building Platform (GBP), which provides the core capabilities required for digital transformation of the construction industry in an open architecture manner, meeting the digital capability needs of construction enterprise customers and industry application developers (ISVs) in business integration, product adaptation, application development, and ecosystem promotion. At present, Glodon has established ecosystem cooperation circles with more than 10 industries, including electric power, water conservancy and hydropower, railway, highway, and petrochemical pipeline networks.