Artificial intelligence, automation and printed concrete: construction enters a new era
The construction industry has lagged behind in terms of productivity and technology adoption. Now, advanced planning systems, artificial intelligence, and 3D concrete printing are attempting to bridge the gap between planning, budget, and execution - and change the way houses are built.
The construction industry is one of the largest in the world, but also one of the slowest to adopt technologies. According to McKinsey, between 2000 and 2022, productivity in the industry improved at a significantly lower rate than that of the industry and the general economy. At the same time, in recent years, technologies have been entering the industry that are trying to change the picture: advanced planning systems, artificial intelligence, automation, and 3D concrete printing.
One of the most prominent changes is the transition from a plan that shows how the house will look to a digital model that contains information about what is required to build it. BIM systems allow architects, engineers, and contractors to work on a shared model, and in more advanced systems, data on quantities, costs, and schedules can also be connected to the planning. The next step is to connect this information to those who are building the house.
One of the examples comes from the Israeli Kaplanikov Group, which specializes in 3D concrete printing technologies and recently developed the Laycon Builder. The name Laycon connects Layers, the printing layers, with Construction. The tool allows defining the house's characteristics, choosing specifications and finish levels, and receiving an estimate of construction costs according to the choices.
The need stems from a known problem in the industry. It is possible today to get a very detailed visualization of the house even before the work begins, but it is much harder to know what its final cost will be. A change in windows, flooring, kitchen, area, or finish level can significantly affect the budget, and this impact is not always clear at the time of decision-making.
The connection between planning and pricing is only part of the change. In 3D concrete printing, the digital information also moves to the production stage. A model designed on a computer goes to a system that analyzes it, slices it into layers, and creates the printing paths. From there, the instructions are transferred to the printer, which lays the concrete compound layer by layer according to the design. The digital file, in other words, no longer just describes the structure - but becomes production instructions.
This brings construction closer to the worlds of advanced manufacturing. In the automotive industry, for example, the connection between computerized design and automated production has existed for years. In construction, the transition is more complex, partly because every project is different, site conditions change, and a large part of the work is still performed on-site.
This also has economic significance. A McKinsey study found that for two decades, labor productivity in the global construction industry grew by about 1% per year on average, compared to 2.8% in the general economy and 3.6% in the industry. A more recent study by the company found that between 2000 and 2022, the cumulative improvement in construction productivity amounted to only about 10%, compared to 50% in the general economy and 90% in the industry. In a reality of labor shortages and high execution costs, automation is no longer just a technological story - it is becoming an economic question.
Artificial intelligence is also expected to deepen the change. As construction systems accumulate information about plans, specifications, quantities, and costs, it can be used to compare alternatives and identify decisions that could increase the project's cost at the planning stage. Later, such systems may also work in the opposite direction: receive a budget, area, and requirements and suggest planning alternatives that fit the set framework.
"The interesting change is not one technology but the connection between them," says Yohanan Kaplanikov. "If it is possible to plan a house digitally, understand its costs earlier, and later transfer part of the planning directly to production and concrete printing systems, we are starting to talk about a different way to build."
This vision may receive broader expression in Israel than a single house or a specific project. At the Kaplanikov Group, there are already contacts with developers regarding the possibility of establishing new settlement projects in the Negev and the Galilee, including settlements and communities based on a kibbutz model, while integrating 3D concrete printing as part of the construction method. The idea is to use the technology not only to accelerate execution but also to enable the efficient construction of dozens and hundreds of housing units, based on a shared construction system but not required to be identical copies of each other.
Precisely in multi-unit projects, another advantage of digital construction may appear: the ability to move from rigid standardization to large-scale customization. Since the structure is designed and produced from a digital model, it is possible to relatively quickly adapt walls, spaces, and design details to the needs, preferences, and style of each client, without giving up the advantages of an industrialized and repetitive process. Thus, a project of dozens of houses can be based on the same technological system, but allow each house to have its own character - and turn the structure from part of a series into a personal signature of those who will live in it.
After digitization changed banking, commerce, and industry, it is also reaching concrete. This time, its result does not stay on the screen. It becomes a wall.
