## 2 Improving on-site productivity

## (1) i-Construction

As we saw in 1 above, the construction industry labor force continues to shrink. In light of the fact that the on-site labor force is getting smaller, we are faced with the knowledge that we cannot avoid having to improve construction site productivity to offset this trend.

At the same time, the construction industry is expected to play an important role in supporting safety and growth, such as in terms of disaster prevention and mitigation measures in response to intensifying disasters, the strategic maintenance and renewal of aging infrastructure, and the development of infrastructure and improvements in productivity for which stock effects for realizing a strong economy have been emphasized.

As performance in the construction industry undergoes a recovery and a stable management environment is secured, favorable opportunities for fully engaging in efforts to improve productivity can be said to have arrived. The time has come for us to engage in i-Construction through links among industrial, academic, and governmental circles in order to enable Japanese construction sites to stand on the global leading edge. The MLIT established the i-Construction Committee, which is made up of numerous key figures (and is chaired by Hiroshi Komiyama; the executive head of the Mitsubishi Research Institute), for the purpose of achieving the goals of i-Construction and drafted a report in April 2016.

For initiatives concerning i-Construction, the MLIT has decided to pursue the comprehensive utilization of ICT (ICT-based Earthwork), the adoption of overall optimization (involving such measures as the standardization of specifications governing Concrete work), and the standardization of construction periods as top-priority measures. Through these initiatives, we seek to enhance the productivity of all construction site processes, ranging from surveys and measurements to design work, construction, checks, maintenance, and renewal functions.

## (Full-fledged utilization of ICT)

The MLIT has heretofore been engaged in various verification and testing projects across two pillars of focus: computer-aided construction $ {^{Note 73}} $ and CIM $ {^{Note 74}} $ . Upon having ascertained, with a more global and comprehensive approach, construction processes that include the foregoing for the i-Construction initiative that consists of the comprehensive use of ICT on construction sites, we are promoting a broader use of technology—including drones (unmanned aerial vehicle), three-dimensional survey data, and unmanned automated construction technology—than before $ {^{Note 75}} $ .

As outlined in Figure 3-2-20, we expect that the comprehensive use of ICT on construction sites will facilitate or lead to the following: (i) three-dimensional surveys conducted with drones, (ii) design and construction plans based on three-dimensional survey data, (iii) construction with ICT-based construction machinery, and (iv) significant labor savings through the use of three-dimensional inspection data.

Note 73 A system that aims to enhance productivity and ensure quality across all construction production processes by focusing on construction out of all construction production processes (surveys, design, construction, supervision and inspections, and maintenance) carried out by construction businesses and accordingly realizing highly efficient, highly precise construction based on the use of electronic data that can be derived from processes through the utilization of ICT and harnessing electronic data derivable from construction for other processes.

Note 74 A system that aims to streamline and upgrade a battery of construction production systems by adopting three-dimensional models from the planning, surveying, and design stage, expanding subsequent construction and maintenance stages by linking them to three-dimensional models, and sharing relevant information pertaining to the overall project in any given case with concerned parties.

Note 75 We aim to improve productivity through the use of integrated three-dimensional data by incorporating the spread of drones and ever-improving three-dimensional measuring techniques and data-processing technologies and applying computerized construction, for which the application of the use of three-dimensional data to MC/MG construction equipment (such as machine-controlled and machine-guided bulldozers) and TS-based work-progress control (in addition to current methods of work-progress control applied to civil engineering projects concerning roads and rivers (surveys, leveling, transiting, and more), includes work progress control techniques based on the use of total stations (which are currently used most on all sorts of survey sites as a type of survey equipment; combining electro-optical distance meters with angle-measuring theodolite, Total Stations can measure both distances and angles—tasks that had to be undertaken separately in the past—at the same time)) had been discontinued, to all processes consisting of surveys and measurements, design work, construction, checks, maintenance, and renewal functions.