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US-based Autovol commits to robotics for the future of modular building
At the recent World of Modular trade show in San Antonio, Texas, Rick Murdock, CEO of Autovol, continued, and furthered his company’s commitment to utilising robotics (robots) for the modular building business.
According to an analysis by US organisation, Associated Builders and Contractors, labour shortages have been systemic throughout the construction industry, and current expectation are that it will need an additional 500,000 workers to meet demand this year alone.
And, that’s exactly where robots for modular building can achieve meaningful impact, Murdock suggested. Automation currently accounts for 30% of production at his modular company and he anticipates that to increase to 45%.
ABOVE: Rick Murdock, CEO of Autovol
The use of robotics on a factory floor reduces the potential for falls, and further eliminates tasks such as heavy lifting.
That not only prevents injury, but also encourages diversity as lifting is no longer a necessity, said Murdock.
According to a report by Fixr, in the overall construction industry, only 3% to 4% of jobs in production, transportation, construction and maintenance are occupied by women. Autovol employs approximately 30% women in their workforce.
According to the MBI (Modular Building Institute), modular buildings take approximately 25% to 50% less time to build than traditional methods, which means faster occupancy and return on investment. Autovol claims to further reduce both time and costs because of their robots.
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“We’ve already seen the demand right now is more than we could possibly build if we had 100 Autovols out there,” said Murdock. “We couldn’t reach the demand.”
“With automation, you can go in there and change one bit of software and now 10 other things don’t work,” said Murdock. “But when we run into those challenges, data solves it. That’s the education that we’re getting as the pioneers of this automation and robotic technology in our manufacturing plant.”
“I hear people say modular construction is a competitor of traditional construction, I don’t agree,” said Murdock. “I think we are a resource, I think we are a supplier. We need more collaboration between general contractors and modular manufacturing plants.”
See: autovol.com
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