Status quo of digitalisation in the Sri Lankan construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry faces various issues in completing the project effectively. Numerous studies have found that the construction sector has experienced a rapid and continuous digital transformation to tackle these issues. As a result, to successfully implement Industry 4.0 applications in the Sri Lankan construction industry, it is necessary to identify the status quo of digitalisation in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Therefore, the research aims to analyse the status quo of digitalisation in the Sri Lankan construction industry. The study employs a mixed-method approach consisting of two phases. In phase one, a questionnaire survey was conducted for 50 respondents selected through snowball sampling. The collected data were analysed using SPSS. In phase two, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 experts who had knowledge of Industry 4.0 and lean construction, selected through purposive sampling. Data analysis was conducted through code-based content analysis using NVivo 10. The study indicated that the overall level of digitalisation of the construction industry is lower, while BIM (Building Information Modelling), 3D printing, and Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are the most often implemented applications. Research has made significant contributions to knowledge in identifying issues in the current construction industry in Sri Lanka and the level of implementations of Industry 4.0 applications in the construction industry to measure digital disruption in the industry. Accordingly, the research provides a path to investigate the barriers to implementing these industry 4.0 applications and strategies to eliminate those barriers to raise the construction sector's overall digitalization level.