Contractors are beginning to centralize and automate their supply chain processes. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the industry’s soft underbelly when it comes to materials procurement and management, but the next step — utilizing blockchain and artificial intelligence to track and predict material flow — is still several years away.
“We’re in a very fragmented business,” said Tim Jed, who started as Redwood City, California-based DPR Construction’s supply chain lead in February 2020, just a few weeks before COVID hit. “We procure things on a project-by-project basis, and materials are generally bought through subcontractors, so the general contractor doesn’t always have a line of sight to what’s going on with the material supply chain.”
