Abstract:

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also referred to as Industry 4.0 is based on the dramatic development of new technologies. The Construction 4.0 is an instantiation of the concept of Industry 4.0 in construction. Most institutions and innovation leaders proclaim that the success with Construction 4.0 depends on skills and knowledge as it brings a number of changes, not only to production processes, to technological innovations, but also to the profiles of current and future professionals and workers in the construction sector. The demand for specialized technical professions focused on digital technologies is expected to increase as stereotypical manual work is going to be increasingly performed by machines. With transformation of labor and employment, the skill sets required for conventional and new human occupations will be changed. Under the influence of changes in industry and in the world of work there will be a demand for new qualified people with substantially new knowledge and skills.

When comparing to other industrial sectors, the construction industry in Slovakia falls behind other industries in terms of new technologies arriving at market. Low number of well skilled professionals is often referred to as one from the barriers of adopting innovations in construction. Off-site construction also referred to as prefabrication technology is generally understood to be the part of key technologies in the context of industrial revolution in construction. Due to digitization and automation opportunities, the prefabrication technology in construction has evolved fast. The Faculty of Civil Engineering in Košice is aware of the importance of multi-skilled engineers that have qualifications, skills and attitudes to take advantage of increasing amount of off-site construction projects.

The first part of the paper contains description and analysis of key technical skill and knowledge needs for civil engineers to get it made in off-site construction projects. The skill and knowledge needs have been identified based on the knowledge from literature review. These needs are segmented into four functional groups in compliance with fundamental activities of off-site construction projects: design, estimating, off-site manufacturing and on site assembly and construction. As part of efforts to reform civil engineering curriculum with respect to make graduates ready for the growing trend of off-site technology in construction a survey was conducted. The aim of the survey was to reveal the relative importance of identified key technical skills and knowledge of civil engineers that contribute to quality and performance of off-site construction projects. Forty-seven specialists from construction practice were involved in the survey. Sets of identified skill and knowledge needs were provided to respondents. The ranking of skill and knowledge needs of civil engineers that influence quality and performance of off-site construction projects was determined based on the Relative Importance Index (RII). The results of the survey are presented and discussed in the second part of the paper.

Keywords:

Technical skills, key skills, off-site construction, Construction 4.0.