IBM Partners with Red Hat to Build a Hybrid Cloud for Construction Management

OpenBuilt seeks to push digital transformation of the global construction supply chain using the cloud as a common platform.

Worldwide Impact is Felt from Supply Chain Issues. (Image courtesy of OpenBuilt.)

Worldwide Impact is Felt from Supply Chain Issues. (Image courtesy of OpenBuilt.)

Way back in January 2020 before the world changed, Construction Executive said that the construction industry was facing a huge threat. Construction supply chains were frequently disrupted by “unpredictable global and economic factors.” The article “Prepare Now to Survive Unexpected Changes in the Construction Supply Chain cited construction as one of the world’s largest industries with an eye on growth in the coming decade. There are factors like tariffs and government policies and recessions that a company cannot control, but the article argued that many other factors can be controlled and that risks can be managed. This line of thinking looks spot on now. After dropping at the beginning of the pandemic and finding a low in April 2020, construction materials like random-length lumber futures hit a high. An April report by the National Association of Home Builders estimated that the average cost of a newly constructed home was up by $35,872 because of lumber costs. While noting that out of control costs are not sustainable over the long term, the report also blamed the global construction supply chain for issues with delivery timing and costs.

As part of a solution to the construction industry’s worldwide issues, IBM, Red Hat and Cobuilder announced a new platform in April. OpenBuilt will reside in IBM’s cloud services built on Red Hat’s OpenShift and “help innovate and drive more efficient, sustainable and safer construction projects.” The platform will act as a hub for companies to take their current technology and interact with all stakeholders of a project.

Hybrid Cloud Approach, Vendor Integration and New Applications

OpenBuilt is opening with a three-pronged strategy for wrangling the construction supply chain. First is a hybrid cloud approach to help companies ease into the idea of moving to the cloud while standardizing databases and formats. Next is the integration of outside vendor applications with the current IBM stable solutions of Watson, Maximo, and TRIRIGA. Building information management systems and digital twin models can use IBM’s solutions to easily search for building materials or substitutes. Finally, the OpenBuilt platform will build new applications to find and filter building material technical data. Cobuilder’s Define data modeling will help companies to design, build and maintain structures using industry standards for health, safety, sustainability and function.

This project aims to affect every section of the construction industry–residential, industrial, commercial, hospitals and schools. To gain experience with constituents across all of these construction phases, IBM and its partners have developed an ecosystem of five companies to represent global construction customers. CEMEX, EDIN Network, Sol Services, AS Backe and Element Materials Technology were chosen as ecosystem partners for their influence in different continents or their expertise in an area such as inspection, material testing, sustainability, refurbishment or maintenance.

For those who believe the construction boom is a result of pent-up home and business owners needing to improve their surroundings or the first indicator that a construction bubble is about to pop, the amount of disruption in the supply chain and its economic impact is a problem. IBM and its partners have assembled a moonshot-level team of people and resources to try and redesign how the world thinks about construction management up and down the supply chain. The most impressive part of this project might be OpenBuilt’s ambition. The project is looking back at previous disruptions for their data while aiming to help current construction projects and reorganize how we will think about supply chains of the future.