MEP Industry opportunities need to account for automation, skilling and flexibility

Dr. Amit Chaudhari, Associate Director, KPM Design Services Pvt. Ltd., points out that sustainability is a moot point since the continual power supply is mandatory in automation dependencies.

 

Opportunities available for MEP in the Indian market today 

The digitalisation era of MEP services has just begun. The MEP market has humongous opportunities available nationally and globally. MEP now encompasses civil, electronics, and software engineering branches as well. It is about design and installation, and it talks about asset management, valuation and insurance of the asset too. Nowadays, asset management and efficiency improvements are made through “Digital Twins”. The trending opportunity is the ‘digitalisation of MEP services for assets’.

The MEP is quite diverse and includes commissioning companies, facility management companies, supply chains, scrap/ recycling vendors, training institutes job agencies etc. In all these market segments, opportunities are available. However, these opportunities require skilled workforce. Of course, freshers and beginners shall need to learn to become skilled. Hence, all allied engineers working in the Indian MEP Market must be conversant with knowledge of automation, robotics & machine learning to take MEP to new heights globally.

 

Automation and robotics impact MEP operations 

To date, automation and robotics do not have much penetration in MEP operations, much part is handled by humans. However, a substantial cost or penalty is associated with human operations. E.g., overflow from the tank or street lights remaining switched on during daytime. With the automation penetration in MEP,  many such aspects of MEP will get simpler and more economical in the longer run. However, while we prepare for aggressive automation and robotics, we also need to focus on its sustainability aspects. For instance, the continuous and uninterrupted power supply is mandatory in case of automation dependencies.

Automation, robotics and machine learning will reduce human intervention and minimise errors to a great extent in future. While designing and drafting MEP services, Machine Learning will decide the most economical routing of services. While integrating BOQ and BOM with automation – machine learning will assist in accuracy, and the ordering will be precise. As the MEP model in BIM can talk to the procurement software, the order will be released for the material to build the particular building portion. Hence, no inventory gets wasted.

 

In future, automation, robotics & ML will significantly reduce the workforce and wastage of resources. It will provide accuracy in the work. Automation and big data will help achieve the targets within time and provide cost effective solutions for the project.

 

Skilled workforce and challenges in MEP 

Considering our country’s serviceable area and population, enough workforce with adequate skill is not available. Indeed, our country has produced the world’s finest skilled workforce, but mainly, they serve in foreign countries However, we need a more skilled workforce for townships, tall and super tall buildings and projects. The MEP industry, as on date, is a ‘skilled workforce hungry industry’. The skilled workforce available in our country is concentrated in metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, etc. Nowadays, aggressive construction growth is occurring in each city of the country and MEP – skilled workforce is required. Due to the non-availability or deficit in a skilled workforce. The MEP industry faces an acute shortage of skilled workers.

 

Without a skilled workforce, the most important challenges that emerge are design, installation, product selection and certification. Also, there will be an impact on the quality of the material selected due to unskilled inspection. It can impact the progress of a project that cannot meet its deadlines. The critical part of MEP is functionality of the installed services. It can only be visualised and attended by a skilled workforce. Compromising functionality will lead to more significant problems, like loss of man-hours in offices, operating properties, etc. Although a skilled workforce is required for MEP works, it does not dilute the need and requirement of freshers. The Fresher/ beginner shall always bring energy to the work. Their current knowledge gets updated with skill, and they become the future’s skilled workforce.

 

Flexibility for MEP installations 

To define the flexibility in services, one can state that the sustaining capability of the services while catering to operations requirements in terms of efficiency, duration & cost. This impacts flexibility for MEP installation. It needs to be elaborated at the time of designing the building. For example, an entirely commercial design project for hotel purposes required to be converted into residential or part hotel space if conceived at the design stage. 

Another example is the earlier design of big office space in a particular building’s needs – early inputs – to make space provision, which may sometimes get converted to a small office. And so, the occupant loads get impacted, which in turn impacts the majority of the services. Many times the service designers are reluctant to keep flexibility in design. This is also because, when the intended use is changed, many parameters change – which mostly will not suit the next occupant. The occupant will keep complaining about the uneasiness/discomfort of utility services. This is the real reason behind the scene for lack of flexibility in MEP installation. Additionally, the installations in MEP are tedious. Hence, although asset owners complain about the lack of installation flexibility simultaneously, its functional value cannot be overlooked.

 

Design changes which are necessary for HVACR manufacturers from an MEP perspective. 

Currently, in the era of Do-itYourself, HVACR manufacturers must look strongly into the complicated design and installation parts. Also, manufacturers of the HVACR industry and all stakeholders allied to the MEP industry shall strive to make the design and installation of their products friendly to Interdisciplinary. Due to the penetration of automation, robotics and ML, the MEP services are becoming increasingly interconnected. The time has arrived when HVACR manufacturers shall make the design changes so that their services shall be more communicative or adaptive to other services in the MEP.

 

The HVACR services majorly depend upon power and water to operate. The HVACR manufacturers know this part, so they need to involve more efficient equipment in water and power consumption. If the design is done thoughtfully considering all the allied aspects, it will function better. It will give the comfort of operations to the user. These grass root level design changes are required to be adopted by HVACR manufacturers in some of the areas.