Capital project development today faces a paradox: demand is accelerating, while productivity remains an evergreen challenge. Capital projects are essential to global infrastructure and economic growth, but rising investment has not translated into better outcomes.
Industry leaders are increasingly using AI and advanced analytics to strengthen the data-driven nature of decision-making in capital projects—solving complex, nonlinear problems in engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning. When combined with deep industry expertise and new ways of working, these technologies can create a significant opportunity to reduce costs and schedule overruns.
Over the past several years, McKinsey has collaborated with ALICE Technologies, a pioneer in generative scheduling, to help clients quickly create, test, and optimize construction schedules. Together, they bring a fundamentally new approach to capital project planning on complex programs, helping owners and contractors improve how projects are planned and delivered. Based on a proven track record of tangible client impact, McKinsey is pleased to formalize our alliance this week.
“We’re excited to continue our collaboration with ALICE Technologies, building on more than five years of work across industries to improve how large capital projects are planned and executed,” says Mark Pitcher, a partner in McKinsey’s Capital Excellence Practice. “Building more robust, analytics-driven schedules is a critical opportunity for the industry, and one that can drive significant improvements in cost and schedule performance.”
ALICE Technologies & McKinsey
Together, the firms have successfully introduced generative scheduling to more than 35 clients across capital-intensive industries, including infrastructure, data centers, energy, mining, and manufacturing, achieving schedule accelerations of up to 20 percent and significant cost savings.
“Generative scheduling creates a step change in capital project performance,” says Erikhans Kok, senior partner and leader of McKinsey’s Capital Excellence Practice. “When embedded within the right operating model and supported by strong project controls, it can help organizations make faster, more informed decisions.”
The solution provides teams with dynamic, parametric models of the execution plan and uses advanced analytics to evaluate millions of sequencing and resource-loading scenarios. By treating labor, equipment, materials, space, and sequence as adjustable variables, teams can stress-test alternatives, understand the ripple effect of each decision, and make informed trade-offs across cost, duration, and risk impact.
The results are tangible. A leading global data center provider applied generative scheduling to simplify schedule logic, eliminate inefficiencies, and optimize sequencing and resource allocation. This effort uncovered more than 13 optimization opportunities and ultimately enabled a ~40 percent reduction in the baseline construction schedule.
“Generative scheduling is reshaping how complex capital projects are planned and delivered,” says René Morkos, CEO and founder of ALICE Technologies. “Together with McKinsey, we are helping organizations integrate this capability into broader transformation efforts and drive sustained impact at enterprise scale.”
Technology alone, however, does not close the performance gap. Capturing the full value at stake requires rewiring the entire organization. Lasting impact goes beyond the software implementation: it takes robust capability building, an integrated operating model embedded in existing planning and delivery processes, and continuous benchmarking that feeds execution data back into future plans. ALICE enables scalable insight by ingesting BIM models and P6 schedules to simulate millions of execution paths and identify the most efficient and resilient options. Deep scheduling and construction expertise allow contractors and owners alike to accurately model real-world project conditions to improve on-time delivery.
“Rethinking capital project planning and delivery is essential to address the stagnant performance in cost and schedule outcomes,” says Martin Linder, senior partner and leader of McKinsey’s Capital Excellence Practice. “By leveraging advanced technology, data-driven decision-making, and collaborative planning, stakeholders can optimize project delivery, maximize value, and adapt to the increasing complexity of modern capital projects.”
The future of capital projects lies in embracing innovation and continuously improving planning methodologies, and stakeholders must commit to these changes to achieve transformative results. As capital projects grow more complex and the value of capital at stake continues to rise, the organizations that combine AI-enabled tools with disciplined ways of working will be best positioned to deliver large-scale projects with greater certainty—on time and on budget.
Through an open ecosystem of alliances, McKinsey continues to collaborate with leading technology providers to help clients unlock lasting performance improvements.