construction

challenges in construction supply

There are significant challenges or difficulties that emerge in construction activities.

Client / feed, design interface: these challenges arise due to wishes of the clients being aligned and long procedures involved in discussion of the changes.

Feed design / engineering interface: These challenges arise due to design changes, incorrect documentation, extension in time for design changes and subsequent approvals. Additionally, it could occur due to wrong calculations and poor alignment of designs with construction methods resulting to lack of constructability.

Engineering / procurement, vendors interface: the challenge arises from use of inaccurate data and engineering designs that do not fit the intended use and client’s specifications.

Engineering / site interface: the problem could arise due to absence of engineering team during the field engineering activities.

Engineering, procurement / commissioning, main contractor /suppliers / commissioning interfaces: challenges in interfacing

difficult interfaces between various disciplines, problematic completion due to quality problems and safety issues that could stretch to the community.

Procurement, Vendors / Suppliers Interface and Procurement, Vendors / Subcontractors: The challenge arises due to inaccurate data, changes, and technical specifications inaccurately met. The problems are associated with poor collaboration and commitment among the suppliers, low quality materials and components for construction.

Procurement / Logistics Interface: poor logistical planning and executions, poor evaluation of logistics routes, lack of timely application for approvals, licenses and permits, and delays in customer clearance.

Logistics / Site Interface: complexity due to large shipments and poor packaging. Could also be due to bad weather or unfriendly political environment or long storage period.

Main Contractor / Subcontractors Interface: involves challenges arising from late planning and deliveries especially for permanent materials. Large shipments, numerous subcontractors’ involvement, and inadequate supply chain management practices.

Suppliers and Subcontractors / Site Interface: if there is lack of coherence and coordination between planning and delivery, long storage, poorly delivered subcontracted services. These challenges are common during contract execution and productivity levels of the different subcontractors.

Site / Completion of Project and Project Completion / Commissioning Interfaces: challenges in the completion of the project due to safety and quality challenges, and problems with location communities.

Commissioning / operation interface: unresolved quality and technical problems.

Construction

From the findings, supply chain in construction industry experiences significant volume of challenges or barriers and waste production that must be eliminated to reduce the costs through improvement in efficiency and increase quality.

Majority of these challenges arise due to multiple stakeholders’ involvement and the high interdependence between them. Failure in one stakeholders result to entire project failure, hence the need for teamwork.

Source: (LetsBuild, 2020

REMEDIES OF CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY

In order to overcome the previously mentioned problems several generic initiatives were developed to improve construction supply chains and attacked the lack of cohesion and coordination. Such as:-

Use of open building system: Open Building is an approach to the design of buildings that is recognized internationally to represent a new wave in architecture. Open building approach also recognizes that designing and constructing buildings involves many people, who, when reaching agreements, make distribution of responsibility a normal characteristic of the culture of building. In conclusion, open building is used to indicate the idea that designing is a process with multiple participants also including different kinds of professionals. 

Sequential procedure: It provides an automated method of creating static nonlinear staged construction cases that are specifically tailored to model construction sequence loading. Note that only one auto sequential construction case can be defined per model file.

Design and partnering: different parties are essential in supply of construction management materials and other supplies. Each of the stakeholders is dependent on the rest of the team. This aspect requires culture, attitude, and procedures changes to enhance best practices through a collaborative team approach in supply chain. This approach is essential in large, complex, and high risk contracts. Partnering ensures that the stakeholders work as a unitary team that is driven by common goals and vision, which ensures a win-win situation for suppliers and other stakeholders. Partnership type of relationship is important in construction works since it helps to attain strategic partnership and formation of collaborative team.

Re-engineering: the principles of re-engineering philosophy in the construction industry. This philosophy ensures that construction industry activities are developed from clearly-defined objectives. The purpose of construction process re-engineering for progressive development in integrated project delivery process through a collaborative approach. Reengineering ensures that there is increased value and predictability for better resource utilization, high efficiency and improved production and supply practices.

Construction

Quality and Information Technology: in the construction practices, integration of information technology results to improvements in productivity in project management and design development. Additionally, information technology is a critical component of the construction practices that helps in multiple stakeholders’ management.

Effective communication is an essential component of project management in construction processes, which is enabled by the integration of information technology. Quality of communication between stakeholders helps in ensuring a smooth supply processes featured by overall improvement in quality and efficiency of supply chain practices. Misinformation could result to negative outcomes in construction process due to emergence of conflicts, disputes and claims among stakeholders.

The use of information technology has the potential to integrate effectiveness and efficiency in construction practices. Recent technologies in big data analytics and artificial intelligence could revolutionalize communication in construction industry resulting to an improvement in quality of construction practices and successes in overall process.

Source: (Culmo, 2011)

Integration of IT in supply chain management has potential positive impacts. For instance, web-based systems are beneficial in reducing the interfacing barriers for effective stakeholders’ management during the supply chain processes. ICT integration is important in increasing efficiency in supply chain and enhance best practices in supply chain integration in construction activities. Stakeholders in construction industry supply chain include the contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and other players are all compatible with IT systems for best practices.

References

Culmo, M.P., (2011), Accelerated bridge construction-experience in design, fabrication and erection of prefabricated bridge elements and systems.

LetsBuild. (2020, July 06). What is substructure and superstructure in building? Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.letsbuild.com/blog/substructure-superstructure

Tang, B., (2006), Framework for prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES) decision-making.