Cloud Computing Information System Architecture for Precast Supply Chain Management

Abstract

The precast construction industry is associated with a lot of activities, vast effort, many parties and numerous processes. The parties involved in the precast supply chain including the planning, design, manufacturing, transportation, installation and construction should have efficient communication and access to precise and latest information contributing to the enhanced collaboration, sustainability and improving the integration. The aim of this study is to explore the collaboration tools with proposing the cloud system architecture for the precast supply chain management. The research findings are according to the comprehensive review of the literature on supply chain management, precast construction industry and cloud computing. Findings demonstrates the major problems within the precast supply chain phases comprised of poor planning, ineffective communications among designers and manufacturers, incompetent employees and damage to raw materials, large size and heavy precast components and the poor on-site coordination. These major problems within the precast supply chain phases could contribute to negative consequences on the efficiency, productivity and effectiveness of precast delivery. Therefore, to mitigate and overcome these major problems within the precast construction, the cloud computing implementation as the valuable alternative could be delivered to enhance the efficiencies and effectiveness of the collaboration systems. This research propose and establishes the concepts of valuable collaborative tools, for instance the Cloud Computing Information Systems (CCIS), for assisting the processes, activities, information and networks within the precast supply chain management through increasing the opportunities to attain higher competitive advantages. Initially, it is anticipated that this research will result to the enhanced collaboration in order to deliver more competitive advantages and increase the opportunities for the globalisation of the construction industry. Secondly, it proposes an effective technique to establish innovative visions, enhanced productivity, increased effectiveness, improve integration and sustainability leading to efficient collaboration within the construction industry.

Full text

Cloud Computing Information System Architecture for Precast Supply
Chain Management
Mohammad Abedi1,a, Norshakila Rawai1,b, Mohamad Syazli Fathi2,c
and Abdul Karim Mirasa3,d
1Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM, Johor, Malaysia.
2UTM Razak School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
International Campus, Jalan Semarak, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3School of Engineering & Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Locked Bag 2073,
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
aamohammad22@live.utm.my, bNorshakila3@live.utm.my, csyazli@utm.my,
dakmirasa@ums.edu.my
Keywords: Precast Construction Industry, Supply Chain, Efficient Communication, Sustainability,
Collaboration Tools, Integration, Coordination, Cloud Computing, Competitive Advantage.
Abstract. The precast construction industry is associated with a lot of activities, vast effort, many
parties and numerous processes. The precast supply chain phases include the planning, design,
manufacturing, transportation, installation and construction. The parties within the precast supply
chain phases should have efficient communication and access to precise and latest information
contributing to the enhanced collaboration, sustainability and improving the integration. The aim of
this study is to explore the collaboration tools with proposing the cloud system architecture for the
precast supply chain management. The research findings are according to the comprehensive review
of the literature on supply chain management, precast construction industry and cloud computing.
Findings demonstrate the major problems within the precast supply chain phases comprised of poor
planning, ineffective communications among designers and manufacturers, incompetent employees
and damage to raw materials, large size and heavy precast components and the poor on-site
coordination. These major problems within the precast supply chain phases could contribute to
negative consequences productivity and effectivenesstheon efficiency, of precast delivery.
Therefore, to mitigate and overcome these major problems within the precast construction, the
cloud computing implementation as the valuable alternative could be delivered to enhance the
efficiencies and effectiveness of the collaboration systems. This research proposes and establishes
the concepts of valuable collaborative tools, for instance the Cloud Computing Information Systems
(CCIS). These tools will assist the processes, activities, information and network to improve
integration with enhanced collaboration within the precast supply chain management through
increasing the opportunities to attain sustainability with higher competitive advantages.
Introduction
The sinceoff-site precast construction industry is launched 1850, which an integrated is
construction system comprising of many activities, various products, numerous materials and flow
of information and services [1,2]. The precast construction aims to enhance the productivity,
decrease the time, and achieve more cost savings among the numerous individuals such as the
developers, clients, consultants, suppliers, manufacturers, general contractors, architects/engineers
and subcontractors [1,3].
The major issues of precast construction projects will be the integration, assisting and supporting
the various stakeholders and numerous supply chain parties on accomplishing the mutual objectives
for collaborative teamothertheOn project. precastthe hand, wor will enhance thekings
productivity; improve effectiveness and certifying the efficient resources utilisation of precast
construction projects contributing to the precast project success. Hence, cloud computing as one of
Applied Mechanics and Materials Submitted: 2014-09-12
ISSN: 1662-7482, Vols. 773-774, pp 818-822 Accepted: 2014-10-22
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.773-774.818 Online: 2015-07-15
© 2015 The Author(s). Published by Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

advethemitigatetechnologiescollaborativevaluablemost could the ofrse consequences
difficulties, information-intensive, dynamic and risks within the precast construction projects [4-9].
Therefore, this research is conducted to explore the concepts of collaboration tools for instance the
cloud computing utilization along with proposing the system architecture that will eventually
enhance the success of precast construction. The next section of this research will discover the
definitions, supply chain phases and major problems within the precast construction.
Precast Supply Chain Management
The precast construction is defined as, the moulds will be filled by concrete, secondly, the curing of
concrete within a controlled environment, thirdly, the transportation of precast components to the
construction site and lastly, they will be positioned to the construction structure [10,11]. Main
benefits of precast construction are: improved sustainability [3], reduced construction time [12],
modularization [13], and higher quality [14]. On the other hand, the precast system is implemented
for the building [3,15-18 ] and the infrastructure projects [1,11]. The following part of this research
will explains the phases within the precast construction industry.
Precast Supply Chain Phases
The precast supply chain phases are categorised to: planning, design, manufacturing, transportation,
installation and construction [12,14,15,17,18]. The following section will discover the major
problems identified within the precast construction industry.
Precast Supply Chain Problems
Major problems within the precast construction industry which are illustrated in Table 1 could cause
negative consequences on the project objectives contributing to time and cost overruns, decreased
quality and safety issues.
Table 1: Major Problems within the Precast Construction Industry
Supply Chain Phases Major Problems
Planning (P) Poor management of knowledge [15] and poor planning [1,17]
Design (D)
Ineffective communications among designers and
manufacturers [13] and poor design [16]
Manufacturing (M) Incompetent employees and damage to raw materials [12]
Transportation (T) Large size and heavy precast components [3,13,18]
Installation and Construction
(I&C)
Poor specialised contactors [13] and poor on-site coordination
[17]
The next section of this research will explore the concepts on the cloud computing consisting of
the definitions, types and models.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the recent technology development which could be applied globally at any time
in anywhere via internet network [4-9,19-20]. It is an approach to outsource data with the aim of
decreasing the data storage and reducing the management issues [21]. Main benefits of cloud
computing implementation are: less infrastructure investment, convenience, flexibility, enhanced
performance and cost reduction [5]. Furthermore, the cloud computing delivery (deployment)
models comprises of: public, private, community and hybrid [22]. Consequently, [19,22,23]
classified the cloud computing types to: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) such as Salesforce and
Amazon web services, Platform as a Service (PaaS) such as IBM and Amazon’s EC2 offerings, and
Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 773-774 819

lastly, the Software as a Service (SaaS) such as Amazon and Google Apps including Google
Calendar, Gmail and Google Docs. The following section will propose the architectural cloud
system.
Cloud Computing System Architecture within the Precast Construction Industry
Cloud computing technology sends and retrieves the data and various applications via the utilisation
of internet and central remote servers including the application servers and the database server. The
integration of cloud computing, mobile clients (such as the smart mobile devices including the
smartphones and tablets), servers and data center [4-6,9,19,23] and logistics management [24] could
be applied for the precast supply chain management. As illustrated in Figure 1, the architectural
system of cloud computing for the precast supply chain management is illustrated.
Figure 1: Cloud Computing Information System (CCIS) Architecture for Precast Supply Chain
Management
Figure 1 illustrates that firstly, the data within the precast supply chain phases will be delivered
to the database server and the application servers and secondly, it will be transferred to the
Information System server engine (IS server engine). Fundamentally, the architecture of Cloud
Computing Information System (CCIS) is comprised to four core components:
(1) The Mobile Client: Smart mobile devices such as the smartphones, tablets and mobile
computers which are capable of sending the data and information within the precast supply chain
phases to the Information System server engine via the utilisation of the cloud. Besides, the mobile
client will attain the information within the precast supply chain phases by the cloud;
(2) The Firewall: Two firewalls has been considered; first one is among the cloud and mobile
client whereas, the other firewall is among the IS server engine and cloud. Firewalls in the precast
supply chain phases will secure the information that is transferred and delivered to the devices;
Application
Servers
Firewall
Mobile
Client
Precast
Supply Chain
Phases
Database
Server
Firewall
Cloud
Information
System
Server
Engine
820 International Integrated Engineering Summit 2014

(3) IS Server Engine: The data within the precast supply chain phases that are delivered by the
mobile clients, database server and application servers will be processed via the IS server engine;
and
(4) The Cloud Server: Information which is created by the IS server engine, with the firewall
authorization will be delivered to the cloud. Moreover, the information via the cloud will be
distributed to the mobile client within the precast supply chain phases.
Summary
The features of the precast construction industry are distinctive compare to other major industries such
as being highly project-based. Cloud computing will significantly impact on how efficiently the
information thecreateto servin utilised beshould systems order Thisapplications. and ices
collaborative technology could be applied at any time in anywhere and globally with not much concern
on applying new infrastructure, software licenses and employee trainings. Overall, this paper has
proposed an intelligent collaborative tool via the cloud computing implementation. Furthermore, the
cloud computing implementation within the precast construction industry, will deliver significant
opportunities for improving the effectiveness and enhancing the appropriate information flow along
with accessing to data, information and services. This study reveals that the implementation of cloud
computing could contribute to the efficient delivery of a consistent information system, improved
productivity, enhanced effectiveness within the precast construction industry.
Acknowledgement
This work was partly financially supported by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the National
Institute of Valuation, Malaysia under National Real Estate Coordinator (NAPREC) research grant
(Universiti Teknologi Malaysia grant no: 4B086).
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