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Developing a Collaboration Planning Method for Knowledge Heterogeneity in Construction Supply Chain Management
Abstract
The characteristics of the construction supply chain place a heightened emphasis on collaborative modes and agile adaptability in achieving supply chain resilience. As a result, supply chain collaboration management has emerged as a critical strategy for enhancing the resilience of the construction supply chain. With the advent of Industry 5.0, cross-organizational and cross-professional business integration should not solely focus on driving key elements towards goal alignment, but also address the significant challenges posed by knowledge heterogeneity in collaborative management of construction supply chains. Taking the procurement planning business, which is characterized by prominent cross-organizational and cross-professional issues, as an example, this paper aims to explore a planning collaboration method for knowledge heterogeneity through intelligent-assisted knowledge interoperability and human-centered platform operation. To accomplish this, we adopt a design science research methodology and analyze planning collaboration from two dimensions: process-oriented and event-oriented. Using enterprise data from a real-world case, we design a digital service construction method for business collaboration, covering the full spectrum from identification to construction to service operation. Finally, we outline our next steps for this research in terms of demonstration, evaluation, and communication improvement.
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With the increasing scale and complexity of construction projects, a considerably growing number of studies have focused on managing supply chain scientifically to improve performance. To explore this field in depth, this paper uses the Bibliometrix R encapsulation tool to conduct a bibliometric analysis and visually display key findings on construction project supply chain management from 1998 to 2021. By using a series of indexes in econometric analysis, this paper introduces an overview of construction project supply chain research. Further, the current situation, historical evolution, and development of this field are explored using the content analysis of keywords. The results suggest that: (1) the number of publications in the field of the supply chain management of construction projects has increased over time and entered a period of rapid growth after 2015. During this period, articles related to ‘sustainability’, ‘prefabricated housing’, ‘reverse logistics’, and ‘lean management’ were widely cited by scholars, but the most frequently cited was ‘partnership’. (2) The keywords in the field of construction project supply chain management can be divided into ‘simulation research’, ‘sustainable research’, ‘method research’, ‘cooperation and integration’, ‘whole life cycle,’ ‘trust and communication’, and so on. The keywords ‘Radio Frequency Identification’ (RFID), ‘waste management’, ‘case study’, and ‘social responsibility’ are the current research hotspots. (3) The theme development of construction project supply chain management can be divided into supply chain integration and management, supply chain process design and optimization, the application of advanced technology, and sustainable supply chain management. This paper summarizes the main discoveries and developments in construction project supply chain management.
Industry 5.0 is a combination of organisational principles and technologies to design and manage operations and supply chains as resilient, sustainable, and human-centric systems. While the general notion of Industry 5.0 has been elaborated, its implications for future operations and supply chains remain underexplored. This paper contributes to the conceptualisation of Industry 5.0 from the perspective of viability. We contextualise a framework of Industry 5.0 through the lens of the viable supply chain model, the reconfigurable supply chain, and human-centric ecosystems. Our study uncovers the major dimensions that characterise Industry 5.0 as a technological-organisational framework. First, the major technological principles of Industry 5.0 are collaboration, coordination, communication, automation, data analytics processing, and identification. Second, Industry 5.0 covers four areas: organisation, management, technology, and performance assessment. Third, Industry 5.0 spans three levels: society level, network level, and plant level. Last but not least, Industry 5.0 frames a new triple bottom line: resilient value creation, human well-being, and sustainable society. We provide a definition of Industry 5.0 and discuss its implications by elaborating on the understanding of value in Industry 5.0, which spans the dimensions of profit, people, and society. We also discuss open research areas.
A brief introduction to the OMG Decision Model & Notation (DMN) standard
Supply chain viability (SCV) is an emerging concept of growing importance in operations management. This paper aims to conceptualize, develop, and validate a measurement scale for SCV. SCV is first defined and operationalized as a construct, followed by content validation and item measure development. Data have been collected through three independent samplings comprising a total of 558 respondents. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used in a step-wise manner for scale development. Reliability and validity are evaluated. A nomological model is theorized and tested to evaluate nomological validity. For the first time, our study frames SCV as a novel and distinct construct. The findings show that SCV is a hierarchical and multidimensional construct, reflected in organizational structures, organizational resources, dynamic design capabilities, and operational aspects. The findings reveal that a central characteristic of SCV is the dynamic reconfiguration of SC structures in an adaptive manner to ensure survival in the long-term perspective. This research conceptualizes and provides specific, validated dimensions and item measures for SCV. Practitioner directed guidance and suggestions are offered for improving SCV during the COVID-19 pandemic and future severe disruptions.
Fulfilling customer orders in engineer-to-order (ETO) settings entails customization and, thus, greater complexity: detail and uncertainty. Tactical planning aims at demand-supply (DS) balancing by ensuring cross-functional integration (CFI), which incorporates coordination as one dimension. This study uses a case study approach to identify the key coordination mechanisms applied in the customer order fulfilment processes (COFPs) to mitigate the negative impact of complexity on DS balancing in four ETO-oriented settings. Within-case analyses identify the applied mechanisms, and a cross-case analysis elaborates on how they influence the detail and uncertainty in decision-making and problem-solving activities. Findings suggest a positive effect of formalized activity sequences, balanced team compositions, effective task designs and supportive information systems (ISs); and a positive (but contingent) effect of the other mechanisms. Future research may address other CFI dimensions (collabor-ation), statistically test the findings, or qualitatively deepen the understanding of the forms and impacts of individual mechanisms.
Although advancements have been made in the management of projects due to the digitalization and automation technologies, the efficient use of digital data is still lacking for the coordination of the supply chain. This paper presents an approach that allows data-driven and schedule-oriented supply chain coordination in the face of demand fluctuations. The approach consists of two main steps that contractors should take: 1) monitor the demand fluctuations based on a 4D model that captures the as-built status and updated look-ahead schedules, 2) make decisions to modify original orders to accommodate the demand fluctuations where orders are determined by a heuristic evolutionary algorithm. As a proof of concept, the coordination approach is demonstrated using an example project featuring a five-day in-situ construction of concrete walls. Results from this example show that using the approach improves the responsiveness of concrete planning and ordering. As a result, this leads to improved collaboration between suppliers and contractors in construction projects.
Digitally induced complexity is all around us. Global digital infrastructure, social media, Internet of Things, robotic process automation, digital business platforms, algorithmic decision making, and other digitally enabled networks and ecosystems fuel complexity by fostering hyper-connections and mutual dependencies among human actors, organizations, structures, processes, and objects. Complexity affects human agencies and experiences in all dimensions including market and economic behaviors, political processes, entertainment, social interactions, etc. Individuals and organizations turn to digital technologies for exploiting emerging new opportunities in the digital world. They also turn to digitally-enabled solutions to cope with the wicked problems arising out of digitally-induced complexity. In the digital world, complexity and solutions based on digital technologies present new opportunities and challenges for information systems (IS) research. The purpose of this special issue is to foster the development of new IS theories on the causes, dynamics, and consequences of digitally-induced complexity in socio-technical systems. In this essay, we discuss the key concepts and methods of complexity science, and illustrate emerging new IS research challenges and opportunities in complex socio-technical systems. We also provide an overview of the five articles included in the special issue. These articles illustrate how IS researchers build on theories and methods from complexity science to study wicked problems arising out of digitally induced complexity. They also illustrate how IS researchers leverage the uniqueness of the IS context to generate new insights to contribute back to complexity science.
In construction, the mirroring of knowledge with tasks increasingly limits firm-level abilities to identify and pursue systemic innovation opportunities. Recent research identifies how integration strategies enable individual projects to break from this trap, but much less is known about potential strategic action of firms to enable systemic innovation. To explore this, a longitudinal comparative case study examines how three entrepreneurial firms – DPR construction, RAD Urban, and Project Frog – in the San Francisco Bay Area describe their own strategic evolution and restructuring of firm boundaries over the past five years to enable greater adoption of digital manufacturing. Each firm has developed a different approach – relational, project-based spinoff; vertical integration; or digital systems integration. Benefits and challenges are identified for each. The approaches are theorized as a form of strategic mirror-breaking intended to redefine the current paradigm of knowledge and task dependencies. They enable the firms to develop products with new system architectures and access more opportunities for innovation in digitally-enabled manufacturing. The paper concludes with discussion of how the identification and characterization of strategies for mirror-breaking enriches understanding of integration for systemic innovation in construction at the firm level. The paper identifies common themes for digitally-enabled manufacturing including the limitations of the current industry structure, the emergence of new hybrid positions, and the opportunity for platforms to provide longitudinal integration.
This paper aims to develop a novel, data-driven simulation model to quantitatively assist decision-support in quality-induced rework cost estimation and control for construction product fabrication. At the core of the model is a specialized absorbing Markov chain, which stochastically models the construction product fabrication process while considering quality-induced rework uncertainty. The model parameters are dynamically updated using real-time quality management and cost management information to achieve more accurate and reliable simulation outputs. Furthermore, two types of decision-support metrics are developed to support rework cost management processes, namely (1) rework cost estimation during the project planning phase, and (2) rework cost control during the project execution phase. An illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the functionalities of the model and the implementation of the decision-support metrics. Finally, the proposed approach is integrated into the previously developed simulation-based analytics framework and implemented by an industrial pipe fabrication company in Edmonton, Canada. The presented case study demonstrates the applicability and feasibility of the proposed approach to industrial pipe welding processes.
Digitizing buildings via building information modelling (BIM) is increasingly gaining traction in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector. The plethora of BIM-based technologies affects both inter- and intra-organizational relations. Structured inter-organizational networks across tiers, such as supply chain (SC) partnerships were used to examine how BIM affects these changing relations across and within firms’ boundaries. Empirical explorations around the interplay between BIM and SC partnering – as a proxy for supply chain management (SCM) philosophy – were deployed to assess their contribution to SC integration, and to investigate the functions of key actors in AEC. One young and one long-standing SC partnership were studied, and it was observed that the contractual arrangements had to be complemented by well-defined BIM scope, and communications across multiple tiers to built trust and support collaboration in the network. There were two types of BIM-enabled SC partnering: with emphasis on either transactions or relations, the former being merely operational whereas the latter strategic. These inter-organizational orientations of BIM-enabled SC partnering outlined further intra-organizational conditions for integration regarding functional division, business models and services offered. The study carries implications for BIM and SCM researchers, policy-makers and practitioners, and proposes strategies for SC integration by aligning intra- with inter-organizational relations.
The paper motivates, presents, demonstrates in use, and evaluates a methodology for conducting design science (DS) research in information systems (IS). DS is of importance in a discipline oriented to the creation of successful artifacts. Several researchers have pioneered DS research in IS, yet over the past 15 years, little DS research has been done within the discipline. The lack of a methodology to serve as a commonly accepted framework for DS research and of a template for its presentation may have contributed to its slow adoption. The design science research methodology (DSRM) presented here incorporates principles, practices, and procedures required to carry out such research and meets three objectives: it is consistent with prior literature, it provides a nominal process model for doing DS research, and it provides a mental model for presenting and evaluating DS research in IS. The DS process includes six steps: problem identification and motivation, definition of the objectives for a solution, design and development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication. We demonstrate and evaluate the methodology by presenting four case studies in terms of the DSRM, including cases that present the design of a database to support health assessment methods, a software reuse measure, an Internet video telephony application, and an IS planning method. The designed methodology effectively satisfies the three objectives and has the potential to help aid the acceptance of DS research in the IS discipline.
The purpose of this study was to understand some of the many perplexing questions eluding managers of overwhelmingly complex construction supply chain management (CSCM) based on review of some important research issues pertaining to construction supply chains. This study has illustrated understanding on CSCM using qualitative approach of triangulation applying foundational research methodology and soft system methodology in a coal-based thermal power plant project to validate its complex CSCM systems. The study highlights that a typical CSCM eco-system for the coal-based thermal power plant construction as unit can be considered to operate as a system with sub-systems as concept phase, procurement phase, production phase, installation phase and winding up phase. This study suffers from methodological limitations associated with qualitative research. Finally, this study provides practical insights for research opportunities in the area of interdisciplinary construction projects.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a special issue about the construction industry and the management of its supply chains. It aims to discuss and point to some differences and possible similarities with traditional manufacturing and its supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is mostly a literature review and contains official statistics.
Findings
The market of the construction company is mostly local and highly volatile. The long durability of the construction “product” contributes to the volatility. The product specification process before the customer order arrives shows different degrees of specifications: engineer to order, modify to order, configure to order, select a variant. (The common make‐to‐stock in traditional manufacturing does not exist.) A construction company only executes a small part of the project by its own personnel and capacity. This is a way of risk spreading and risk mitigation and to compensate for an unstable market. If a construction company wants to establish a new concept, from “engineer to order” to e.g. “configure to order”, it must be engaged earlier in the business process and with other than usual customers, which might complicate the process.
Research limitations/implications
Experiences from Sweden and Swedish developments are the main source of information.
Originality/value
The paper introduces the articles that are a source of scientifically generated knowledge regarding various problems and opportunities associated with supply chain management in the project‐based construction industry.
C hanges in the technologies of representation in a heterogeneous, distributed sociotechnical system, such as a large construction project, can instigate a complex pattern of innovations in technologies, practices, structures, and strategies. We studied the adoption of digital three-dimensional (3-D) representations in the building projects of the architect Frank O. Gehry, and observed that multiple, heterogeneous firms in those projects produced diverse innovations, each of which created a wake of innovation. Together, these multiple wakes of innovation produce a complex landscape of innovations with unpredictable peaks and valleys. Gehry's adoption of digital 3-D representations disturbed the ecology of interactions and stimulated innovations in his project networks by: providing path-creating innovation trajectories in separate communities of practice, creating trading zones where communities could create knowledge about diverse innovations, and offering a means for intercalating innovations across heterogeneous communities. Our study suggests that changes in digital representations that are central to the functioning of a distributed system can engender multiple innovations in technologies, work practices, and knowledge across multiple communities, each of which is following its own distinctive tempo and trajectory.
Effective creation of dynamic virtual organizations requires a proper breeding environment to increase organizations’ preparedness.
After introducing some basic concepts related to collaborative networked organizations, the concept of breeding environment
for virtual organizations is discussed and the key elements and requirements for its support management system are presented.
The initial modeling needs and the required functionality are identified. Finally some important open challenges are addressed.
The paper motivates, presents, demonstrates in use, and evaluates
a methodology for conducting design science (DS) research in information
systems (IS). DS is of importance in a discipline oriented to the
creation of successful artifacts. Several researchers have pioneered
DS research in IS, yet over the past 15 years, little DS research
has been done within the discipline. The lack of a methodology to
serve as a commonly accepted framework for DS research and of a template
for its presentation may have contributed to its slow adoption. The
design science research methodology (DSRM) presented here incorporates
principles, practices, and procedures required to carry out such
research and meets three objectives: it is consistent with prior
literature, it provides a nominal process model for doing DS research,
and it provides a mental model for presenting and evaluating DS research
in IS. The DS process includes six steps: problem identification
and motivation, definition of the objectives for a solution, design
and development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication. We
demonstrate and evaluate the methodology by presenting four case
studies in terms of the DSRM, including cases that present the design
of a database to support health assessment methods, a software reuse
measure, an Internet video telephony application, and an IS planning
method. The designed methodology effectively satisfies the three
objectives and has the potential to help aid the acceptance of DS
research in the IS discipline.
The dilemmas of resource waste and information dispersion in the construction industry can be attributed to scattered management mode. Primary project participants tend to emphasize their own production operations and benefits. Problems such as overcapacity, untimely procurement and supply of materials and equipment, unreliable transportation, and information distortion occur frequently. In response to the urgent need of enhanced construction industrialization, construction supply chain (CSC) management provides a solution by coordinating production and resources, collaborating all primary parties in construction activities, and integrating construction information. However, lack of comprehensive review of CSC research hinders clarifications of research directions and implementation priorities for CSC management. This paper aims to combine quantitative and qualitative methods to systematically analyze CSC related studies to bridge this gap. The quantitative analysis of 465 relevant articles found that CSC resilience plays an important role in ensuring CSC stability in uncertain environment but receives insufficient attention. Thus, from the perspective of CSC resilience development, 38 articles focusing on CSC were qualitatively analyzed and a framework for achieving CSC resilience from dimensions of organization, management, and technology was established. Further guided framework suggested that future research on CSC should focus on interaction of participants across CSC lifecycle, information integration, objective CSC resilience measurement, and CSC digitization with new technologies. The CSC resilience achieving framework, limitations and challenges of CSC management, and future research directions underlined in this study can provide guidance for future academic work and practical application of CSC management.
Supply Chain Coordination Management (SCCM) is an effective tool and has become a hot topic related to the supply chain. In order to clarify the SCCM research framework and its evolution, we conducted a literature study, using 5748 papers collected from the Web of Science database from 2005 to 2020 as the data source, using bibliometric analysis and visualization methods to document the SCCM research Quantitative analysis and visual analysis. This article first analyzes the time series distribution of papers published in the SCCM field, the core author group, the distribution of research institutions, the distribution of important journals, the author's co-occurrence network, and the keyword cluster analysis, and explains the current research status and research hotspots of SCCM. Secondly, use CiteSpace software to conduct timetone cluster analysis of keywords in the SCCM field, and further explore the frontiers of SCCM research. Finally, 5748 documents are summarized, and the research hotspots of SCCM in various time periods are systematically explained, which can provide theoretical and practical references for the future research.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to global operations and supply chains. While the huge impact of the pandemic has nurtured important literature over the last couple of years, little is being said about the role of resource orchestration in supporting resilience in highly disruptive contexts. Thus, this study aims to this knowledge gap by proposing an original model to explore supply chain resilience (SCRE) antecedents, considering supply chain alertness (SCAL) as a central point to support resilience. This study focuses on the resource orchestration theory (ROT) to design a conceptual model. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) served to validate the model, exploring data from the UK supply chain decision-makers. The study reveals a number of both expected and unexpected findings. These include the evidence that supply chain disruption orientation (SCDO) has a strong positive effect on the SCAL. In addition, SCAL plays a strong positive effect in resource reconfiguration (RREC), supply chain efficiency (SCEF) and SCRE. We further identified a partial mediation effect of RREC on the relationship between SCAL and SCRE. Surprisingly, it appeared that SCAL strongly influences SCEF, while SCEF itself does not create any significant effect on SCRE. For managers and practitioners, the importance of resource orchestration as a decisive approach to adequately respond to huge disruptions is clearly highlighted by our results. Finally, this paper helps to grasp better how important resource orchestration in operations and supply chains remains for appropriate responses to high disruptions such as the COVID-19 impacts.
Purpose
Demands for Industrialized Construction (IC) have intensified with growing construction industry imperatives to (A) boost performance; (B) reduce reliance on “in-situ and on-site” operations; and (C) strengthen supply chain resilience (SCR) not just for survival but also to fulfill obligations to clients in the coronavirus disease 2019–induced (COVID-19–induced) “new normal”. In addressing these imperatives, this paper targets more effective leveraging of latent efficiencies of off-site-manufacture, based on findings from a Hong Kong (HK)–based study on assessing and improving SCR in IC in a high-density city.
Design/methodology/approach
Starting with the identification of critical supply chain vulnerabilities (CSCVs), this study developed a multilevel–multicriteria mathematical model to evaluate the vulnerability levels of IC supply chains (SCs) in HK based on an in-depth questionnaire survey followed by experts' inputs and analyzing them using fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE).
Findings
The overall vulnerability index indicates that IC in HK is substantially vulnerable to disruptions, while production-based vulnerabilities have the highest impact. Top management attention is needed to address these CSCVs in IC in HK.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first structured evaluation model that measures the vulnerability level of IC, providing useful insights to industry stakeholders for well-informed decision-making in achieving resilient, sustainable and performance-enhanced SCs.
Design Thinking is a human-centered approach extensively used across different domains that aims at problem solving, value creation for stakeholders and innovation by fostering creativity. The most characterising and critical step along the Design Thinking process is the empathy phase, in which stakeholder analysis is performed by looking at a given scenario from the perspective of different stakeholders. Such a methodology enables a systematic information gathering and organization that results in a deep understanding of actual problems, needs and expectations from the target stakeholders. The uniqueness of problems and the need for situation-specific data makes knowledge re-use not always practical, even within the most consolidated and experienced environments. In this paper we propose an ontological support to empathy mapping that aims to (i) establish an interoperable fine-grained data layer among the different data collected throughout the empathy mapping process, (ii) enable multi-scenario analysis underpinned by formal specifications and (iii) further empower the process through semantic enrichment and integration of insight from multiple sources and contexts. We believe this is the first step to design and properly integrate effective computational and AI-based functionalities along the creative design thinking process, as well as to enable in practice richer and more sophisticated approaches (e.g. through social networks).
Purpose
Industrialized construction (IC) has accelerated the technological advancements of construction supply chains (SCs) in Hong Kong (HK). However, the usually fragmented IC SCs often lead to friction and turbulence that retard their performance. Streamlining these workflows call for resilient SCs that can proactively overcome various vulnerabilities and avoid disruptions. Having identified supply chain capabilities (SCC) as essential precursors to supply chain resilience (SCR), this paper reports on a vital segment of a study on SCC for IC in HK that focused here on critical SCC (CSCC). Specifically, this paper aims at identifying and probing the CSCC for improving SCR in IC in HK.
Design/methodology/approach
After drawing on the plentiful relevant literature, an empirical study using a questionnaire survey and interviews was conducted following the multi-stage methodological framework of this study. Relevant significance analysis of the collected data enabled the selection of CSCC. Next, factor analysis facilitated grouping them under nine underlying components.
Findings
The results reveal 41 CSCC pertinent to achieve resilient SCs in IC in HK under critical capability components of resourcefulness, flexibility, capacity, adaptability, efficiency, financial strength, visibility, anticipation and dispersion.
Originality/value
It is expected that industry practitioners would benefit from prior knowledge of CSCC and their levels of criticalities, so as to prioritize integrating them suitably into SC processes, to develop value-enhanced-resilient SCs. Further, these findings lay the foundations for developing a powerful evaluation model to assess, then improve, SCR in IC in HK by mapping the identified CSCC with relevant critical vulnerabilities, based on study outcomes.
The construction industry is a key sector of every country and the application of supply chain-related techniques holds much promise to improve performance of construction firms in many ways. According to an extended view, which encompasses the construction of industrial and residential buildings, of civil engineering and infrastructure projects, there is a number of major actors that must be coordinated in some way to reach ETO decisions, leading to performance outcomes and metrics. The need to co-ordinate information across the supply chain is a persistent and pressing challenge for ETO companies. Procurement helps to establish the conditions for the supply chain to function effectively. New technologies such as product configurators or cloud manufacturing are being applied. Planning and decision making is a critical driver. In the future, the challenges of applying supply chain management techniques to a construction environment, will require more quantitative studies, to cast light on some potential gains from better information management and use of digital technologies. Then there is also an opportunity to integrate clear upfront planning and procurement with the project delivery processes, and choose the right configurations, focus and relational types. Finally, there is much potential to harness the innovation potential of SMEs.
Purpose-Managing stakeholders' reciprocal interdependencies is always a challenging issue. Stakeholders need to find out different ways to communicate information and coordinate material flows during the supply chain processes. Many recent studies have advanced construction supply chain coordination from multiple perspectives. However, the field still lacks a comprehensive analysis to summarize existing research, to explicitly identify all the possible enablers for coordination and to investigate how the enablers can be carried out at the supply chain interfaces. To fill the gap, this study aims to conduct a systematic review in order to examine the relevant literature.
Design/methodology/approach-A systematic literature review process was conducted to identify and synthesize relevant publications (published in the past 20 years) concerning the coordination of construction supply chain functions. These publications were coded to link main research findings with specific enabler categories. In addition, how these enablers can be used at the interfaces across supply chain processes was reviewed with an in-depth analysis of reciprocal communications between stakeholders at design-to-production, production-to-logistics and production-to-site-assembly phases.
Findings-The coordination enablers were classified into three categories: (1) contractual enablers (including subtopics on relational contracts and incentive models), (2) procedural enablers (including subtopics on multiagent knowledge sharing systems and the last planner system) and (3) technological enablers (including subtopics on linked databases for design coordination, design for manufacturing software platforms and automated monitoring technologies). It was found that interfacing different functions requires a certain level of integration of stakeholders for quick response and feedback processes. The integration of novel contractual forms with digital technologies, such as smart contracts, however, was not adequately addressed in the state of the art.
Research limitations/implications-The scope of the systematic review is limited to the static analysis of selected publications. Longitudinal studies should be further included to sharpen the inductions of enablers considering organizational changes and process dynamics in construction projects.
Practical implications-Different enablers for coordination were summarized in a concise manner, which provides researchers and project stakeholders with a reinforced understanding of various ways to manage reciprocal interdependencies at different supply chain interfaces.
Originality/value-This study constitutes an important input for research on the construction supply chain by illuminating the thematic topic of coordination from inductively developed review processes, which included a holistic framing of the emerging coordination enablers and their use across supply chain functions. Consequently, it closes some identified knowledge gaps and offers additional insights to improve the supply chain performance of construction projects.
The heightened risk exposure of construction supply chains (SCs) calls for greater resilience. Focussing on industrialized construction (IC), this study examines how supply chain resilience (SCR) can be boosted through clear identification of the relevant and appropriate supply chain capabilities (SCC) that construction firms would then need to nurture and/or develop further. This study conducted a systematic review of SCC related literature, followed by an in-depth analysis and consolidation of the findings which enabled the development of a proposed action framework for achieving SCR in IC. The results revealed 58 SCC related to IC and mapped the yearly publication trend, publications by country and methodological approaches followed in previous research. Thematic analysis was conducted to categorize the identified SCC into 12 newly formulated constructs. Further, the findings help to iden- tify a suite of capabilities (SCC) to develop value-enhanced resilient SCs in IC and provide a foundation for further research in SCR in the construction industry.
The temporary vertical transportation systems used during the construction of high-rise buildings, including tower cranes, temporary elevators, and concrete pumps, have a significant effect on the cost of a project. If they are under designed, they lead to project delays, which are expensive. If they are over designed, then they cost more to construct than necessary. The accurate estimation of vertical transportation demands is necessary to optimally determine the temporary vertical transportation systems required. The current demand estimation process is mostly manual and, therefore, time-consuming and prone to errors. In this paper, a methodology to estimate vertical transportation demands during the construction of high-rise buildings is proposed, that is automated and, therefore, both faster and less prone to errors than the current manual process. The methodology exploits building information modeling (BIM), and improves estimates by explicitly considering (1) the demands related to the transportation of temporary construction systems (i.e., formwork, shoring and scaffolding systems), auxiliary construction resources (e.g., tools, equipment), construction waste, and construction workers, (2) the demands in different construction zones, (3) the demands for inter-floor transportation and transportation to non-construction locations, (4) the demands handled by all vertical transportation systems, and their availability in these over time. Four items that have not been simultaneously considered in previous research. The methodology is demonstrated by using it to estimate the vertical transportation demands for the construction of a 36-story high-rise reinforced concrete building. It is shown that the new process is faster and more accurate, and can be easily adjusted to account for changes.
The integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) with real-time data from the Internet of Things (IoT) devices presents a powerful paradigm for applications to improve construction and operational efficiencies. Connecting real-time data streams from the rapidly expanding set of IoT sensor networks to the high-fidelity BIM models provides numerous applications. However, BIM and IoT integration research are still in nascent stages, there is a need to understand the current situation of BIM and IoT device integration. This paper conducts a comprehensive review with the intent to identify common emerging areas of application and common design patterns in the approach to tackling BIM-IoT device integration along with an examination of current limitations and predictions of future research directions. Altogether, 97 papers from 14 AEC related journals and databases in other industry over the last decade were reviewed. Several prevalent domains of application namely Construction Operation and Monitoring, Health & Safety Management, Construction Logistic & Management, and Facility Management were identified. The authors summarized 5 integration methods with description, examples, and discussion. These integration methods are utilizing BIM tools' APIs and relational database, transform BIM data into a relational database using new data schema, create new query language, using semantic web technologies and hybrid approach. Based on the observed limitations, prominent future research directions are suggested, focusing on service-oriented architecture (SOA) patterns and web services-based strategies for BIM and IoT integration, establishing information integration & management standards, solving interoperability issue, and cloud computing.
This paper utilizes a systematic literature review methodology to identify the present focuses and discuss the future directions of decision-making in construction supply chain management (CSCM). The results show that, at present, the CSCM applications are still focusing on material and resources management with the internal supply chain (SC) integration. Strategic decisions related to building partnerships, IT-based planning and logistics-based planning are not conducted at the early phase of planning and design. For future trends in CSCM application, a framework is proposed to leverage the three important points: the collaborative planning and design with advanced techniques; the lean procurement with BIM and third-party logistics; and the application of Lean and BIM in construction operations and delivery. The original contribution of this paper is the attempt of identifying CSC decisions and suggests how they should be delivered during the phases of a construction project with the use of appropriate SC methods and tools.
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The construction industry structure resists the adoption of systemic innovations because they cross professional and trade specializations, break industry standards, and redefine how existing modules are produced or fit together. Prior research has identified that vertical and/or horizontal integration in the supply chain makes it far more likely that systemic innovations will be adopted. This paper identifies how nine specific supply chain integration practices (e.g., multiparty contracts, colocated project teams, and digital building information modeling) facilitate mechanisms of supply chain integration and increase the adoption of systemic innovation within the collaborative project delivery of complex projects.
This study investigates whether integrative and collaborative practices of the construction industry can be exclusively attributed to integrated project-delivery methods or whether traditional project-delivery methods also foster integration within project-based design teams. Project managers assessed team collaboration and the integration of teams into 46 construction industry projects in The Netherlands. Explanatory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify the components that explained collaboration and integration within project design teams. Using analysis of variance of factor scores, the main finding of the study was that, in the construction industry, collaboration is an independent component in integrative and collaborative practices that can be reliably assessed in research. Furthermore, this study provides evidence suggesting that both traditional and integrated project-delivery methods might lead to collaboration over time. The third finding is that different project-delivery methods were not significantly different in terms of the dimensions of integration and collaboration, except in the component of inclusive decision making within the building team and for strategic partnering. The findings suggest that relying on the type of project-delivery method is not sufficient for managers communicating about the level of supply chain integration and collaboration.
Presents a holistic approach to construction project SCM. Specifically, a seamless project supply chain management (SCM) model is proposed that integrates the design and production processes of construction projects. The proposed model was subjected to validation by a sample of industry practitioners and their comments are presented and reflected upon. Direction for future research is provided and such work aims to: explore the legalities of implementing the model; develop an appropriate benchmarking framework; explore the use of quality function development; and probity issues when selecting project team members.
The Supply Chain (SC) members are dependent on each other for resources and information, and this dependency has been increasing in recent times due to outsourcing, globalization and rapid innovations in information technologies. This increase in dependency brings some extent of risk and uncertainty too along with benefits. To meet these challenges, SC members must work towards a unified system and coordinate with each other. There is a need to identify the coordination mechanisms which helps in addressing the uncertainty in supply chain and achieving supply chain coordination.
A systematic literature review is presented in this paper to throw light on the importance of SC coordination. The objectives of this paper are to: Report and review various perspectives on SC coordination issues, understand and appreciate various mechanisms available for coordination and managing SC uncertainty and identify the gaps existing in the literature. Perspectives on various surrogate measures of supply chain coordination have been discussed followed by the scope for further research.
Participation in networks has nowadays become very important for any organization that strives to achieve a differentiated competitive advantage, especially if the company is small or medium sized. Collaboration is a key issue to rapidly answer market demands in a manufacturing company, through sharing competencies and resources. The collaborative networked organizations (CNO) area focuses on this type of organizational models that use ICT for supporting the development of collaborative business opportunities. This paper describes the key concepts related to CNOs, provides a high level classification of collaborative networks, and presents some application cases in the manufacturing industry. Finally a holistic research initiative addressing key challenges in the area is presented and a discussion of the CNO paradigm contribution to the challenges faced by manufacturing systems is made.
This paper presents a knowledge exchange framework that can leverage the interoperability among semantically heterogeneous learning objects. With the release of various e-Learning standards, learning contents and digital courses are easy to achieve cross-platform sharing, exchanging, and even reorganizing. However, knowledge sharing in semantic level is still a challenge due to that the learning materials can be presented in any form, such as audios, videos, web pages, and even flash files. The proposed knowledge exchange framework allows users to share their learning materials (also called “learning objects”) in semantic level automatically. This framework contains two methodologies: the first is a semantic mapping between knowledge bases (i.e. ontologies) which have essentially similar concepts, and the second is an ontology-based classification algorithm for sharable learning objects. The proposed algorithm adopts the IMS DRI standard and classifies the sharable learning objects from heterogeneous repositories into a local knowledge base by their inner meaning instead of keyword matching. Significance of this research lies in the semantic inferring rules for ontology mapping and learning objects classification as well as the full automatic processing and self-optimizing capability. Focused on digital learning materials and contrasted to other traditional technologies, the proposed approach has experimentally demonstrated significantly improvement in performance.
Design work and design knowledge in Information Systems (IS) is important
for both research and practice. Yet there has been comparatively
little critical attention paid to the problem of specifying design
theory so that it can be communicated, justified, and developed cumulatively.
In this essay we focus on the structural components or anatomy of
design theories in IS as a special class of theory. In doing so,
we aim to extend the work of Walls, Widemeyer and El Sawy (1992)
on the specification of information systems design theories (ISDT),
drawing on other streams of thought on design research and theory
to provide a basis for a more systematic and useable formulation
of these theories. We identify eight separate components of design
theories: (1) purpose and scope, (2) constructs, (3) principles of
form and function, (4) artifact mutability, (5) testable propositions,
(6) justificatory knowledge (kernel theories), (7) principles of
implementation, and (8) an expository instantiation. This specification
includes components missing in the Walls et al. adaptation of Dubin
(1978) and Simon (1969) and also addresses explicitly problems associated
with the role of instantiations and the specification of design theories
for methodologies and interventions as well as for products and applications.
The essay is significant as the unambiguous establishment of design
knowledge as theory gives a sounder base for arguments for the rigor
and legitimacy of IS as an applied discipline and for its continuing
progress. A craft can proceed with the copying of one example of
a design artifact by one artisan after another. A discipline cannot.