Bhargav Dave

ViBR Conceptualising a Virtual Big Room through the Framework of People, Processes and Technology

The “Big Room” in construction refers to a large facility supporting the colocation of the entire project team, where some of the critical problems such as delays in decision-making, problems in communication, disparity in design iterations are eliminated, and trust is increased. However, one of the most demanding aspects of this concept is the almost constant presence of the project participants, which may be difficult for small or medium projects. We therefore propose “Virtual Big Room”, where the concept of collocation of workers will be deployed through virtual technologies. A combination of product and process modelling techniques along with communication and social network tools are proposed to develop the proposed platform that will integrate the entire supply chain through the project lifecycle (i.e. design, construction, handover).

Business process management – a construction case study

Purpose This paper aims to demonstrate the need for a structured business process improvement effort needed while restructuring organisational processes within a construction company. Through the longitudinal study, the study also highlights the importance of a continuous improvement initiative to sustain such an improvement effort. Design/methodology/approach The research followed an action research and the case study approach using semi-structured interviews and group workshops within the case organisation. Overall, six departments were analysed, 35 interviews with senior and middle managers were conducted, existing business process documents were studied and processes were documented. The data were compiled using a process modelling software and Business Process Markup Notation methodology. Additionally, a longitudinal analysis following the completion of process modelling exercise was carried out over a period of eight years. Findings The overall study highlights the importance of business process management (BPM) for construction organisations. The case study also demonstrated that even smaller business units and its processes affected the overall value chain in a major way and the importance to analyse the process interdependencies between organisational units. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of the research was that it is based on a single-case-study company based in the UK. More research is needed with other organisations with different work practices and culture and geographic location. Practical implications Primarily, the research outlines specific steps taken during a structured process improvement exercise in a construction company, including procedures for collecting data, developing process maps and analysis of data. The longitudinal study highlights the challenges in sustaining such an initiative. For practitioners, strengths and weaknesses of various process improvement methods and a detailed description of a BPM implementation can be used as a guideline for future projects. From a research point of view, the paper highlights the need for deeper and long-term analysis of such initiatives and the importance of immersion of researchers within the environment. Originality/value The paper provides deeper insights into the structured process improvement exercise within a construction company. Second and more importantly, the longitudinal study is one of its kind in the construction industry to shed light on the factors affecting sustainability of such initiatives.

Development of Systematic Construction Logistics Using ‘Intelligent Products’

A cost-effective transfer of materials and tools from supplier location to construction site along with efficient information flow is defined as systematic construction logistics. Development of appropriate IT mechanisms plays an essential role for simplified production planning and elimination of wastes from broken resource. The contribution of this study in construction supply chain is to design and develop an innovative logistics management framework using context-aware and autonomous product centric system. More specifically, the proposed framework is responsive to real-world circumstances by demonstration of autonomous behaviour, and support several lean principles to improve resource and information flows. This paper addresses (i) an innovative solution for overcoming the construction logistics information flow challenges based on the intelligent product concept, (ii) a requirement analysis phase using “Quality Function Deployment” to turn the product requirements into technical specifications and (iii) implementation of a logistics management framework prototype to develop a first proof-of-concept.

Developing a Campus Wide Building Information System Based on Open Standards

University campuses can significantly benefit from IoT technologies, especially from operational efficiencies and user experience perspective. Traditionally, such systems have been limited to lab based environments, where involvement of end-users is limited and the results may not reflect reality. To build IoT systems for real-world that are reliable and relevant, it is important to build experiments in real-world conditions and involve end-users. From technological perspective, there is a need for convergence of diverse fields ranging from Building Information Systems and Building Services to Building Automation Systems, IoT devices and finally the campus services that include academic and research activities.This paper outlines the efforts to develop a campus wide web based system called Otaniemi3D that provides information about energy usage, occupancy and user comfort by integrating Building Information Models and IoT devices through open messaging standards (O-MI and O-DF) and IFC models. The paper describes the design criteria and the system architecture and the workflow to generate the information needed to develop such a system.

On epistemology of construction engineering and management

In philosophy of science, there have been two different starting points for epistemology: Platonism and Aristotelianism. These two alternative starting points have played a major role also in the formation of fundamental ideas of engineering and management generally as well as in relation to construction. It is contended that an overly Platonic influence on engineering and management has created a number of problems. For solving these problems, beyond mere patching, a more balanced take on Platonism and Aristotelianism is needed.