Hans Wamelink

The interdependences of BIM and supply chain partnering: Empirical explorations

ABSTRACT Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology and the concept of supply chain management (SCM) could be a potentially compatible and mutually interdependent practice. The existing research on BIM focuses on improving project-based and intra-organisational goals, ignoring the impact of BIM on existing structured long-term Supply Chain (SC) partnerships. The purpose of this study is to explore the interdependences of BIM and cross-project long-term inter-organisational teams. Five projects in the Netherlands, with BIM and SCM implementation, were analysed empirically using case study methods, including interviews, documents analysis and live observations. The BIM-enabled SC partnerships adopted various SCM practices and displayed distinct BIM collaboration patterns. This exploration revealed three main patterns of BIM-based collaboration, that is, ad-hoc, linear and distributed, in the SC partnerships. The three patterns included various quasi-contractual, physical and digital means for BIM collaboration. The study suggests implications about BIM researchers and practitioners for not only implementing BIM, but also further integrating the construction SC.

Supply chain integration with BIM: a graph-based model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology to integrate the construction Supply Chain (SC) through the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM). It features a renovation case as a proof-of-concept. Design/methodology/approach – After analyzing the relevant gaps in the literature, the research followed a modeling approach. The proposed model merged product-, process- and organizational models in a graph-based model to represent and analyze a BIM-based SCM project. Findings – Presently, the information flows of the construction SC are vague. BIM is an aspiring integrator of information flows for construction. The proposed model for SC integration with BIM, offers an approach to identify the project complexities in relation to organizational structures, roles and interactions and integrate the industry. Practical implications – Currently BIM-enabled SCM is not very widely applied in the industry. However, the authors report the increasing inter...

Formal and informal relations within BIM-enabled supply chain partnerships

Abstract Supply chain management (SCM) and building information modelling (BIM) are innovations that focus on integration. Recent literature suggests performance benefits from combining these innovations. Within supply chain (SC) partnerships, that use BIM – hereinafter called BIM-enabled SC partnerships – various formal and informal dimensions influence the inter-organizational relations. To understand such partnerships, a mixed method approach featuring case studies and social networks analysis (SNA) was deployed. SNA was an analytic approach to explore the complex relations within two Dutch BIM-enabled projects. The inter-organizational relations were asymmetrical and formal in Case A, emphasizing transactions, whereas in Case B, they were asymmetrical and informal, emphasizing relations. The transactional-oriented partnership had greater control over contractual issues, but their formal relations were not sufficient for diffusing BIM-related knowledge across the chain. Conversely, the relational-oriented partnership engaged the partners in BIM by informal means, e.g. dense communication and BIM-related peer-learning across all tiers. Symmetric and jointly fostered formal and informal relations contribute to SC integration. The study extends the knowledge base of SCM and BIM, by offering real-world data on their combination. Besides providing new insights into SNA deployment for BIM-related research, it also offers a novel constructivist and inter-organizational perspective on the old concept of SCM.

Inter- and intra-organizational conditions for supply chain integration with BIM

ABSTRACT 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.