Marton Marosszeky

Managing subcontractor supply chain for quality in construction

Purpose – To provide a decision support tool for long‐term management of subcontractor supply chain for achieving better quality in construction.Design/methodology/approach – Defects on three construction projects are investigated through direct observation, document analysis, and interviews. A method to analyse and present defects information as an aid to decision making in relation to subcontractor supply chain management is proposed, and its application is illustrated by using the information obtained from the study.Findings – The importance of managing the subcontractor supply chain to reduce the incidence of defects is established. The nature and extent of the defects, along with what caused them, are discussed. Method for conversion of raw data into a decision support tool is presented.Research limitations/implications – The data collection method was limited in that it was not based on continuous full‐time observation. Such presence by independent observers for full duration of the project would pr...

Towards total project quality – a review of research needs

The focus of quality management (QM) in the construction industry, and its literature, has been on during construction and on product quality. The construction phase represents the final step in the construction procurement process, however it is the outcome of the previous stages of analysis, planning and design and represents but a small fraction of the overall cost and value that is created in the construction and use of buildings and built infrastructure. In other industry sectors and through the international quality movement, the focus in QM has moved to total quality. This is reflected internationally in the criteria for quality awards in which product quality represents only some 20 per cent of the total score for an enterprise. This paper briefly reviews the development of the quality movement and its application within the construction sector and suggests a broader scope for the application of quality concepts within the procurement process from a whole‐of‐life perspective. Identifies also areas which require further research.

Reengineering the Supply Chain Using Collaborative Technology: Opportunities and Barriers to Change in the Building and Construction Industry

Inter-organizational collaborative technologies provide potential competitive benefits based on time and cost advantages and value addition, especially when combined with supply chain reengineering. The building and construction industry would appear to be an ideal candidate for such IT-enabled reengineering because operations and project delivery are primarily organized around networks of collaborating organizations. This qualitative study of the Australian building and construction industry, however, finds a very low level of IT adoption. In explaining this phenomenon, we identify industry-level conditions as important factors influencing the low level of IT-based collaboration and suggest industry-level interventions which could stimulate both IT adoption and associated supply chain reengineering.

Head contractor role in construction value‐based management

Purpose – Value in construction is defined in so many ways and used to mean many different things, often linked to cost, time, objectives and customers that there exists no concise and complete description of what constitutes value within a construction context. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to study the current perceptions of value by the construction players and compare with emerging theories of value in the literature.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence of prevailing perceptions of value within the support role provided by the head contractor (HC) to the subcontractors (SCs) is presented based on two years of action research on six construction sites in Sydney, Australia.Findings – The results show that value management during the construction phase is currently understood as intrinsic to other HC functions. The paper presents a list of activities identified by HCs and SCs as key support services to be performed by the HC to enable efficient progression of construction.Research limit...