Sungkon Moon

Dynamic Control of Construction Supply Chain to Improve Labor Performance

AbstractOne of the critical tasks in the construction industry is to accomplish the required levels of quality. In considering the quality as a managerial target, former methodologies stipulated that the ultimate goal should be focused on final quality. However, with the advent of total quality management, the dynamic approach began to grab the attention of the research field. The goal of this research is to present a proactive concept of quality control that is holistic in nature, defining quality as a function of process waste generated along the construction supply chain. To verify the proposed method, the field testing in this paper discusses the prefabricated rebar supply system of an actual construction site in Kensington, New South Wales, Australia. The high quality of rebar supply ensured by the master-bundle concept enabled the steel fixers to increase their productive time from 31.5 to 77.4%. As expected, this radical change was accompanied by a drastic reduction of process waste from 45.5 to 6....

Discrete Firefly Algorithm for Scaffolding Construction Scheduling

Scaffolding activities involve a considerable amount of resource input and effort, particularly in very large scale and complex projects. Based on one of the present research gaps identified from literature review that very limited research emphasis has been placed on the impact of design of time-cost optimization in modular scaffolding construction process, this study aims to formulate a feasible multiobject discrete firefly algorithm (MDFA) for optimizing scaffolding project resource and scheduling schemes. The proposed MDFA has been tested under a scaffolding-specific case and a generic construction project case and manifested that it can produce accurate and effective solutions to assist scaffolding planners in developing practical project schedules and addressing complex time-cost trade-off challenges.

Productivity Study of the Scaffolding Operations in Liquefied Natural Gas Plant Construction: Ichthys Project in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

AbstractNatural gas usage has increased steadily over the past decades, in line with society’s demands for this resource. In turn, allied industries face the challenge of meeting construction needs for required structures, including product facilities, pipe lines, on/offshore platforms, and marine jetties. Subsequently, these structures require huge amounts of scaffolding to facilitate their construction and maintenance. As such, this research project focused on the opportunity for the civil/construction discipline to cooperate with natural gas facility construction, more specifically productivity studies on their scaffolding operations. The productivity study in this paper presents an investigation of the effect of resource configurations on on-site measures during a scaffolding operation on an actual liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant construction, which, in turn, aims for the continuous improvement of relevant worker performance. The discussion details the quantified effect of different scaffold logisti...

Process-waste reduction in the construction supply chain using proactive information network

Construction projects require the generation and communication of an ever-larger amount of information. Unfortunately, present project organisations do not foster proactive approaches to preventing costly production waste derived from communication problems. To address this, the effective exchange of information needs to be performed across all different parties, as the construction project commonly includes concurrent progresses along its supply chain. This article proposes a new concept that integrates feed-forward control with the principle of network science. Referred to as supply-chain information network, it aims to comprehend the correlations within a sequenced supply chain network, in order to identify the critical communication links supporting a preventive control. Its effectiveness was verified by applying the model to an actual case: the rebar supply chain from a multi-story building in Sydney, NSW, Australia. The analysis recognised four problematical players in the supply chain: (1) rebar factory linemen, (2) radio crew, (3) senior steel fixers and (4) steel fixers, based on four centrality measurements. Consequently, the experimental data confirm the hypothesis that proactive management of the supply chain will produce drastic improvements, achieving up to 23.3% reduction in waste time during placement. The relevance of this research lies in the operational introduction of network science to the construction supply chain, and its proactive culture resulted in significant improvements of process performance. In addition, the developed communication backbone suggests an actualised test bed of concurrent information exchanges that tried to escape the spatiotemporal limitation in a chained attribute in the construction industry.

Dynamic Quality Control of Process Resource to Improve Concrete Supply Chain

AbstractThe latest literature on quality management in the construction industry asserts that it has not been embraced as a holistic approach to improve overall performance. It is felt that managem...

Holonic Construction Management: Unified Framework for ICT-Supported Process Control

AbstractCommunication in construction still depends on a communication network much like the Romans used, face-to-face meetings and paper. Not surprisingly, this situation has been identified as an inhibitor to increasing productivity and a source of miscommunication, rework, and avoidable accidents. This paper will present a holonic construction management (HCM) model allowing the inclusion of multitype holons organized in resource clusters as well as “flowing” construction material carrying with it critical information. HCM was successfully tested to provide smooth interface between five different types of holons: (1)xa0equipment, (2)xa0human laborer/operator, (3)xa0material, (4)xa0three-dimensional (3D) space, and (5)xa0information/supply logistics. Results also illustrate the potential of the HCM to integrate the many information and communication technology (ICT) applications into a resilient construction environment where electronic designs are turned into physical products. The results of initial site observ...

RFID-Aided Tracking System to Improve Work Efficiency of Scaffold Supplier: Stock Management in Australasian Supply Chain

The potential benefits of applied radio-frequency identification (RFID)-aided systems have been studied by many construction research projects. After reviewing previous works, this paper presents a self-developed system with the focus of a specific case in Australia. The system enables efficient material tracking, aiming for productivity improvement in the case. Initial site observations confirmed the need for an object-oriented material tracking system based on the principles of lean thinking and logistics qualities. Subsequently, a system was designed to activate a proposed method for optimizing material management during the supplier phase of the mega construction project. The experiments in this paper finally present two main streams: (1) performance testing of the system; and (2) productivity measure. As a result of performance testing, the tracking system was successful in locating the distributed 23 tags within an average range of 3.40 m. Supported by this system, the field productivity measurements consisting of four trailer-loading works (two lead and two tail trailers) quantified the feasible benefit of its application. The RFID-aided system facilitated the improvement of work performance, resulting in 10.14 (lead) and 11.80% (tail) productivity improvement. This research project therefore validated the benefits of RFID application in a construction supply chain by measuring its true value via the productivity improvements.

Developing and laboratory testing a smart system for automated falsework inspection in construction

AbstractThe procedure of falsework inspection has the potential for improvements in accuracy and time efficiency. The current process of inspection is often time-consuming and there is a potential ...

Case study on subcontracting arrangements in the scaffolding supply chain of a Liquefied Natural Gas infrastructure project

AbstractThe objective of the study presented in this paper is to determine the characteristics of the scaffolding supply chain in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure project. This research is significant as the outsourcing of scaffolding is integral to its use and productivity toward LNG infrastructure project completion. As such, this paper presents the research undertaken on the subcontracting of scaffold manufacturing, supplying and delivering. It focuses upon the organisations, management and control in scaffolding subcontracting. A comparative analysis of three organisations was carried out to reveal issues with current practice in manufacturing, supplying and delivering scaffold products for assembly onsite. Their management and control approaches are also compared and contrasted. It is found that, while the divided contract approach may help save costs, enhance market exposure and is ideal when choice of subcontractor is limited, its risks can impact upon the entire project and be difficul...