scholarly journals Appraisal of Process Mapping in Heavy Engineering Projects: A Case of Nigeria East-West Coastal Highway

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Samuel B. Ekung ◽  
Lashinde Adeniran ◽  
Emmanuel Adu

The need to improve project delivery process is one of the leading advocacies of relevant construction industry reports. Improved process is sine qua non for improve performance. Critical to the improvement process, is the need to assess construction process’ capability to meet design and production requirements. The present study examined process mapping of a cable-stayed bridge in the Nigeria’s east-west coastal highway project. Qualitative data was collected through a three phase process mapping protocol using mainly self-generate, one-on-one interview and focus group. Twenty non-related sub-processes were identified from four pre-construction stages: investigation; feasibility; design; and tender. Integrative definition (IDEFO) and Unified Language Modelling (UML) are used to map the feasibility, design and the design sub-processes. The mapping indicates the design sequence is iterative and factually flexible until such a point where functional design satisfies appropriate forcing test. The study provides medium for communicating complex construction functions thereby facilitating common understanding in the way projects are delivered with appropriate information about inputs, output and resources.

Author(s):  
Peter S. P. Wong ◽  
Luke Edmonson ◽  
Michael Phillip Kanellopoulos

Prefabrication has been widely adopted in the construction projects in recent years. It has also been advocated as a greener and more sustainable approach of project delivery. However, with a wealth of evidence supporting other reasons as the drivers of using prefabrication, it is questionable whether the real goal of prefabrication is to achieve sustainable construction. This study aims to investigate the roles of prefabrication in fostering sustainable construction. The effectiveness of prefabrication on fostering sustainable construction was evaluated on the five aspects enlisted by the UK’s Green Construction Board: Waste, Water, Carbon, Materials, and Biodiversity. An industry survey was conducted in Melbourne, Australia for data collection. 200 questionnaires were sent via email or post to a variety of fields within the construction industry. Entropy ranking analysis was adopted to analyze the effectiveness of using prefabrication in construction. The results suggest that prefabrication is effective in reducing construction waste and sourcing energy efficient materials. However, the utilization of prefabrication was found unsuccessful in reducing carbon emissions during the construction process. It is suggested that proactive actions should be taken at the design stage to unleash the potential of prefabrication in construction.


Author(s):  
Benedetta Bossi ◽  
Natale Massimo Minotti

The current competitive environment within the construction sector is increasingly difficult and challenging, leading all the main players to increase their focus and efforts upon procurement strategies and policies. Therefore, procurement practice is important in order to effectively perform and close out the construction process and meet stakeholders' needs. Starting from a deep analysis of procurement processes framed within the project life cycle, the research proposed the prequalification phase as a selection strategy necessary to identify the contractor. In order to select the project delivery system most suitable to the customer and the project to be developed, an operating procedure has been proposed, allowing who deals with procurement better ruling the purchasing processes. In the proposed procedure, each activity is defined through a general overview, the execution process and its tools. The outputs of the study are also sample documents and model forms that can be easily utilized assisting the procurement phase. Thus, since the procurement process has assumed increasing importance in the strategic planning of the construction industry, the aim of the research is to provide a prequalification method necessary to select the most suitable contractor before the tender, in order to reduce any risks during the entire construction process.


This study investigated the use of e-Procurement in selected construction firms in Oyo state, Nigeria. The data were derived using a well-structured questionnaire survey involving 104 respondents. Descriptive statistical and correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. Findings show that the use of electronic procurement in the selected construction firms for carrying out procurement function is high with majority of the professionals affirming the use of the system, the four categories of e-Procurement used were e-mail, static websites, web.2.0 technologies and portals that have capabilities of supporting the execution of functions limited to intra and inter firm communication and exchange of project information and data. Consequently, between 84 percent and 76 percent of the respondents used these e-Procurement technologies for communication of information, exchange of bill of quantities, project reports, CAD drawings and project specifications. Consequently, factors with the highest positive impacts on the use of these technologies in the firms were the speed of transactions, lower transaction cost and ease of use. The study implies that the selected construction firms in Oyo state Nigeria predominantly use e-mails and websites to support the execution of pre-award phase of construction procurement. Finding also shows that there is positive relationship between e-Procurement (e-Notifying, e-Exchange, and e-Submission of bid) and Project delivery. The study suggests that to accelerate the rate of uptake of e-Procurement and maximize its benefits in the Nigerian construction industry, there is a need to improve the quality and quantity of ICT infrastructure across the country; and to embark on aggressive enlightenment campaigns, training and skill development programs in the use of e-Procurement in the construction industry in this country.


2011 ◽  
Vol 243-249 ◽  
pp. 6339-6343
Author(s):  
Guang Bin Wang ◽  
Gui You He ◽  
Li Bian

Due to the great negative impact, the construction industry needs to undergo a paradigm shift from traditional construction to sustainable construction. To reach the goal of sustainable development, the construction industry needs to intensify its efforts to move to a knowledge intensive mode. Based on the analysis of e-Cognos and the concept of ontology, this paper proposes that e-Cognos ontology can be applied in the development of sustainable construction process ontology, which is a key part of knowledge management system (KMS). Following this, the application process of ontology-based KMS is analyzed using IDEF0 modeling method. Finally, this paper analyzes interorganizational collaboration model in sustainable project.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eziyi Offia Ibem ◽  
Michael Nwabueze Anosike ◽  
Dominic Ezenwa Azuh ◽  
Tim O. Mosaku

This study was undertaken to identify key stress factors among professionals in building construction industry in Nigeria. This is in view of the fact that to date, very little is known about work stress among professionals in building construction industry in this country. The study involved the administration of questionnaire to 107 professionals including architects, builders, civil/structural engineers and quantity surveyors randomly selected from 60 ongoing building projects in Anambra, Ogun and Kaduna States, Nigeria. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, and findings show that the principal sources of stress were high volume of work, uncomfortable site office environment, lack of feedback on previous and ongoing building projects, and variations in the scope of work in ongoing building projects. The paper suggests that taking responsibility for work which one has adequate capacity to handle, establishing realistic budgets and time frame for project delivery, provision of spatially adequate, visually and thermally comfortable site offices, adoption of appropriate job design practice and education of professionals on stress management strategies will reduce the incidence of stress among professionals in building industry in Nigeria. 


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Daddow ◽  
Martin Skitmore

Despite its obvious theoretical benefits, there has been some reservations regarding the practical implementation of Value Management (VM) for construction projects. In particular, these concerns the extra time and costs involved in conducting VM in relation to the actual benefits gained as a consequence of its use. This paper provides the result of an interview survey of the experiences and observations of 17 professionals working in the property and construction industry to establish the extent to which this is an issue. The main conclusion is that the process is working well, with VM being popular among those with experience in its use - which has been extended into the area of consultant selection. However, in contrast with the prescriptive literature, much of the participants' experiences appear to be more concerned with VM's contribution to the identification and management of the risks involved in project delivery than the straight value-for-money aspects. This may be due to the higher levels of uncertainty involved in construction work than in VM's original use in construction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 1672-1683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Kahvandi ◽  
Ehsan Saghatforoush ◽  
Ahad ZareRavasan ◽  
Christopher Preece

Huge financial resources are spent in the construction industry all over the world, which are frequently wasted largely due to a lack of proper planning. In recent decades, in an attempt to overcome challenges, various contractual and administrative systems have been used by construction owners/clients. One such system has been Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). Its implementation has, however, experienced drawbacks. Identifying such drawbacks is an initial step in attempting to resolve them, and this paper aims to identify and prioritize the IPD implementation drawbacks in the context of the Iranian construction industry. A comprehensive list of IPD implementation drawbacks is prepared using a questionnaire survey. An in-depth literature review of the IPD concept has been combined with a review of various case studies applying the IPD system. The results were analyzed using the Robust Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method. 22 drawbacks in the Construction Industry were categorized under four themes; contractual, environmental, managerial, and technical. Results show that contractual drawbacks are the most significant. The implication of this research is that identifying and classifying IPD implementation drawbacks provides a useful reference to managers and owners of the construction industry, for identifying and codifying solutions to overcome them.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-57
Author(s):  
Yasir Mohamed Hassan Amin ◽  
Mohamed Abdulla Nugdalla Ahmedi

Quality management is considered one of the most important obstacles facing the construction industry in Sudan. The application of a quality assessment system contributes to the development of quality in projects as it is possible to measure the quality in projects. This paper aims to introduce one of the quality assessment systems, which is the system followed and applied in the Singapore (CONQUAS). This system assesses quality based on structural, architectural, mechanical and electrical work. The paper also aims to study the factors affecting the application of the quality assessment system in Sudan. The study is carried out in the region of Khartoum. The study is focusing on the construction projects. The study is carried out by questionnaires and other literature review. The respondents are consultants and contractors. The data has been distributed and analyzed by using the Average Index. From the study it was found that CONQUAS standard is assessed the building based on workmanship standards by the assessors from the BCA on site using standard score sheets. The assessment is done throughout the construction process for structural, mechanical and electrical works, and from questionnaire results the main factors affect construction industry in Sudan is lack of standardization in Sudan. The author recommended that more study shall be conducted to identify factors affecting quality in Sudanese construction industry and how to improve the quality.  


Author(s):  
M. Reza Hosseini ◽  
Saeed Banihashemi ◽  
Fahimeh Zaeri ◽  
Alireza Adibfar

This chapter aims at introducing available cutting-edge methodologies applicable to construction activities. To this end, the chapter brings information about different cutting-edge methodologies under one cover. The content of the chapter is designed for readers who might not be specialists in ICT-oriented techniques while working within any domain of the construction industry. In the classroom, this chapter could be a supplementary source for courses on information systems in construction or lean project delivery.


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