Lindén, S and Josephson, P E (2013) In-housing or out-sourcing on-site materials handling in housing? Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 11(1), pp. 90-106. ISSN 1726-0531
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discover whether on-site materials handling should be performed in-house or out-sourced. This is done by studying visible and hidden costs related to materials handling and of the managers' awareness of these costs. Design/methodology/approach: The data have been gathered through 15 interviews, a number of short discussions on construction sites, and direct observations on six occasions in four housing projects in Scandinavia. Findings: Indirect and waste costs for materials handling on construction sites are unknown and are often underestimated during budgeting, planning, scheduling and organizing construction projects. Practical implications: The short case-studies indicate that the benefits of out-sourcing on-site materials handling outweigh the costs. Originality/value: The solution for materials handling in practice studied in the paper is undergoing rapid development in Scandinavia.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction industries; construction projects; logistic support; materials management; Sweden |
| Index terms: | manager, scheduling, direct observation, methodology, Sweden, budgeting, construction site, housing project, housing, materials management, construction project, interview, construction industry |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, operations management, work location, research methods, financial management, practitioner, industry analysis, construction type, Geography, operations research, production management, housing and residential development |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Project Management, Construction Technology, Site Management, Roles and Professions, Time Control, Urban Studies, Business Strategy, Geographical Context |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here