Rasdorf, W J and Herbert, M J (1990) Bar coding in construction engineering. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 116(2), pp. 261-280. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Automated inventory control has been used for many years in such industries as manufacturing, automotive, and retail grocery. These industries have recognized technologies such as bar coding, magnetic stripe, optical character recognition, and radio frequency as viable solutions to the information and production control problems they encounter. This paper presents a construction information management system (CIMS) for the control of information used by project management. This system successfully transfers a resource identification and tracking (RIT) technology, namely bar coding, from a manufacturing environment to control data acquisition needs for construction. In addition, CIMS integrates scheduling, inventory, cost, and document control application programs with a central data base management system (DBMS) using stand-alone software, a DBMS programming language, and a spreadsheet. An introduction to the objectives and unique contribution of CIMS is presented, along with a review of other related construction industry research. The information needs of construction engineering are reviewed to determine how a system such as CIMS can satisfy those needs. A generic system architecture is described, and an implementation of the architecture is presented.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | inventory, spreadsheet, production control, data base management system, construction engineering, project management, data acquisition, construction industry, implementation, management system, radio frequency, scheduling, programming, program, system architecture |
| Subjects: | project delivery, contractual arrangements, data science, operations research, communication, programming, design theory, data collection methods, industry analysis, data management, project management theory and practice, inventory management, software systems, engineering methods, management |
| Topics: | Supply Chain Management, Digital Applications, Time Control, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Procurement |
| 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