Donyavi, S and Flanagan, R (2009) The impact of effective material management on construction site performance for small and medium sized construction enterprises. In: Dainty, A R J (ed.) Proceedings of 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a large part of the construction sector. Large companies have the capacity and capability to use sophisticated information technology and management technology to control the labour and materials on projects. SMEs need help to implement control systems for labour and material that will improve performance on site. The research involves investigation of the impact of effective material management for SMEs on construction sites. Consideration is given to materials' flow through the supply chain up to installation on site. Materials can represent up to 70% of the project construction cost, hence any ways to reduce wastage and improve productivity will have major cost and time benefits. Now technologies can help in the management of materials flow and benefit contractors with lower costs and clients lower prices. The aim of this paper is to describe how SMEs can improve their performance in materials management, to reduce their costs, and to improve the project delivery. Case study and interview has been used as the research method to develop the ideas in this paper.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | materials management; planning; productivity; supply chain; technology |
| Index terms: | productivity, construction site, small and medium sized enterprise, construction cost, interview, case study, construction sector, materials flow, project delivery, materials management, information technology, control system, investigation |
| Subjects: | computing systems, organization, data collection methods, project delivery, financial and cost management, operations management, work location, material science and engineering, monitoring and control, management, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Site Management, Research Practice, Construction Materials, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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