Re-engineering the UK private house building supply chain

The UK private house building industry suffers, like the rest of the construction industry, from any problems and performance needs to be greatly improved for survival. The housing industry is still very traditional with adversarial relationships, a focus on costs (and not on value) and a functional silo approach. However, it also benefits from repeat processes and an establishment supply chain (SC). The aim of this thesis is to test if supply chain management (SCM) principles can be utilised in the UK private housing industry and then to analyse the effect it has on performance. The performance measures used combine SCM, housing specific and system dynamics criteria, particularly focusing on demand amplification. The research analyses three different SC for the main material categories necessary for the construction of houses: house shell, high-value fit-out and low-value fit-out SC. A case study approach is used in the context of action-based research. A system dynamics model has been utilised to assess the dynamic performance of several different scenarios utilising different SCM principles. The impact on performance of each strategy is analysed to understand the implications of implementing specific SCM principles. It is concluded that the education of the supplier base and the centralisation of supply greatly improved the performance. The reduction in manufacturing lead-times proves to be beneficial especially from a dynamic point of view. A change in technology not only has SC advantages but also has quality, speed of assembly on site, labour and cash flow implications. The compression of ordering cycle time and construction time reduce the total SC inventory costs by 20% and the amount of labour required by 49%. Finally, it is shown that several different SCM principles can be implemented in the housing industry, and these principles can improve the overall performance of the UK private housing industry.