Prioritizing actions to mitigate causes of material waste in construction using quality function deployment

Material waste in construction projects remains a significant issue, leading to increased costs, environmental impacts, and inefficiencies. This study addressed this challenge by developing a structured decision-support approach to prioritize actions to mitigate material waste aligned with the unique conditions of each construction site. Causes and mitigation actions were initially identified through a literature review, expert interviews, and a survey analysis. Next, principal component analysis simplified the dataset's complexity by grouping related causes and mitigation actions into distinct categories. These categories served as the structured inputs for the quality function deployment (QFD) model. Mitigation actions were then prioritized using this model, with the results validated by experts to assess the method's appropriateness for material wastage. The study effectively introduced a process to prioritize the mitigation actions, aligning with identified causes and other actions. Additionally, a set of causes and actions was identified in this study. Major causes included fire and explosion incidents, defective materials, and material theft. Key actions were efficient project planning, accurate material management, and the implementation of comprehensive storage and handling procedures. Construction process supervision emerged as the highest priority, while reuse and recycling promotion, although ranked the lowest, remained significant. This study introduced a systematic approach to prioritize actions that address root causes and assess the impact of each action on others, providing practical, cascading solutions to site-specific challenges. In addition, by conducting the research within the context of Vietnam, this study further demonstrated the applicability of this methodological framework in developing economies with similar construction environments.