Abstract
During the past six years Ireland suffered a catastrophic economic reverse that impacted disproportionately on the construction industry, leading to a circa 80% reduction in output. The results of this have been bankruptcy, unemployment and bad debt. The changed environment has spurred the contractors to attach ever greater emphasis to production efficiency and cost reduction as a means of survival. An Action Research (AR) approach was used in this research to focus on improving the strategies adopted by a SME contractor for the control of defects in its supply chain. It is conservatively estimated in the literature that rework typically accounts for circa 5% of total project costs. Such activity is clearly wasteful and presents an obvious target to address. The AR intervention is at the diagnosing stage and involved examination of work on a pilot site, analysis of contract documents, including drawings, snag lists and specifications and semi-structured interviews with supply chain members. The results indicate the potential for the supply chain participants to both identify the root cause of defects and propose solutions, in terms of best practice to avoid future reoccurrence. Another key finding was the lack of any collaborative forums to contribute to production improvement and cost reduction. Additionally the processes, used to collect, manage and disseminate data on defects were found to be unstructured and uncoordinated, indicating scope for development of more useful methods. The research indicates good understanding of the potential benefits for supply chain collaboration but suggests the tools and knowledge to collaborate are currently lacking in the Irish SME sector.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings 29th Annual Association of Researchers in Construction Management Conference, ARCOM 2013 |
| Editors | Simon. D Smith, Dominic. D Ahiaga-Dagbui |
| Publisher | Association of Researchers in Construction Management |
| Pages | 503-512 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780955239076 |
| Publication status | Published - Sep 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | 29th Annual Association of Researchers in Construction Management Conference - Reading, United Kingdom Duration: 2 Sep 2013 → 4 Sep 2013 Conference number: 29 |
Conference
| Conference | 29th Annual Association of Researchers in Construction Management Conference |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ARCOM 2013 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| City | Reading |
| Period | 2/09/13 → 4/09/13 |
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The Role of the Supply Chain in Elimination and Reduction of Construction Rework and Defects : An Action Research Approach. / Taggart, Martin; Koskela, Lauri; Rooke, John.
Proceedings 29th Annual Association of Researchers in Construction Management Conference, ARCOM 2013. ed. / Simon. D Smith; Dominic. D Ahiaga-Dagbui. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 2013. p. 503-512.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
TY - GEN
T1 - The Role of the Supply Chain in Elimination and Reduction of Construction Rework and Defects
T2 - An Action Research Approach
AU - Taggart, Martin
AU - Koskela, Lauri
AU - Rooke, John
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - During the past six years Ireland suffered a catastrophic economic reverse that impacted disproportionately on the construction industry, leading to a circa 80% reduction in output. The results of this have been bankruptcy, unemployment and bad debt. The changed environment has spurred the contractors to attach ever greater emphasis to production efficiency and cost reduction as a means of survival. An Action Research (AR) approach was used in this research to focus on improving the strategies adopted by a SME contractor for the control of defects in its supply chain. It is conservatively estimated in the literature that rework typically accounts for circa 5% of total project costs. Such activity is clearly wasteful and presents an obvious target to address. The AR intervention is at the diagnosing stage and involved examination of work on a pilot site, analysis of contract documents, including drawings, snag lists and specifications and semi-structured interviews with supply chain members. The results indicate the potential for the supply chain participants to both identify the root cause of defects and propose solutions, in terms of best practice to avoid future reoccurrence. Another key finding was the lack of any collaborative forums to contribute to production improvement and cost reduction. Additionally the processes, used to collect, manage and disseminate data on defects were found to be unstructured and uncoordinated, indicating scope for development of more useful methods. The research indicates good understanding of the potential benefits for supply chain collaboration but suggests the tools and knowledge to collaborate are currently lacking in the Irish SME sector.
AB - During the past six years Ireland suffered a catastrophic economic reverse that impacted disproportionately on the construction industry, leading to a circa 80% reduction in output. The results of this have been bankruptcy, unemployment and bad debt. The changed environment has spurred the contractors to attach ever greater emphasis to production efficiency and cost reduction as a means of survival. An Action Research (AR) approach was used in this research to focus on improving the strategies adopted by a SME contractor for the control of defects in its supply chain. It is conservatively estimated in the literature that rework typically accounts for circa 5% of total project costs. Such activity is clearly wasteful and presents an obvious target to address. The AR intervention is at the diagnosing stage and involved examination of work on a pilot site, analysis of contract documents, including drawings, snag lists and specifications and semi-structured interviews with supply chain members. The results indicate the potential for the supply chain participants to both identify the root cause of defects and propose solutions, in terms of best practice to avoid future reoccurrence. Another key finding was the lack of any collaborative forums to contribute to production improvement and cost reduction. Additionally the processes, used to collect, manage and disseminate data on defects were found to be unstructured and uncoordinated, indicating scope for development of more useful methods. The research indicates good understanding of the potential benefits for supply chain collaboration but suggests the tools and knowledge to collaborate are currently lacking in the Irish SME sector.
KW - Action research
KW - Defect
KW - Rework
KW - Supply chain management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84981365824&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.arcom.ac.uk/
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84981365824
SP - 503
EP - 512
BT - Proceedings 29th Annual Association of Researchers in Construction Management Conference, ARCOM 2013
A2 - Smith, Simon. D
A2 - Ahiaga-Dagbui, Dominic. D
PB - Association of Researchers in Construction Management
ER -