Construction supply chain planning: the value of collaboration and integration

Abstract

In the construction sector, improving logistics efficiency is essential to implement supply chain management (SCM). Based on the literature review, we found the main decisions currently focused on construction logistics and SCM. These decisions are defined for three critical phases of a supply chain project: preparation, planning and design, procurement, and execution. This thesis focuses on developing logistics in construction while considering decisions making to construction logistics for modeling and making the best use of supply chain processes in the construction industry. A systematic literature review methodology is utilized to identify the present focuses and discuss future decision-making directions in construction supply chain management (CSCM). The results show that, at present, the CSCM applications are still focusing on material and resources management with the internal supply chain (SC) integration. Strategic decisions related to building partnerships, IT-based planning, and logistics-based planning are not conducted at the early planning and design phase. For future CSCM application trends, a framework is proposed to leverage the three essential points, the collaborative planning and design with advanced techniques, procurement, and construction and delivery of the project. Besides, Academic and practitioners’ interest in Construction Supply Chain Management (CSCM) has increased recently with the theoretical development and implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM provides an advanced construction project design, but it assists stakeholders in the management of the construction supply chain (CSC). Inventory management is one of the essential pillars of CSCM. To consolidate, evaluate and develop the scope of future research opportunities by identifying research gaps in this field, the main objective of this chapter is: First, it offers a literature review on inventory management in the context of the CSC. Second, it provides a conceptual framework map and consolidates the research in this field, composed of three parts. The first one is related to the nature of data and information necessary to implement efficient inventory policies. The second is associated with the extended collaboration between CSC stakeholders for inventory optimization in CSC. Finally, the third part relates to the uncertainty and risks to obtain realistic and applicable inventory policies. The review chapter is useful for both practitioners in CSCM and academics as it outlines the diverse knowledge of research in this area. Therefore, we propose an integrated model for collaborative construction supply chain (CSC) planning that deals with the integrated problem of project scheduling and material ordering. The main objective is to achieve more coordination and, therefore, to reduce the total cost of the CSC. More specifically, we consider a two-echelon CSC composed of a manufacturer, a warehouse, and multiple construction sites where multiple independent construction projects are planned. The projects need various materials provided by the same manufacturer with a limited capacity. The starting time of each activity is subject to the availability of materials in the construction sites. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is proposed to reduce the total SC costs while collaboration between contractors is possible. The model was implemented using the IBM ILOG CPLEX Optimization Studio. The proposed model is analyzed through a numerical study to show the benefits of collaborative planning in construction project management. The decision model also helps find practical construction projects’ sequences and suitable materials ordering, manufacturing, and inventories plans for SC participants.

Date	11 Jan 2021
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Amin Chaabane (Supervisor) & Thien-My Dao (Co-supervisor)