Optimization of integrated construction supply chain and BIM-based logistics planning

Abstract

Improving the performances of logistics activities is an important reason for applying the concept of supply chain management in the construction industry. Based on the systematic literature review, we find the key decisions, which are presently focused on construction logistics and supply chain management. These decisions are identified for three main stages of a construction supply chain project: planning and design, procurement, and construction execution. In the scope of this thesis, we focus on logistics improvement for the construction projects; thus, decisions related to construction logistics are taken into account to model and optimize the construction supply chain operations. In order to achieve efficiency in construction logistics, the four decisions are commonly conducted: transportation, material purchasing and storage, site layout, and material handling. In this thesis, issues related to material transportation and material purchasing and storage are considered to model and optimize the integrated construction supply chain network with a Third-party logistics partnership, which minimizes the total supply chain costs, including transportation cost, material purchasing cost, and material storage cost. Meanwhile, site layout planning and material handling are concurrently considered to generate an efficient layout of temporary facilities in the construction site, which aims to minimize the material handling cost and maximize the adjacency score between the facilities. Based on the identified present focuses of decision making in construction logistics and supply chain management, we found that the development of supply chain integration in the construction industry has been limited and at a slower speed in comparison to that of other industrial sectors. Thus, we recommend the supply chain integration as a key factor for the efficiency in construction logistics. Besides the integration of relevant supply chain actors, it is also important to leverage the focal role of the supply chain driver acting as the coordinator for the construction logistics activities. In this thesis, the Third-party logistics partnership is proposed to achieve the supply chain integration in the construction logistics network. The integration of relevant actors is also important for construction operations. Building information modeling (BIM)-based platform is suggested to facilitate the collaboration of construction actors in the logistics execution. Third-party logistics partnership can be used as a strategic tool for improving construction site logistics since it supports the construction supply chain operations with the integration of relevant actors. Recently, the use of third-party logistics providers has been considered as a business opportunity for the construction industry where many problems in logistics management exist. This thesis presents an optimal decision-making model for construction supply chain operations with the Third-party logistics partnership, which promotes the role of Third-party logistics provider as the logistics coordinator. The proposed model aims to create an optimal logistics plan for material purchasing, transportation, and storage. The model has distinctive contributions since it supports the determination of the operational strategies for common tasks in construction supply chain management: supplier selection, determination of order quantity, and consideration of the efficiency in using Third-party logistics under the considerations of material types and uncertainties price, demand and supply. The model is especially useful for the construction owner and General contractor to consider the material procurement from remote suppliers who require large purchasing amounts to offer low prices and transportation costs. Using the numerical case example, we find that the proposed model performs better results in total supply chain cost in comparison with the construction supply chain model without Third-party logistics. This implies that the optimization model for the integrated construction supply chain operations with a Third-party logistics partnership can be used to improve the construction logistics performance and deal with the practical requirements of the current issues in the construction industry. This thesis also focuses on developing a hybrid site layout framework, which combines the two well-known approaches – mathematical and systematic layout planning – to generate the step-by-step procedure for site layout planning. Site layout planning needs the expertise from the relevant actors for the assessment of facility relationships or the selection of the best solutions. Meanwhile, mathematical techniques are necessary for the optimization of productive objectives in site layout planning. Therefore, it is suggested that knowledge-based techniques should be integrated with mathematical techniques to deal with site layout problems. It is also important to ensure the data correction and updating for site layout planning. It is suggested that advanced technologies, especially the BIM platform, should be used to facilitate the data provision and automation for the systematic site layout process. Hence, this thesis proposes a framework, which systematically integrates qualitative and quantitative data for dynamic site layout planning using a cloud-enabled BIM platform and the knowledge-based rules. The proposed framework takes advantage of emerging BIM technology to support quantitative data collection and sharing. Besides, the qualitative data are generated on the managers’ expertise through knowledge-based rules. All the data used for parameters in the site layout model are collected and processed in a systematic procedure, instead of being predetermined as in many previous studies. The validations show that the proposed framework performs better results in both terms of cost reduction and adjacency improvement. This implies that the hybrid approach, which integrates the mathematical and systematic site layout methods, can be used to create productive site layout plans.

Date	5 Mar 2020
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Amin Chaabane (Supervisor) & Thien-My Dao (Co-supervisor)