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Example Pipe Supports (modified from Pipe Supports Limited Inc. http://www.pipesupports.com visited on 02/26/02)
Source publication
Many construction inefficiencies are due to supply-chain (SC) problems that occur at the interface between processes or disciplines. This paper illustrates such problems by describing a case study on the supply of pipe supports used in power plants. Pipe supports often arrive late at the construction site because their design tends to be pushed tow...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... pipe supports represent the interface between the building structural system and the piping systems, which interact with the location of equipment and vessels in the plant. Examples of pipe supports are constants (labeled 'A' in Figure 1) and variable springs (B), dynamic supports (or snubbers) (D), slide bearings (F), isolated supports (G, H), and pipe shoes (pieces of pipe that transfer gravity loads to a structure underneath the pipe). ...
Context 2
... main parts can be distinguished in a pipe support: the device which itself is called a pipe support, the steel attachments (labeled 'E' in Figure 1) used to connect the pipe support device with the building structural system, and the complementary hardware ('C'=pipe clamps and ancillary equipment; 'I'= turnbuckle) that connects the pipe support device with the steel attachment. The combination of these components represents a pipe support as described in this paper. ...
Citations
... Construction supply chains have been studied by several authors including Vrijhoef and Koskela (2000), who presented four roles for SCM, Arbulu and Tommelein (2002), who studied the supply of pipe supports used in power plants, Akel et al. (2001), who studied practices of parametric product design, vertical integration, and Lean construction in a pre-engineered metal building company, and Souza and Koskela (2013), who proposed a set of contextualized practices for improving construction SCM. Construction supply chains are arguably among the most complex supply chains to study and manage due to several factors, including (1) the temporary nature of projects, (2) the large number of stakeholders, (3) the wide variety of products and services, (4) the need for customization of products (e.g., Engineered-to-Order or ETO products) (5) long lead times, (6) disruptions caused by the existence of global supply chains, (7) regulations, codes, and standards, and (8) market volatility. ...
How well production systems and their supply chains are designed, configured, and managed affects the delivery of construction projects. Industrialized Construction (IC) and mass timber present a shift from traditional project delivery: they are reshaping existing supply chains and creating new ones within the construction industry. The rapidly increasing number of mass timber projects in North America and the emergence of mass timber supply chains bring the need to study and seek ways to design and improve the production systems that deliver customer value by means of such projects. Accordingly, this paper presents an exploratory case study that describes the characteristics of the mass timber supply chain in North America and the major steps in the process of designing and delivering a mass timber structural system for a multi-story residential building. In addition, we present a list of recommendations for designing and delivering mass timber systems.
... To augment the data collected through interviews, the researchers also reviewed the technical and trade literature for information available on the World Wide Web. Cross-functional maps, value stream maps and computer simulations were used to capture and analyze project data, and to develop understanding of the causality of more complex supply chain behaviors (i.e.,[1] and [2]). [3]) it is later recognized as an additional source of waste: @BULLET Design of goods and services that fail to meet the user's needs After tracing the history of various schools of thought in production management and while searching for a theory of construction, (i.e., [4] and [5]) forwarded an integrated view of production, the so-called transformation, flow and value (TFV) theory. ...
... Supply chain control in construction generally comprises a group of companies and individuals working collaboratively in a supply network of interrelated processes or activities designed to effectively satisfy end-customer needs while rewarding all members of the supply chain (Arbulu and Tommelein, 2002). Supply chain control in construction is recognized to improve information flow, save costs, and support revenue-enhancing business strategy. ...
... Presumably generality cannot be obtained at a more detailed level, but this could be the consequence of lack of theoretical understanding. The study of a precast pile production system, as described here, relates to lean construction studies that illustrate how competitive advantage in the construction industry may be achieved by identifying opportunities for lead-time reduction in engineered-toorder products (e.g., Ballard 2001, Ballard et al. 2003, Arbulu and Tommelein 2002, Elfving 2003, Tommelein and Ballard 2005). Lean construction tools and techniques, such as understanding interacting sub-cycles (Howell et al. 1993), designing construction operations using first-run studies (Howell and Ballard 1999), standardizing products, using tight real-time process feedback loops (Tommelein 1998), and strategic positioning of buffers and batch sizing (Alves and Tommelein 2004, Walsh et al. 2004) apply when looking for system improvements in the delivery of precast piles. ...
This paper presents a study on the use of pre-stressed precast foundation piles using data collected on a building project that comprised the installation of more than 340 piles. The objective is to assess the presence of product and process variability in demand and supply, and the impact it has on precast pile delivery. Sources of variability in precasting, transportation, and installation are described. As a step towards understanding the complexity of this production system and to show how production planning decisions affect execution, this paper elaborates on two deterministic scenarios and compares those with actual data from the project. Performance of the system is analyzed on the basis of inventory vs. work completed. From the perspective of 'lean' thinking the paper then identifies sources of waste and suggests means to eliminate them. It also presents questions for follow-on research.
... Supply chain control (SCC) is one of the important parts of SCM. Supply chain control in construction usually involves a group of companies and individuals working collaboratively in a supply network of interrelated processes or activities designed most effectively to satisfy end-customer needs, while rewarding all members of the chain (Arbulu and Tommelein, 2000). Supply chain control in construction is recognized as improving the process of information flow, saving costs, and supporting revenue-enhancing business strategy.Figure 2 presents an overview of the construction supply chain framework for the general contractor. ...
Construction project control aims to effectively obtain real-time information and enhance dynamic control by utilizing information sharing and connecting involved participants of the projects to reduce construction conflicts and project delays. However, extending the construction project control system to job sites is not considered efficient because using notebooks in a harsh environment like a construction site is not particularly a conventional practice. Meanwhile, paper-based documents of the site processes are ineffective and cannot get the quick response from the office and project control center. Integrating promising information technologies such as personal digital assistants (PDA), bar code scanning, and data entry mechanisms, can be extremely useful in improving the effectiveness and convenience of information flow in construction supply chain control systems. Bar code scanning is appropriate for several construction applications, providing cost savings through increased speed and accuracy of data entry. This article demonstrates the effectiveness of a bar-code-enabled PDA application, called the mobile construction supply chain management (M-ConSCM) System, that responds efficiently and enhances the information flow between offices and sites in a construction supply chain environment. The advantage of the M-ConSCM system lies not only in improving the efficiency of work for on-site engineers, but also providing the Kanban-like visual control system for project participants to control the whole project. Moreover, this article presents a generic system architecture and its implementation.
... Some advantages of bringing the supplier in earlier are: (1) engineers can identify pipe support catalogs early so that no later conversion will be needed and rework (waste) may be avoided, (2) suppliers may advise the engineering firm so they can jointly optimise the design process, (3) suppliers have direct understanding of the fabrication process and their own upstream suppliers, and therefore, can easily tailor catalog designs to best meet design requirements while engineering firms may choose to make due with catalogued hangers because they cannot gauge the cost implication of more custom design, (4) suppliers who gain insight into the project requirements early are able to better manage their own supply chain, e.g., buy materials needed to make supports earlier on, (5) engineers and supplier(s) can integrate and speed up their communication and transactions using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), (6) engineers can expedite the approval process of shop drawings (pre-approved drawings for fabrication), and (7) engineers and supplier(s) can quickly resolve requests for information (Tommelein and Arbulu 2002). Alliances or long-term agreements are becoming increasingly common in the pipe support industry. ...
Waste is omnipresent in construction supply chains. It often occurs at the interface between processes, disciplines, or organizations. To illustrate several causes of waste, this paper focuses on a case study that documents the most common configuration of the supply chain for pipe supports used in the power plant industry. Using value-stream mapping across organizational boundaries, this paper illustrates how work flows throughout the design, procurement, and fabrication phases of pipe supports. Industry data obtained through tens of interviews helps to evaluate value-added and non-value-added times, batch sizes, and lead times for this particular supply chain configuration. The paper provides considerations for eliminating waste in order to reduce the total delivery lead time of pipe supports and thereby improve supply chain performance. It concludes by summarizing the case study findings and identifying additional research opportunities to achieve further improvement.
... In the late 1980s, this focus changed and internal integration was adopted as a new goal. Subsequently, external integration became the new goal, and was achieved by engineering and construction firms integrating their materials management practices with their first-tier suppliers " (Arbulu and Tommelein, 2002a). The kanban strategy presented here is an example of external integration with first-tier suppliers. ...
Kanban is a lean approach developed in the automotive industry to pull materials and parts through production systems on a just-in-time basis. A particular type of kanban is called supplier kanban which transmits a replenishment signal to outside suppliers. This paper presents a material management strategy that uses supplier kanbans to signal the need for replenishment of selected products from preferred suppliers to site. The objective of this strategy is to accomplish material management functions with least waste; e.g., unnecessary inventories and processing time, waiting time, and physical waste. The primary means for achieving the objective is to simplify the processes of acquiring, storing, distributing and disposing of selected made-to-stock products on site. The kanban strategy is being implemented in the construction of a major international transportation hub in the U.K. The paper highlights one of the most important findings from the implementation phase of the strategy: the need to rationalize stock profiles.
This paper aims to develop a framework to achieve sustainability by overcoming the challenges of the construction supply chain (CCSC) during the design process. To achieve this, two approaches, namely theoretical and practical, were used to accomplish four objectives. For the theoretical approach, based on literature review and case studies, the objective used was to identify, classify and validate the challenges that the construction supply chain (CSC) encounter. For the practical approach, a survey questionnaire was employed to quantify the CCSC and investigate the perception of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt towards achieving sustainability by overcoming the CCSC during the design process. Based on the results, the research developed a framework to overcome the CCSC as an approach towards achieving sustainability in construction projects during the design process. The research identified and validated 20 challenges that the CSC encounter towards achieving sustainability during the design process. These challenges were classified under four categories, namely (1) design and technical process; (2) coordination, information flow and accuracy; (3) material specification, technology, supplier rework and whole life cycle cost; and (4) skills gap of the qualified architects and design managers and non-compliance to building codes, regulations, laws and standards. In addition, a survey questionnaire was employed to rank these challenges according to their importance on 1–5 Likert scale using the measure of central tendency and dispersion and relative importance index (RII).
Accessing the required information in the supply chain of structural steel components is critical for minimizing costly reworks and delays. This paper identifies the information items generated in the different phases of the supply chain related to structural steel components and formalizes the process of producing and using this information. Precise details about different features of the components (e.g., their geometry and weight, connection details, cutting/bending/punching requirements, and the type and grade of the material) are set in the various tasks performed in the different phases of the supply chain. Regardless of whether one uses paper-based systems or advanced technologies such as smart tags and radio-frequency identification (RFID), a better understanding is achieved of the processes through which a structural steel component passes. The results of this research can be used to streamline the information flow in the supply chain of structural steel components, regardless of the type of tracking technology used, hence reducing delays and reworks.
