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Current processes to manage changes are subject to failure since they are heavily dependent on human discipline. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and quantify the difference between levels of automation of change management processes and to provide input for determining the use of automation systems for change management.

Three generations of change management processes are defined to represent progressive practices used in major capital projects over the past few decades. Discrete event simulation was used to model these processes to capture their behavior and compare their performance according to time and compliance metrics. An oil and gas megaproject served to validate the findings of this modeling and analysis.

The results showed that automated processes can bring more compliance and real-time traceability, but not a significant time reduction in the change process. This contributes to the understanding of the impact of workflow-based automation on construction process performance. The validity of the conclusions are limited by the breadth of sectors studied and the inability to capture off-line time allocations of the personnel involved. Future research may build on the work presented here by studying additional processes such as requests for information, project change notices, requests for scaffolding, and interface management in various industry sectors.

A new approach for modeling and evaluating construction management process automation is contributed and the specific results of the paper indicate that automated workflow-based change management processes should be implemented in megaprojects.

Building information modelling (BIM) and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies have been extensively explored to improve supply chain visibility and coordination of material flow processes, particularly in the pursuit of Industry 4.0. It remains challenging, however, to effectively use these technologies to enable the precise and reliable coordination of material flow processes. This paper aims to propose a new workflow designed to include the use of detailed look-ahead plans when using BIM and RFID technologies, which can accurately track and match both the dynamic site needs and supply status of materials.

The new workflow is designed according to lean theory and is modeled using business process modeling notation. To digitally support the workflow, an integrated BIM-RFID database system is constructed that links information on material demands with look-ahead plans. The new workflow is then used to manage material flows in the erection of an office building with prefabricated columns. The performance of the new workflow is compared with that of a traditional workflow, using discrete event simulations. The input for the simulations was derived from expert opinion in semi-structured interviews.

The new workflow enables contractors to better observe on-site status and differences between the actual and planned material requirements, as well as to alert suppliers if necessary. The simulation results indicate that the new workflow has the potential to reduce the duration of the material flow processes by 16.1% compared with the traditional workflow.

The new workflow is illustrated using a real-world-like situation with input data based on expert opinion. Although the workflow shows potential, it should be tested on a real-world site.

The new workflow allows project participants to combine detailed near-term look-ahead plans with BIM and RFID technologies to better manage material flow processes. It is particularly useful for the management of engineer-to-order components considering the dynamic site progress.

The research improves on existing research focused on using BIM and RFID technologies to improve material flow processes by showing how the workflow can be adapted to use detailed look-ahead plans. It reinforces data-driven construction material management practices through improved visibility and reliability in planning and control of material flow processes.

The dynamic nature and complexity of construction projects make it challenging to ensure that the engineer-to-order (ETO) materials supplied onsite match changing needs. The quick and efficient communication of required changes in material fabrication, delivery and use, due to changes in the design and construction schedules, is needed to address the challenges. This study aims to provide a novel integrated management framework with its embedded informatics to help major stakeholders efficiently absorb agility during communication to deal with required changes and improve workflows.

An integrated management framework is developed that integrates the milestones in look-ahead plans and structured iterative processes for major supply chain stakeholders to quickly disseminate information emanating from changes in design, schedules, production and transportation. A prototype system is devised including the informatics to support the framework, which consists of BIM-RFID functional modules and a central database and uses a client-server architecture. The usefulness of the prototype is illustrated using a construction of part of a fictive but realistic high-rise building.

The integrated management framework with the informatics provides major stakeholders with the ability to coordinate their activities efficiently and stimulate their agility (measured by process time) in planning and controlling material information. Although only a fictive example was used, it is shown that the use of the system is likely to result in a substantial reduction in the time required to deal with required changes when delivering ETO materials onsite (by 18% in the example).

The functionalities of the prototype system can be easily scaled up to coordinate changes in the design and scheduling of other types of materials. More functional developments are needed to show the extent of the possible improvement for entire construction projects. Future work should focus on investigating the possible improvements for other types and sizes of construction projects, and eventually in real-world construction projects.

By fitting the look-ahead plans into structured iterative processes through digital data sharing, stakeholders increased their capability to quickly capture required change information and resolve associated problems. This is particularly useful for the management of ETO supply chain processes, where prefabricated elements such as ductwork, plumbing, and mechanical systems typically have to be modified because of last-minute design and schedule changes.

Unlike traditional information technology (IT) based supply chain management practices, this research is characterized by a process-centered management framework that provides explicit decision points over iterative planning processes for major stakeholders to manage material information. The iterations through digital data sharing allow stakeholders to quickly respond to last-minute changes on site, which fundamentally achieves workflow agility in the construction supply chain context.

Good planning is key to good project performance. However, for the sub-class of round-the-clock projects requiring mixed mode planning a suitable planning approach does not exist. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate such an approach.

Development of the approach builds on a synthesis and extensions of previous work related to projects with round-the-clock schedules, containing multiple workflows (sequential/cyclical). This approach considers the interdependence among shift-schedule, productivity, calendar duration, and risk registers. It quantifies the confidence in those strategies using a Monte Carlo and a multi-dimensional joint confidence limit (JCL) simulation platform.

n of workflows and their interdependencies. Also, the platform results show that the deviation between the deterministic outcomes and the simulated ones are a good indicator when dealing with projects with minimal tolerance for possible imposed mitigation strategies (e.g. round-the-clock projects).

The validation of the approach is limited to a multi-billion dollar nuclear refurbishment case study and functional demonstration. The applicable class of projects is limited, and includes those for which failure of cost, schedule, or quality implies project failure.

It is anticipated that the proposed approach will assist with developing a realistic planning strategy by incorporating various factors and constraints under the impact of risks and uncertainty. This may lead to a more reliable determination of outcomes for round-the-clock projects.

Managing stakeholders' reciprocal interdependencies is always a challenging issue. Stakeholders need to find out different ways to communicate information and coordinate material flows during the supply chain processes. Many recent studies have advanced construction supply chain coordination from multiple perspectives. However, the field still lacks a comprehensive analysis to summarize existing research, to explicitly identify all the possible enablers for coordination and to investigate how the enablers can be carried out at the supply chain interfaces. To fill the gap, this study aims to conduct a systematic review in order to examine the relevant literature.

A systematic literature review process was conducted to identify and synthesize relevant publications (published in the past 20 years) concerning the coordination of construction supply chain functions. These publications were coded to link main research findings with specific enabler categories. In addition, how these enablers can be used at the interfaces across supply chain processes was reviewed with an in-depth analysis of reciprocal communications between stakeholders at design-to-production, production-to-logistics and production-to-site-assembly phases.

The coordination enablers were classified into three categories: (1) contractual enablers (including subtopics on relational contracts and incentive models), (2) procedural enablers (including subtopics on multiagent knowledge sharing systems and the last planner system) and (3) technological enablers (including subtopics on linked databases for design coordination, design for manufacturing software platforms and automated monitoring technologies). It was found that interfacing different functions requires a certain level of integration of stakeholders for quick response and feedback processes. The integration of novel contractual forms with digital technologies, such as smart contracts, however, was not adequately addressed in the state of the art.

The scope of the systematic review is limited to the static analysis of selected publications. Longitudinal studies should be further included to sharpen the inductions of enablers considering organizational changes and process dynamics in construction projects.

Different enablers for coordination were summarized in a concise manner, which provides researchers and project stakeholders with a reinforced understanding of various ways to manage reciprocal interdependencies at different supply chain interfaces.

This study constitutes an important input for research on the construction supply chain by illuminating the thematic topic of coordination from inductively developed review processes, which included a holistic framing of the emerging coordination enablers and their use across supply chain functions. Consequently, it closes some identified knowledge gaps and offers additional insights to improve the supply chain performance of construction projects.

It is crucial to consider the multitude of possible building adaptation design strategies for improving the existing conditions of building stock as an alternative to demolition.

Integration of physics-based simulation tools and decision-making tools such as Multi-Attribute Utility (MAU) and Interactive Multi-objective Optimization (IMO) in the design process enable optimized design decision-making for high-performing buildings. A methodology is presented for improving building adaptation design decision making, specifically in the early-stage design feasibility analysis. Ten residential building adaptation strategies are selected and applied to one primary building system for eight performance metrics using physics-based simulation tools. These measures include energy use, thermal comfort, daylighting, natural ventilation, systems performance, life cycle, cost-benefit and constructability. The results are processed using MAU and IMO analysis and are validated through sensitivity analysis by testing one design strategy on three building systems.

Quantifiable comparison of building adaptation strategies based on multiple metrics derived from physics-based simulations can assist in the evaluation of overall environmental performance and economic feasibility for building adaptation projects.

The current methodology presented is limited to the analysis of one decision-maker at a time. It can be improved to include multiple decision-makers and capture varying perspectives to reflect common practices in the industry.

The methodology presented supports affordable generation and analysis of a large number of design options for early-stage design optimization.

Given the practical implications, more space and time is created for exploration and innovation, resulting in potential for improved benefits.

Infrastructure construction has experienced significant recent advances in automation. Such advances will only accelerate in the future. They are founded on enabling technologies such as positioning systems, advanced control methods, and graphical interfaces. This paper begins by describing the relevance of these enabling technologies to automation in infrastructure construction. It then focuses on classes of applications, including earth moving, compaction, road construction and maintenance, and trenchless technology. Because of the less regulated, relatively repetitive, and well‐financed nature of such work, it is likely to experience quicker progress than other application domains.

Previous research has shown that “Scan-vs-BIM” object recognition systems, which fuse three dimensional (3D) point clouds from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) or digital photogrammetry with 4D project building information models (BIM), provide valuable information for tracking construction works. However, until now, the potential of these systems has been demonstrated for tracking progress of permanent structural works only; no work has been reported yet on tracking secondary or temporary structures. For structural concrete work, temporary structures include formwork, scaffolding and shoring, while secondary components include rebar. Together, they constitute most of the earned value in concrete work. The impact of tracking secondary and temporary objects would thus be added veracity and detail to earned value calculations, and subsequently better project control and performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Two techniques for recognizing concrete construction secondary and temporary objects in TLS point clouds are implemented and tested using real-life data collected from a reinforced concrete building construction site. Both techniques represent significant innovative extensions of existing “Scan-vs-BIM” object recognition frameworks.

The experimental results show that it is feasible to recognise secondary and temporary objects in TLS point clouds with good accuracy using the two novel techniques; but it is envisaged that superior results could be achieved by using additional cues such as colour and 3D edge information.

This article makes valuable contributions to the problem of detecting and tracking secondary and temporary objects in 3D point clouds. The power of Scan-vs-BIM object recognition approaches to address this problem is demonstrated, but their limitations are also highlighted.

Scandia, Inc., is a commercial vessel management company located in the New York Metropolitan area and is part of a family of firms including Scandia Technical; International Tankers, Ltd.; Global Tankers, Ltd.; Sun Maritime S.A.;Adger Tankers AS; Leeward Tankers, Inc.; Manhattan Tankers, Ltd.; and Liuʼs Tankers, S.A. The companyʼs current market niche is the commercial management of chemical tankers serving the transatlantic market with a focus on the east and gulf coast of the United States and Northern Europe. This three-part case describes the commercial shipping industry as well as several mishaps that the company and its President, Chris Haas, have had to deal with including withdrawal of financial support by creditors, intercorporate firm conflict, and employee retention. Part A, which was published in the Fall 2010 issue, presented an overview of the commercial vessel industry and set the stage for Parts B and C where the firm℉s operation is discussed.