Tools for Measuring Construction Materials Management Practices and Predicting Labor Productivity in Multistory Building Projects
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 145, Issue 2
Abstract
Planning, monitoring, and evaluating materials management practices are important for enhancing construction productivity. This study is designed to develop a tool for scoring materials management practices for building projects and, on that basis, build a tool for predicting productivity. The research was carried out in two phases. During Phase I, in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 experts and context-specific materials management practices were identified. During Phase II, questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from 39 contractors. To prioritize the practices that were identified during Phase I, the quantitative data were analyzed. Based on the analysis, tools for measuring and planning the materials management practices and probability-based regression models were developed. Procurement plans for materials, long-lead materials identification, and materials delivery schedule are the three most significant practices. Contractors can use the scoring tool to measure the levels of implementation of the practices and assess the risk of having low productivity using the predictive models. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by developing construction materials management practices measuring, planning, monitoring, and evaluating tools in the context of building projects. In addition, the logistic and linear regression models can be used to assess whether a certain level of implementation of the construction materials management practice might be associated with higher or lower labor productivity.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Information about the Journal’s data-sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
References
Abdul Kadir, M., W. Lee, M. Jaafar, S. Sapuan, and A. Ali. 2005. “Factors affecting construction labour productivity for Malaysian residential projects.” Struct. Surv. 23 (1): 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1108/02630800510586907.
Abou-Assaleh, T., N. Cercone, V. Keselj, and R. Sweidan. 2014. “N-gram-based detection of new malicious code.” In Proc., 28th Annual Int. Computer Software and Applications Conf. (COMPSAC 2004), 41–42. New York: IEEE.
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics). 2016. Australian national accounts: National income, expenditure and product. Canberra, Australia: ABS.
Alby, V. 1994. “Productivity: Measurement and management.” AACE Int. Trans. 38 (4): 1–7.
Ali, H. H., and S. F. Al Nsairat. 2009. “Developing a green building assessment tool for developing countries—Case of Jordan.” Build. Environ. 44 (5): 1053–1064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2008.07.015.
Arditi, D. 1985. “Construction productivity improvement.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 111 (1): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1985)111:1(1).
Arditi, D., and K. Mochtar. 1996. “Productivity improvement in the Indonesian construction industry.” Constr. Manage. Econ. 14 (1): 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446199600000003.
Bell, L. C., and G. Stukhart. 1987. “Costs and benefits of materials management systems.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 113 (2): 222–234. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1987)113:2(222).
Bowerman, B., and E. Murphree. 2014. Regression analysis: Unified concepts, practical applications, and computer implementation. New York: Business Expert Press.
Caldas, C. H., J.-Y. Kim, C. T. Haas, P. M. Goodrum, and D. Zhang. 2014. “Method to assess the level of implementation of productivity practices on industrial projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 141 (1): 04014061. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000919.
Cao, Q., and J. J. Hoffman. 2011. “A case study approach for developing a project performance evaluation system.” Int. J. Project Manage. 29 (2): 155–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.02.010.
CFMEU. 2016a. “Interim RDO calendar.” Accessed May 9, 2016. https://vic.cfmeu.org.au/calendar-created/month/2016-02.
CFMEU. 2016b. “OHS information.” Accessed November 7, 2017. https://vic.cfmeu.org.au/ohs/reps-info.
CII (Construction Industry Institute). 2013. Best productivity practices implementation index for infrastructure projects: Implementation Resource 252-4d. Austin, TX: CII.
Cottrell, D. S. 2006. “Contractor process improvement for enhancing construction productivity.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 132 (2): 189–196. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2006)132:2(189).
Creswell, J. W. 2013. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Department of Treasury and Finance. 2015. “Construction supplier register.” Accessed September 30, 2015. http://www.dtf.vic.gov.au.
El-Gohary, K. M., and R. F. Aziz. 2014. “Factors influencing construction labor productivity in Egypt.” J. Manage. Eng. 30 (1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000168.
Fair Work Commission. 2016. “Building and construction general on-site award 2010.” Accessed September 27, 2016. https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/documents/modern_awards/pdf/ma000020.pdf.
Grau, D., C. H. Caldas, C. T. Haas, P. M. Goodrum, and J. Gong. 2009. “Assessing the impact of materials tracking technologies on construction craft productivity.” Autom. Constr. 18 (7): 903–911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2009.04.001.
Gurmu, A. T. 2018. “Construction materials management practices enhancing labour productivity in multi-storey building projects.” Int. J. Constr. Manage. 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2018.1462447.
Gurmu, A. T., and A. A. Aibinu. 2017. “Construction equipment management practices for improving labor productivity in multistory building construction projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 143 (10): 04017081. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001384.
Gurmu, A. T., and A. A. Aibinu. 2018. “Survey of management practices enhancing labor productivity in multi-storey building construction projects.” Int. J. Prod. Perform. Manage. 67 (4): 717–735. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-02-2017-0032.
Gurmu, A. T., A. A. Aibinu, and T. K. Chan. 2016. “A study of best management practices for enhancing productivity in building projects: Construction methods perspectives.” Constr. Econ. Build. 16 (3): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5130/AJCEB.v16i3.4882.
Hanley, J. A., and B. J. McNeil. 1982. “The meaning and use of the area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.” Radiology 143 (1): 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiology.143.1.7063747.
Jamieson, S. 2004. “Likert scales: How to (ab)use them.” Med. Educ. 38 (12): 1217–1218. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2004.02012.x.
Jergeas, G. 2009. Improving construction productivity on Alberta oil and gas capital projects.. Calgary, AB, Canada: Univ. of Calgary.
Kim, H.-Y. 2013. “Statistical notes for clinical researchers: Assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis.” Restor. Dent. Endod. 38 (1): 52–54. https://doi.org/10.5395/rde.2013.38.1.52.
Lam, P. T., F. K. Wong, and F. W. Wong. 2007. “Building features and site-specific factors affecting buildability in Hong Kong.” J. Eng. Des. Technol. 5 (2): 129–147. https://doi.org/10.1108/17260530710833185.
Lozano, L. M., E. García-Cueto, and J. Muñiz. 2008. “Effect of the number of response categories on the reliability and validity of rating scales.” Methodology 4 (2): 73–79. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-2241.4.2.73.
Lurd, A., and M. Lurd. 2013. “Measures of central tendency.” Accessed June 13, 2016. https://statistics.laerd.com.
Makulsawatudom, A., M. Emsley, and K. Sinthawanarong. 2004. “Critical factors influencing construction productivity in Thailand.” J. KMITNB 14 (3): 1–6.
Nasir, H. 2013. “Best productivity practices implementation index (BPPII) for infrastructure projects.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Waterloo.
Nasir, H., C. T. Haas, C. H. Caldas, and P. M. Goodrum. 2015. “An integrated productivity-practices implementation index for planning the execution of infrastructure projects.” J. Infrastruct. Syst. 22 (2): 04015022. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000275.
Nasir, H., C. T. Haas, D. A. Young, S. N. Razavi, C. Caldas, and P. Goodrum. 2010. “An implementation model for automated construction materials tracking and locating.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 37 (4): 588–599. https://doi.org/10.1139/L09-178.
Ngacho, C., and D. Das. 2014. “A performance evaluation framework of development projects: An empirical study of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) construction projects in Kenya.” Int. J. Project Manage. 32 (3): 492–507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.07.005.
Peduzzi, P., J. Concato, E. Kemper, T. R. Holford, and A. R. Feinstein. 1996. “A simulation study of the number of events per variable in logistic regression analysis.” J. Clin. Epidemiol. 49 (12): 1373–1379. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(96)00236-3.
Productivity Commission. 2013. Productivity report. Canberra, Australia: Productivity Commission.
Productivity Commission. 2015. Productivity report. Canberra, Australia: Productivity Commission.
Rojas, E. M., and P. Aramvareekul. 2003. “Labor productivity drivers and opportunities in the construction industry.” J. Manage. Eng. 19 (2): 78–82. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2003)19:2(78).
Rose, S., N. Spinks, and A. I. Canhoto. 2014. Management research: Applying the principles. New York: Routledge.
Santos, J. R. A. 1999. “Cronbach’s alpha: A tool for assessing the reliability of scales.” J. Ext. 37 (2): 1–5.
Thomas, A. V., and J. Sudhakumar 2014. “Modelling masonry labour productivity using multiple regression.” In Proc., 30th Annual ARCOM Conf., 1345–1354. Portsmouth, UK: Association of Researchers in Construction Management.
Tremblay, A., and A. Badri. 2018. “A novel tool for evaluating occupational health and safety performance in small and medium-sized enterprises: The case of the Quebec forestry/pulp and paper industry.” Saf. Sci. 101: 282–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2017.09.017.
Zavadskas, E. K., Z. Turskis, and J. Tamošaitiene. 2010. “Risk assessment of construction projects.” J. Civ. Eng. Manage. 16 (1): 33–46. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2010.03.
Zayed, T. M., and D. W. Halpin. 2005. “Productivity and cost regression models for pile construction.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 131 (7): 779–789. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2005)131:7(779).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 9, 2018
Accepted: Aug 20, 2018
Published online: Dec 12, 2018
Published in print: Feb 1, 2019
Discussion open until: May 12, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.