Web-Based Benchmarking System for the Construction Industry

Assessment of CII Best Practices usage in the construction industry

There is an obvious need in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry for improved project team integration through project delivery to ensure improved project outcomes. The literature reports that, among other methods, project partnering, when followed successfully, provides a great opportunity to improve project performance via improved collaboration among key project stakeholders (e.g., owner, designer, contractor) and reduce claims as a result while letting all project members stay in their traditional roles and work under any contractual framework, including design-bid-build. Despite its potential and history in the United States since the late 1980s and being classified as one of the best practices by the Construction Industry Institute in 1996, partnering continues to be underutilized. Existing research on partnering is mostly limited to public projects such as mega roadway and bridge projects. Guided by the literature, the aim of this research is to understand and report barriers to project partnering in the United States from both vertical/horizontal and public/private construction sectors. Via a comprehensive literature review, followed by a Delphi survey of partnering experts, this study systematically classified barriers to project partnering. In study results, implementation barriers to partnering during project delivery are more frequently pronounced than the barriers to its adoption. Of the top reported barriers to project partnering, the majority are cultural; project team related barriers show the greatest area of potential for improvement; and contrary to the literature, none is legislative. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by drawing attention to project delivery and management practices in the AEC industry to improve team collaboration and chances of successful implementation and adoption of integrative practices.

Academics and practitioners have paid close attention to front-end planning research, especially in the construction industry. It is known with many acronyms including pre-project planning and front-end loading. Since 1994, Construction Industry Institute (CII) has set front-end planning as one of themain research topicareas in their knowledge structure. A lot of research related to front-end planning and project scope definition has been conductedsince then. However, there lacks a comprehensive review of the currentstudies on the topic. Thus, the objective of this research was to undertake a comprehensive literature review of papers related to front-end planning. Reviewing 83 selected papers, this research raises several important issues regarding front-end planning such as the position of front-end planning in project life cycle, the differentiation between front-end planning and project planning, the significance of front-end planning, the front-end planning organization management, the front-end planning phases, the challenges in front-end planning implementation, and the identification of research gaps in front-end planning. The findings of this research contribute to furtherunderstanding of front-end planning andwould be useful for practitioners and academics to conduct further empirical studies on the subject matter.

Objective: This research aims to develop the conceptual sustainable project planning model for Indian roads using Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) applicable to roads, Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI), Multi-Unit Selective Inventory Control- 3- Dimensional (MUSIC-3D) Approach, Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Three Point Cost Estimation & Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for achieving Sustainability in Indian Roads. Theorotical Framework: The study is based on international scientific studies, articles, and publications. Additionally, actual materials relevant to the study subject were utilized for a more thorough and objective presentation of the issue at hand. Method: For development of Conceptual Sustainable Project Planning Model (SPPM) various research tools such as PDRI, MUSIC-3D, PERT & 3- Point Costing as well as LCCA were used incorporation of Sustainable Development Goals applicable to roads. Results & Conclusion: The development of a sustainable project planning model (SPPM) using tools like the Construction Industry Institute's Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI), the Multi Unit Selective Inventory Control- 3-Dimensional (MUSIC-3D) analysis, the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) by IS 13147 (Part-2):1984, PERT, and Three Point Cost Estimation using MSP can help Indian roads become more sustainable. Originality/ Value: The sustainable project planning model can benefit the road infrastructure in several ways. By incorporating sustainable design principles, environmental assessment, and social impact assessment, the model ensures that construction projects are environmentally responsible and socially inclusive. This helps road infrastructure to minimize its negative impact on the environment and society. The model also emphasizes the importance of resource efficiency and waste reduction. By efficiently managing project resources, including materials, the model promotes sustainable procurement practices and minimizes harmful impacts on environment. This can lead to cost savings for the construction industry by reducing waste and optimizing resource utilization.

Although the construction industry does not yet have a broad base of experience with bar code technology, a wide range of applications has recently been developed by member firms of the Construction Industry Institute. The findings of a research project supported by the Construction Industry Institute are summarized. Specific applications in the areas of quantity takeoff, field material control, warehouse inventory and maintenance, tool and consumable material issue, timekeeping and cost engineering, purchasing and accounting, and document control and office operations are discussed. Research findings indicate that bar code use in construction can improve the speed and accuracy of computer data entry, and produce tangible cost savings similar to those that have been documented in other industries.

Design/build has become one of the favored project delivery methods in the engineering construction industry. Numerous studies have advocated the use of design/build over the traditional design/bid/build delivery approach. A comprehensive analysis of 67 global projects from the Construction Industry Institute's database shows that design/build projects may not provide all the benefits to project performance. The study found timesaving was a definitive advantage of design/build project delivery, but, the positive effects of cost and productivity changes were not convincing. Based on the results of the study, the project management expertise and experience of the contractor may have a greater impact on project performance outcomes than focusing on project delivery strategy only.

During the past two decades the global marketplace has changed, and U.S. engineering and construction firms have had to deal with many new competitors. This has created a need for understanding global dynamics and competition, developing new and innovative competitive strategies, and taking actions to maintain world‐class leadership. To investigate global competitiveness and provide clarification, the driving forces that help shape competition in the global engineering and construction marketplace were studied. This paper summarizes research on the factors that affect the competitiveness of engineering and construction firms that was sponsored by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) Construction 2000 Task Force. Historical and current trends were analyzed to help identify the driving forces that may shape the future of the engineering and construction industries. This research specifically addressed the following aspects as they relate to the future of competitiveness: the shaping of corporate capabilities; financing options; management, organization, and structure; work force characteristics; and technological issues.

Globally, many large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies invest significant amounts of money to build manufacturing and laboratory facilities. One common concern amongst these companies is whether or not these facilities are efficient in their design and their use of human and financial resources. The Construction Industry Institute (CII) has worked with 12 of these pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies over the past seven years to benchmark the performance of their capital projects. In order to benchmark absolute cost performance (e.g., dollars per square foot), the projects’ costs need to be normalized to account for location, time and currency. However, no single cost index is available to meet this need of normalizing global facilities. As a result, CII and the companies developed a procedure using established cost indices to reliably compare the cost performance of capital projects from different companies. This paper also discusses the issues and challenges of normalizing the costs associated with pharmaceutical and biotechnology capital projects. This paper contributes to a better understanding of cost normalization amongst global capital projects.

Today’s construction business relies on first-to-market product strategies to gain competitive advantages and increase profit margins. This has created an increased demand for a high performance capital project delivery system that can achieve a dramatic reduction in project cycle time. Very few decision tools and guidelines exist to assist owners in choosing appropriate delivery systems and project strategies to radically reduce the project cycle time from the preplanning stage through start up. The research presented in this paper surveyed the construction owners and architectural/engineering/construction firms to identify projects that have achieved greater than 25% reduction in overall project cycle time when compared to current industry standards. The data collected were analyzed to determine the techniques that facilitate radical reduction in project cycle time. These techniques include, best practices and schedule reduction techniques as well as the various management techniques employed on the projects identified by the Construction Industry Institute (CII). This research also identified the barriers to radical schedule reduction. The research concludes that radical schedule reduction well in excess of 25% can be achieved through the selective employment of management techniques, schedule reduction techniques and CII best practices. Almost every construction manager can utilize this research to improve project performance whether for radical reduction or simply more effective execution.

In a construction project, collaboration amongst the project participants is a critical factor for high-quality results and successful completion of the project. Owing to the advance of information technologies, web-based systems have become more common in the construction industry, but research and development has been made for only limited areas. For organized and systematic collaboration in various fields, collaboration systems have to be developed in a holistic manner based on diverse needs from the whole construction industry. This study aims to investigate the current status of web-based collaboration systems from structural engineers' perspectives and propose an improvement plan. For a systematic analysis of selected cases, we apply a classification of three developmental stages depending on interoperability and organizational levels: structural design and analysis, collaborative design, and integrated design management. Thereafter, the characteristics of each stage are extracted and comparatively analyzed. Lastly, three functional factors were proposed for the improvement of web-based collaboration systems for structural design.

Project delivery systems define the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in a project. They also establish an execution framework in terms of sequencing of design, procurement, and construction. The decision made in the selection of a project delivery system for a project impacts all phases of execution of the project and greatly impacts the efficiency of project execution. Such decisions should be facilitated by thorough analysis. Structured, quantitative decision analysis processes have been shown to have several benefits over the simplistic, holistic, and informal processes that typically characterize subjective evaluations. However, a dearth of quantitative values of project delivery systems established and validated through research has invariably left project managers with no alternative than to make project delivery selection decisions on the basis of subjective evaluations. Development of the needed quantitative values for application in a decision analysis process would greatly enhance the quality of the decision-making process and provide a defensible rationale for selection of project delivery systems for capital projects. This paper presents research findings that provide the needed quantitative values in this area. Based on the quantitative values defined here, interested parties can develop and implement quantitative evaluation of project delivery alternatives to identify the optimal solution for a given project. Multicriteria decision analysis was found to be the suitable approach for a quantitative, analytical evaluation of project delivery systems. Consequently, the quantitative values presented in this paper were developed in accordance with the requirements of the multicriteria decision analysis technique known as simple multiattribute rating technique with swing weights (SMARTS). Utilizing the quantitative values presented here and applying the analysis technique of SMARTS, a decision support tool has been developed and validated for the Construction Industry Institute. The decision support tool is presently being utilized by member companies of the Construction Industry Institute that were privy to its development. With the presentation of the quantitative values in this paper, other parties interested in developing similar tools would benefit from the research results presented here.

The implementation process of any management system generally faces several obstacles related to organizational changes and the nature of construction work and its requirements (HAMDI, 2013). This document will present two of the existing planning methods. Firstly, the Last Planner System (LPS), which comes from a vast period of studies and consolidation in the field of civil construction, and then an emerging method developed in 2011 by a research team in partnership with Construction Industry Institute (CII) and the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA), entitled Advanced Work Packaging (AWP), focused on megaprojects. Finally, the purpose of this article is to present the two methods, their application and promote a brief discussion about their particularities and complementarities.

The constructability theory is built on the premise that designated experts review and analyse a plan collectively to iron out obstacles that may cause failure to the plan and make the execution efficient and cost-effective. This paper aims to reveal constructability practices among stakeholders (owners, designers, and contractors) who are executing industrial projects in Saudi Arabia. The research commenced with an intensive review of related literature. The literature review enabled the researchers to develop a questionnaire (data collection tool) which was distributed among the stakeholders via E-mail. The received data were analysed using simple statistical tools such as means, frequency, etc. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to measure the level of benefits from the constructability implementation. The stakeholders were found to implement constructability at the project and, to some extent, at corporate levels. Besides, they use many Construction Industry Institute (CII) concepts emerging from well-constructability CII principles in industrial projects. They form teams consisting of personnel from their organizations and facilitators either from their organization or from constructability consulting organizations. They use effective constructability review techniques such as the log/file, brainstorming, and the design review checklist. The constructability implementation yields considerable benefits, including “Reduce engineering cost,” “Reduce construction cost,” “Reduce the amount of rework,” “Improve project safety,” “Reduce schedule duration,” and several others. The study contributes to the book of knowledge and provides practitioners with guidance in implementing constructability. Designers and contractors are advised to implement constructability at the corporate level.

FIELDBUS TECHNOLOGY ON A LARGE SCALE MINERAL PROCESSING PROJECT

Increasing globalization is creating both challenges and opportunities for engineering and construction companies. Many researchers have examined the drivers and key success factors for globalizing engineering and construction firms to become truly global. Comparatively little research has focused on how engineering and construction firms integrate their globally dispersed business activities as they globalize. This paper presents the research efforts of a Construction Industry Institute (CII) research team that developed a model by which firms can assess their globalizing performance in two dimensions; global reach and global integration. We developed an excel based electronic survey and tool called the Globalizing Self-Assessment Tool (G-SAT) which enables the calculation of a two-dimensional globalizing performance score for engineering and construction firms. We collected data from 36 companies to validate the benchmarking functionality of the G-SAT. In order to further validate the ability of the G-SAT to track globalizing performance across business periods, we also collected and plotted the 15 year globalizing history in 5 year increments for eight companies. This research contributes an index and associated tool to measure engineering and construction firms’ globalizing performance.