Abstract: Good materials management on large construction projects is critical for maximizing productivity and project
performance. When key materials are temporarily lost, whole crews may be left idle and the project may be delayed.
When key materials are completely lost, the impact can be enormous. In fact, one of the major problems in managing construction materials and equipment is tracking them in the supply chain and knowing their location on large job sites. Fortunately, location can now be automatically estimated within metres using emerging technologies. This paper proposes a
general implementation model for automated construction materials tracking and locating on large industrial projects, such
as refineries and power plants. It includes a methodology for determining what type of technology should be used for different types of projects and construction materials. It is based on an analysis of the capabilities of emerging technologies
and on experience gained from implementing automated materials tracking prototypes on two large industrial projects. It is
concluded that these technologies can produce substantial net benefits, if implemented properly on the right projects using
the model described here.
Key words: materials management, materials identification, automated tracking, implementation model, RFID, GPS, automation in construction.
Resume : Il est important de bien gerer les materiaux des grands projets de construction est importante afin de maximiser
la productivite et le rendement du projet. Lorsque des materiaux cles sont egares temporairement, des equipes au complet
peuvent etre inoccupees, retardant le projet. Lorsque des materiaux cles sont perdus en permanence, limpact peut etre
enorme. En effet, lun des principaux proble`mes en gestion des materiaux et des equipements de construction est de les
suivre dans la chane dapprovisionnement et de connatre leur emplacement sur les grands sites de travail. Heureusement,
les nouvelles technologies permettent maintenant de determiner automatiquement leur emplacement, a` quelques me`tres
pre`s. Le present article presente un mode`le dimplantation generale pour le suivi automatise des materiaux de construction
et de les situer sur les grands projets industriels, tels que des raffineries et des centrales electriques. Ce mode`le comprend
une methode permettant de determiner le type de technologie qui devrait etre utilisee pour divers types de projets et de
materiaux de construction. Il est base sur lanalyse des capacites des nouvelles technologies et sur lexperience acquise
lors de limplantation de prototypes de suivi automatises des materiaux dans deux grands projets industriels. Il sest revele
que ces technologies peuvent presenter des avantages nets substantiels si elles sont implantees adequatement sur les bons
projets en utilisant le mode`le decrit dans le present article.
Mots-cles : gestion des materiaux, identification des materiaux, suivi automatique, mode`le dimplantation, RFID ,
GPS , automatisation en construction.
[Traduit par la Redaction]
Introduction
Effective materials management on construction projects
has the potential to improve site productivity and reduce
wasted supervisory time, crew idle time, and disruptions to
short interval planning. However, several recent studies
have concluded that effective materials management is still
Received 17 April 2009. Revision accepted 9 December 2009. Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at cjce.nrc.ca on 15 April
2010.
H. Nasir,1 C.T. Haas, D.A. Young, and S.N. Razavi. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
C. Caldas. Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station
C1752, Austin, TX 78712-0273, USA.
P. Goodrum. Department of Civil Engineering, 151C Raymond Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0281, USA.
Written discussion of this article is welcomed and will be received by the Editor until 31 August 2010.
1Corresponding
doi:10.1139/L09-178
Nasir et al.
589
cost ratio of 5.7/1.0 for effective materials management. Adverse conditions for materials management were identified,
which include extensive multiple handling of materials, materials improperly sorted or marked, running out of materials, and crew slowdowns in anticipation of material
shortages. Thomas and Smith (1992) again concluded that
generally, for all types of materials management deficiencies, there was a reduction of about 40% in daily productivity. Akintoye (1995) estimated that an efficient materials
management and control system could potentially increase
productivity by 8%. This increase in productivity was
mainly attributed to the availability of the right materials
prior to the commencement of work and the ability to effectively plan the work activities because of the availability of
materials. Choo et al. (1999) found that the biggest problem
faced by the field workers was dealing with discrepancies
between the anticipated, actually needed, and available resources, which include materials. Thomas and Sanvido
(2000) examined three case studies of subcontractor
fabricator relations. Their research concluded that inefficient
materials management could increase the field labor hours
by 50% or more. Recent analysis of the Benchmarking and
Metrics program data of the Construction Industry Institute
corroborates these results (CII 2009).
In summary, an efficient materials management system
can increase productivity, avoid delays, reduce man hours
needed for materials management, and reduce the cost of
materials due to decrease in wastage. Implementation of
conventional materials management practices continues to
vary widely, however, and this variability and the inability
to handle exceptional circumstances, such as snow cover
and congested delivery patterns, limits their potential to improve project performance, thus attention is increasingly becoming more focused on the automation of at least some
aspects of materials management.
Automated data collection (ADC) technologies in
construction
The main aim of using ADC technologies in construction
is to increase efficiency, reduce data entry errors caused by
human transcription, reduce bottlenecks, and reduce labor
costs. These technologies include bar codes, smart cards,
voice recognition, optical character recognition (OCR), ultra
wide band (UWB) locating, RFID, and GPS. While some
technologies have been implemented in their most basic
form, they are rapidly evolving and being combined in innovative new forms.
Two decades ago, Bell and McCullouch (1988) suggested
bar code applications in the construction industry. Their research confirmed that the use of bar codes could improve
the speed and accuracy of computer data entry and produce
the same cost savings in the construction industry as seen in
other industries. Bernold (1990) also reported that the accuracy and timeliness of tracking data could be improved using a bar coded prototype system for tracking of
construction equipment and materials.
Global positioning system (GPS) technology has drawn
much attention from researchers, who have attempted to
find effective ways to track automatically the location of
construction labor and equipment in outdoor environments
and on construction sites (Peyret and Tasky 2002; Oloufa et
Published by NRC Research Press
590
sibility and prototype the automated materials tracking system in a construction environment; (2) develop an
implementation model for automated construction materials
tracking and locating; and (3) assess the impact of materials
locating and tracking technology on labor and construction
productivity. These implementations are described in the
following sections.
Portlands energy centre field trials
The Portlands Energy Centre (PEC) project in Toronto
delivered a new state-of-the-art, natural gas fired, combined
cycle generation facility. The project involved the construction of two identical units consisting of turbines, boilers,
pipelines, and other components used to operate the facility.
Tens of thousands of prefabricated and engineered components were required. These included pipe spools, safety
valves, globe valves, control valves, steel members and pipe
supports. The field trials were conducted from July 2007 to
August 2008 and involved a continuous site presence of a
team of undergraduate and graduate students.
The original field-materials management process was well
defined by the contractors. Warehouse personnel were responsible for receiving, storing, tracking, and releasing requested materials to subcontractors. Several areas were used
to store construction materials, including a nearby port area
warehouse, lay down yards, and staging areas. The subcontractors would submit material requests to the warehouse
staff who would check the project database and determine
whether the stored location was inside the warehouse or in
the lay down areas. The staff searched for the materials in
the lay down areas and identified each piece by its physical
appearance and codes. Once the materials were identified
and located, they were loaded onto trucks and issued to the
subcontractors. When the materials were issued to the subcontractors, they were moved to the staging areas before final installation. This is a typical process. It is also time
consuming, vulnerable to noncompliant behavior, and prone
to errors.
Rockdale field trials
The other field trials were held at the Sandow Steam
Electric Station Unit 5 project in Rockdale, Texas, USA.
The project involved was a 565 megawatt circulating fluidized bed, lignite-fired power plant, which consisted of 2
boilers, 2 bag houses, 1 stack, and 1 turbine. The project involved two almost identical steel structures to support the
steam generation processes. Both structures were composed
of steel components and were divided into very similar sequences of installation. Each boiler structure had its own assigned cranes, equipment, foreman, and installation crews
working roughly in parallel. The field trials were conducted
from 1 August 2007 to 19 October 2007. There was a continuous presence of a total of two graduate students at the
site over this period. For the purpose of this study, the job
site was divided into two main areas, the lay down yard and
the installation area. The lay down yard was used to store
the structural steel components in an area of 25 acres, and
the installation area held the components retrieved from the
lay down yard before their installation.
In the original materials management process, when the
components needed for installation were identified, a list
Published by NRC Research Press
Nasir et al.
591
592
Fig. 1. (a) Sample map for PEC, Toronto, Ontario. (b) Sample map for Rockdale, Texas.
tomated materials tracking system for their successful management are those that
involve a large number of high value, engineered materials items (typically, more than 5 000);
require unique materials;
have a complex materials supply chain;
have materials that are difficult to track or locate because
of environmental conditions such as snow, vegetation, or
sand that might cover the materials during the implementation of the project;
have large and scattered warehouse facilities, lay down
yards, and staging areas; and
anticipate frequent movements of materials in the lay
down yards or construction site, despite the fact that repeat handling is avoided if at all possible.
Naturally, these types of needs are mostly associated with
large industrial and mining projects. Some combination of
these needs will typically justify consideration of implementation of an automated system.
Nasir et al.
593
Examples
Tanks, heat exchangers,
pumps, turbines, major
instrumentation systems
Minor instrumentation items,
transmitters, specialty items
Cost range
High
Common but
valuable items
Low / Medium
Bulk materials
Low
Critical items
Medium
Technology recommended
Global positioning system
(GPS) and sensor
enabled tags
Active radio frequency
identification (RFID)
tags with GPS enabled
readers
Active / Passive RFID
tags with GPS enabled
readers
Bar codes (direct and (or)
GPS mapping)
the criteria for evaluating the system design. A recommended list based on analysis of the literature and the field
trials is as follows:
quick reports on the status of the materials received, issued, and installed)
Implementation options
In this step, alternative design configurations are generated. Any of the automated data collection and identification
technologies previously described can be considered. Field
deployment can use combinations of primary subsystem architectural elements, including (1) mobile reader kits, (2)
fixed arrays of readers, and (or) (3) portals or gates. These
are explained in the following sub-sections. The development of options depends on the specific requirements of the
projects, the materials to be tracked and managed, the cost
of the automated tracking system, the morphology of the
materials supply network, and the expected performance of
the automated system.
Mobile reader kits
Mobile reader kits provide a very flexible deployment option. This option was used on the Portlands and Rockdale
sites. Figure 3 is a schematic representation of this architecture. The mobile reader can also move away from or outside
of the boundary of areas being logged, as shown in the figure. This system is flexible and is most suitable for dynamic
construction environments, with less well-defined boundaries and multiple satellite sites, and where the materials are
frequently being moved around and between sites.
Figure 4 is a schematic representation and extension of
the mobile reader field architecture for tracking the materials throughout satellite site areas. It is adapted from the
Portlands project. It represents a localized and less structured supply chain than a typical manufacturing supply
chain. In the first step, materials are identified and their information is recorded when the materials are received at the
port or at the manufacturers yard. When materials are sent
to the warehouse or lay down yards at the construction site,
the same mobile reader system can track their location and
movement. Similarly when materials are moved onward to
the staging areas, the mobile reader system tracks their location in the same manner. This option was developed for and
proved useful for the Rockdale and Portlands projects where
there were instances of key materials found in unusual places.
The primary fixed costs of this system include the costs
of mobile reader kits and the system software. A mobile
reader kit consists of an RFID reader, antenna, GPS unit,
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594
Permeable
area boundary
Tagged materials
Port area /
Manufacturers site
Warehouse
Staging area
Materials location
Materials movement
Nasir et al.
595
Tagged materials
Fixed readers
In gate
Reader
Construction site
Or
Manufacturer's yard
Or
Painting shop
Out gate
Reader
One advantage of this approach is that it can process in minutes what might take days for a human crew. For example,
it is not uncommon for many trucks to arrive as the site
opens and for a conventional crew to take days to identify,
receive, and shake down the materials. The portal based
readers essentially eliminate all but the shake down time.
However, the major disadvantage of this architecture is
that it does not identify, locate, or track the materials beyond the gate or portal, nor does it estimate their location
within the property. This makes it less suitable for some
construction site environments, or large fabrication yards,
where the materials are frequently being moved around before their final installation, and where knowledge of location
within a few meters, rather than mere presence in the yard
or a grid area, is important.
596
Nasir et al.
597
Table 2. Benefit cost model for radio frequency identification (RFID) / global positioning system (GPS) based automated materials tracking system, excluding productivity improvements, and total loss reductions.
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3
Variable cost
Number of items
Number of tags
Cost per tag per project (CDN$)
Costs of tags (CDN$)
Total variable cost (CDN$)
5 000
5 000
20
100 000
100 000
10 000
10 000
20
200 000
200 000
15 000
15 000
20
300 000
300 000
Fixed costs
Number of readers
Cost per reader (CDN$)
Total cost of readers (CDN$)
Number of antennas
Cost per antenna (CDN$)
Total cost of antennas (CDN$)
Number of GPS units
Cost per GPS unit (CDN$)
Total cost of GPS units (CDN$)
Number of handheld PCs
Cost per PC (CDN$)
Total cost of handheld PCs (CDN$)
Software and vendor profit (CDN$)
Total fixed cost (CDN$)
Total costs (CDN$)
2
1 500
3 000
2
1 500
3 000
2
2 000
4 000
2
1 500
3 000
100 000
113 000
213 000
4
1 500
6 000
4
1 500
6 000
4
2 000
8 000
4
1 500
6 000
100 000
126 000
326 000
6
1 500
9 000
6
1 500
9 000
6
2 000
12 000
6
1 500
9 000
100 000
139 000
439 000
Benefits
Number of locates per day
Time saved per locate (in hours)
Cost of labor per hour (CDN$)
Project duration (in days)
Total benefits (CDN$)
Benefit / cost ratio
50
0.5
100
500
1 250 000
5.9
100
0.5
100
500
2 500 000
7.7
150
0.5
100
500
3 750 000
8.5
Conclusions
A general implementation model for automated construction materials tracking and locating on large industrial projects such as refineries and power plants was presented. It
included a methodology for determining what type of technology should be used for different types of projects and
construction materials. It is based on an analysis of the capabilities of emerging technologies and on experience gained
from implementing automated materials locating and tracking prototypes on two large industrial projects, in Canada
and in the United States. Several fundamental subsystem architectures were defined. These field deployment options include fixed readers, mobile readers, and gate / portal
systems. This research has analyzed their respective advantages and disadvantages for various construction site environments. The evaluation criteria were identified, and
system evaluation was demonstrated using a typical project.
The evaluation was based on a three legged approach: (1)
analysis based on implementation evaluation criteria, (2)
benefit / cost ratio analysis, and (3) risk analysis. For the
typical project, the benefit cost ratio ranged from 6/1 to 10/
1, if risk avoidance benefits were included. The industrial
partners on this research did include the risk avoidance benefits. Overall, it is concluded that use of this model should
improve the probability of a successful implementation.
Published by NRC Research Press
598
Acknowledgments
The research project was jointly funded by an NSERC
CRD grant and through CII-FIATECH, Research Team 240.
It was also supported with significant in-kind contributions
by Ontario Power Generation Inc., SNC-Lavalin, Bechtel,
and Identec Solutions. The writers would like to acknowledge the efforts and cooperation of Paul Murray, the site
manager of SNC-Lavalin for Portlands Energy Centre
(PEC) project in Toronto, ON, Canada. The efforts of David
Grau, Jie Gong, Esteban Campion, and Victor Lam, the additional graduate and undergraduate students who worked on
these projects, are also appreciated.
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