The
construction industry has been suffering from low quality and poor performance
compared to other industries. There are a lot of wastes in construction
processes, which were left unnoticed and unquantified. The construction
Organization is typically unorganised compared to manufacturing industry as
each project varies in the planning, design, functional aspects etc. Hence
there is a scope of great improvements in each and every phase of the
construction projects.
In an attempt to improve its
performance, industry practitioners and researchers have looked at the
manufacturing industry as a point of reference and a source of innovation. As a result of this, the studies have shown
that tremendous productivity improvements can be achieved by simply targeting
at reducing or eliminating the different types of waste generated in the
construction industry in different phases.
Ohno has
classified waste into seven types in manufacturing industry and it can be
applied to construction industry also. In construction industry waste has been
broadly classified into material, quality, labour and equipment. Previous
research shows that there has been rework due to quality issues and the wastes
due to this have been accounted for nearly 12% of project cost. This quantification
has been made from literature review only because most of the construction
industry does not keep a record of the rework. This study attempts to quantify the quality issues and analyse and suggest a
framework to reduce quality related issues and hence cost.
I.INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Past research
into the causes of waste in construction projects indicate that waste can arise
at any stage of the construction process from inception, right through the
design, construction and operation of the built facility . Waste in the
construction industry has been the subject of several research projects around
the world in recent years .It is commonly acknowledged that a very high level
of waste exists in construction. Since construction has a major and direct
influence on many other industries by means of both purchasing inputs and
providing the products to all other industries, eliminating or reducing waste
in the construction industry could yield great cost savings to the society.
B. Wastes
in Construction Industry
According to
koskela (1992) waste can be defined as “any inefficiency that results in the
use of equipment, materials, labour or capital in larger quantities than those
considered as necessary in the construction of a building”.
Waste can be
classified as unavoidable waste (or natural waste), in which the investment
necessary for its reduction is higher than the economy produced, and avoidable
waste, in which the cost of waste is higher than the cost to prevent it. The
percentage of unavoidable waste depends on the technological development level
of the company stated that waste can also be categorized according to its
source; namely the stage in which the root causes of waste occurs. Waste may
result from the processes preceding construction, such as materials
manufacturing, design, materials supply, and planning, as well as the
construction stage.
According to
Bossink and Brouwers (1996) the main waste causes in construction has been
classified into:
·
Design
·
Procurement
·
Materials
Handling
·
Operation
·
Residual.
The reduction in
wastages and improvement in the construction processes can only be done if the
waste generated are quantified properly. Very rarely do the small scale
organisation take steps to quantify the waste generated .With the technological
advancements, large construction
organisation are aware of the need for the quantification of waste and they are
on the verge of improvement by implementing lean concepts. The concept of waste
can be better explained with the lean principles.
There are an
increasing number of construction companies applying actions to improve their
projects’ performance by reducing all kinds of waste during the construction
process . As most construction executives know, the industry can be susceptible
to wasteful spending, delays and project inefficiency. Many criticisms have
been directed to the construction industry, generally on poor workmanship. Not
only the final product is subjected to criticisms but also the processes, the
people, the materials,etc. are under tremendous pressure for better quality in
construction.
Since
construction has a major and direct influence on many other industries by means
of both purchasing the inputs from other industries and providing the products
to almost all other industries; eliminating or reducing waste could yield great
cost savings to society . Many project management approaches have emerged to
improve performance such as value-engineering, partnering, design-build, etc.
In the 1940s,
lean construction methodology evolved as LauriKoskela(1996) made the transition
from the development of new production management from manufacturing to
construction industry.
The potential
impact of lean production philosophy on construction effectiveness is well
documented. The techniques for analyzing systems, identifying and reducing
waste and focusing on the customer are applicable in any system, and in any
industry . Essentially, lean construction aims to reduce the waste caused by
unpredictable workflow, where waste is defined in Ohno seven categories:
defects, overproduction, waiting, transporting, movement, inappropriate
processing and inventory.
I.
OBJECTIVE
·
Identification
of Quality related wastages in
Construction project
·
Quantification
of the wastage.
·
Proposal
of a framework that has the potential of reducing this waste.
III. SCOPE
· Indian
Construction Industry
· Residential
segment.
IV. METHODOLOGY
A. Introduction
This chapter gives a brief
discussion about the methodology used in the research. Waste is a major concern which affects the
productivity and efficiency of the industry.
Literature review shows that general outline for the waste has been
formulated and different categories of waste are identified. The literatures
also shows that much work has been already done on the materials, labour,
quality etc. It also shows that no much research has been done on wastage
related to equipment, since it has no much relevance as the construction
industry is labour intensive.
Though quality aspects has
been studied in the past research, its
seen that quantification of the waste in quality has not been done, because of
the lack of data, at the company sites, as
well as their reluctance in sharing their quality issues. So this thesis
attempts to quantify the waste in quality from the customer perspective according to Taguchi’s concept. Taguchi defines quality as the losses imparted
to the society from the time the product is shipped. This loss would include
the cost of customer dissatisfaction that leads to the loss of company
reputation.
B. Research Methodology
The study uses mixed research approach involving
combination of questionnaire and interviews .The objective of identifying the
issues regarding the quality of the construction. The collection of data is
made from the occupied residential units in an integrated township known as
Bollineni hillside. It consists of nearly 1500 units as flats, row houses,
villas etc. The structured questionnaire
and interviews of the dwellers of the
units, will be made t to figure out the quality issues they come across during
their occupation . The data will be analyzed and attempts will be made to
quantify the waste, and create a framework to
reduce the waste.
V.
CONCLUSION
From the literature survey it is clear that
quality related wastage is a significant component in terms of cost. However it
is clear that the Industry currently does not track quality as in Manufacturing
Industry. The project would thus aim to create a framework to capture this
cost..Higher the tracking
of the waste, better will
be the chances to eliminate and thus
