Efficiency Analysis of Foundation System

The increasing number of residents in South Tangerang has an impact on increasing the need for lower housing. The development of vertical housing with the market name of flats, apartments and is the most effective anticipatory solution to overcome land prices which result in market limitations, especially for the upper middle class. This 32-storey apartment project uses a combined foundation system between drill pile foundation & raft foundation. With the combination of these two very massive systems, of course, it will have a very expensive cost to implement and take a long time to complete. In order to avoid cost overruns, the foundation design must look at the possibilities. To determine the efficiency of the combined system foundation design between pile bored foundation & raft foundation, the researchers analyzed the value of the bearing capacity and also the settlement that occurred in the existing foundation using the Poulos method, the equivalent Raft method and the Vesic method. From the results of the study, it was found that the contribution of the pile foundation bearing capacity was 24.10%. the placement of the raft foundation is 75.90% and the settlement analysis using the Poulos 8.95cm method, the 12.41cm Equivalent Raft method and the Vesic 12.1cm method, these three results are close to the maximum settlement limit.

A Simulation Model for Application Development in Data Warehouses

Software development projects have been blamed for being behind schedule, cost overruns, and the delivery of poor quality product. This paper presents a simulation model of a data warehouse to evaluate the feasibility of different software development controls and measures to better manage a software development lifecycle, and improve the performance of the launched software. This paper attempts to address the practical issue of code defects in each stage of data warehouse application development. The author has compared the defect removal rate of their previous project to the newly proposed enhanced project development life cycle that uses code inspection and code scorecard along with other phases of software development life cycle. Simulation results show that the code inspection and code score-carding have achieved a significant code defect reduction. This has also significantly improved the software development process and allowed for a flawless production execution. The author proposes this simulation model to a data warehouse application development process to enable developers to improve their current process.

Improving Resiliency in Healthcare Service by Minimizing Unsatisfied Demand

Natural or manmade disasters can bring havoc to the healthcare industry in terms of poor services, out of stocks, cost overruns, and loss of lives. Specifically, the aftermath of disasters can be brutal if not managed properly. The quicker the healthcare providers recover, the lesser the impact would be. A resilient system has the potential to reduce the recovery time significantly. Healthcare providers under emergency scenarios may realize out-of-stock situations for their critical medical supplies. The out-of-stock supplies potentially cause poor patient care including death. COVID 19 is an unfortunate example where critical medical supplies were completely out for many medical providers and that had a serious negative impact on healthcare service deliveries. Healthcare providers needed to replenish their supplies from the overseas manufacturing plants, or central distribution centers, or unaffected regional distribution centers. Most of the times healthcare authorities struggle to secure critical medical supplies from other distribution centers due to operational and transportation issues. Depending on the disaster condition, sometimes many health care providers are beyond reach due to damaged transportation networks. This is the perfect time to share critical medical supplies from unaffected regions. Proven techniques like operation research can alleviate this situation. There are very few works that have been done in the field of healthcare service deliveries in case of a disaster. This chapter discusses the modeling techniques using operations research to improve the service levels while minimizing unsatisfied demand in the natural disaster-affected zones.

A model for measuring distruption risk in the prefabrication supply chain

Use of prefabrication in construction projects is increasing due to the benefits in cost, time, quality, and safety. However, utilizing prefabrication introduces uncertainties inherent with the supply chain of the process. These uncertainties, if not managed, can disrupt the prefabrication process and result in schedule delays and cost overruns. This study proposes a model to measure disruption risks in the prefabrication process. The model was used in measuring the disruption risks of prefabrication of headwalls in patients’ rooms for a healthcare project as a pilot study. The risk model could successfully identify the disruption risks originating anywhere in the supply chain based on input information such as required material quantity, batch sizes of material deliveries, production rates, and batch sizes of transporting the headwall units. Using the model, the project team identified two uncertainties that could lead to possible disruptions: the start of the prefabrication processes and the required production rate to meet the on-site schedule. This is a first step to developing a risk exposure model that can prove valuable to the risk managers to analyse and manage the impact of disruptions. This will help the risk managers in making informed decisions about where to focus their limited resources.

Modeling cost overrun in building construction projects using the interpretive structural modeling approach: a developing country perspective

PurposeAlthough several studies have been conducted on the causes of cost overrun, they have mainly assumed that the causes of cost overrun are independent of each other, and few of them scrutinized the complex interrelationships between the causes. To fill the gap, this study aims to investigate the mutual interactions between the causes of cost overrun using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and proposing strategies to tackle the causes considering their interactions.Design/methodology/approachCritical causes of cost overrun were identified through a comprehensive literature review. In total, 22 key causes are then refined based on the opinions of relevant experts involved in the Iranian building and construction sector. Using the nominal group technique, the causes' interactions were examined and represented via the ISM diagram. The causes were also classified using “matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC)” technique.FindingsThe results showed that price fluctuation, claims, execution delay, delay in payment and change order positioned at the highest level of the obtained model can directly result in cost overrun, and corruption and poor contract management located at the base of the model are two major root causes of cost overruns. It was also concluded that more attention should be paid to the precontract phase of the project to address and prevent corruption and managerial issues deeply rooted in this stage.Originality/valueThe findings of this study provide a clear understanding of how different causes of cost overrun are related to each other and can ultimately assist project managers of different parties in choosing strategies to mitigate cost overrun in building construction projects.

Knowledge Management and Experience Transfer in Major Maintenance Activities: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Major overhauls, outages, shutdowns and turnarounds (MoOSTs) are significant maintenance interventions needed on a periodic basis to optimise the performance of physical industrial assets (PIAs). However, uncertainties in the forms of emergent and discovery work which sometimes cause delays and cost overruns are quite common partly because, MoOSTs are characterised by inherent challenges such as, but not limited to, short execution spans, volatility in ever-evolving schedules, task complexities as well as huge offline production and/or operation costs etc. Furthermore, in the literature, other complex elements which further constrains decision-makers in MoOSTs from satisfactorily achieving predetermined objectives have been identified, one of which is the lack of a formalised approach for capturing tacit knowledge from experienced practitioners. Consequently, because MoOSTs is an applied discipline, significant human endeavours are required in the planning and management, which makes it pertinent to examine and obtain the perspectives of experienced MoOSTs practitioners. Therefore, the aims of this study are two folds; firstly, to examine the extent of alignment between findings from literature as it relates to the challenges encountered during MoOSTs, as well as probe their underlying causes in practice. Secondly, to show how relevant the findings from this study would be in providing a baseline for establishing a proposal for capturing MoOSTs knowledge and the transfer of experience. The research approach adopted; thematic synthesis of themes which emerged from knowledge management challenges in MoOSTs identified via an earlier systematic literature review (SLR); and then, the identified challenges were validated through conducting interviews with practitioners. Demography analysis as well as specific MoOSTs related questions were administered via questionnaires, which were then analysed using frequency analysis method. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the perceptions of practitioners on pertinent MoOSTs issues. Both questionnaires and interview questions were formulated by findings obtained from the SLR, so as to examine whether the knowledge management challenges identified in the literature exist in practice, and if they do to what extent. In total, the selected responses of 49 practitioners, with origin across five industries were examined to determine the extent of alignment between literature and the practice-based perspectives. Based on the results, nine challenges were identified as critical themes, six of which were associated with managing knowledge. The study identified not only known constraints from literature but also their underlying causes based on the perspective of practitioners involved in multiple MoOSTs, which is crucial for developing sustainable mitigation. A unique contribution of this research is the mapping of demographic information such as industry, country, job class, years of experience, MoOSTs organization size, frequency for performing MoOSTs, etc., to responses obtained from participants, which has not been shown in literature prior to now. The importance of such rigorous efforts in the research design, is crucial for enabling the adoption of holistic approaches to eliminating the underlying causes of challenges encountered in MoOSTs, based on first hand reporting of people involved. In addition, the relevance of such first-hand analyses of responses obtained from this study; serve as baseline for the introduction of the proposal to adequately manage knowledge management issues in this discipline.

Assessing the Duration of the Lead Appointed Party Coordination Tasks and Evaluating the Appropriate Team Composition on BIM Projects

This paper addresses critical success factors for the delivery of BIM projects. The lack of experience with BIM projects on both the demand and supply side often leads to insufficient project teams, unsatisfied clients, schedule, and cost overruns. In order to better structure and control the information delivery in BIM projects requirements, planning and delivery must be standardized. The latter was achieved by EIR (Exchange Information Requirements), new BIM roles, BEP (BIM Execution Plan), and specified digital handover, which must be supported by a common data environment (CDE). This paper provides an analysis of the characteristics of BIM project delivery and duration in Architectural and Engineering companies in Slovakia. The analysis is based on the web survey of BIM managers and coordinators, which reveals that a significant amount of BIM project efforts must be executed by BIM specialists. The results also graphically depict the scope of critical BIM activities across project phases. The presented study is relevant for various project stakeholders and allows for a deeper understanding of the resources needed for the successful delivery of BIM projects in terms of adequate project team capacity, capability, organization, and planning.

Building Information Modelling Technology in Mitigating Cost Overruns and change orders in Construction Projects

Variation order (VO) is one of the main issues faced by the construction industry in Jordan. Many researchers had investigated on the causes of VO and proposed procedures to minimize and control this issue; however, the VO is affecting the construction industry badly even at moment. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a powerful management system that can make a significant difference in the project costs. However, BIM has not been examined as a tool to minimize the VO in Jordan. The main target of this study is to utilize BIM applications in reducing the effect of VO on the governmental projects in Jordan. In order to achieve this target, the researcher has designed a questionnaire to gather data related to VO causes and the BIM capability to solve this problem. The data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed statistically. The result from the analysis found that the consultant initiated the highest VO of 50% followed by the clients and the contractors of 20% and 10% unforeseen variation respectively. Moreover, it is found that BIM Design Applications, Facility Operations Simulation, Exploration Design Scenarios, BIM Design Detection and BIM Quantity Take-off and Cost Estimation were significantly capable of minimizing VO. The results show positive relationship with the application of BIM in minimizing VO in the construction industry in Jordan. © 2018. JASET, International Scholars and Researchers Association

Strategies for Successful Project Execution – A Transformation in Project Delivery without Disruption

Cost overruns on lump sum turnkey projects have challenged Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) project implementations. Several causes can be attributed to this problem but common to all is that despite significant efforts spent in planning and estimating the job, most projects fail in the execution stage. A new approach to EPC projects execution and delivery combines better management of scope brought by the Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) procedure and efficiencies from the LEAN principles of an engaged workforce that was Toyota's success in manufacturing industry can be applied to construction industry. The implementation of this enhanced process supported by a digital tool, an end-to-end platform, can be extremely useful for projects in Petroleum Industry. Methods, Procedures, Process: The approach has been designed to tackle three crucial challenges of project execution: people (company culture), process inefficiencies and data handling. The sense of inclusion, empowerment of a worker and the clarity of scope of every activity to be performed have a profound impact on the performance of the worker. It is designed to involve all stakeholders (from the owner to the last member of the crew) giving them an opportunity to contribute to the project implementation. The proposed enhancement of the processes at every stage of the project (from engineering to completion) drastically reduces the traditional inefficiencies of EPC projects which are responsible for cost overruns, schedule delays and poor quality of work. Results, Observations, Conclusions: A plethora of digital tools used today in EPC industry create a large pool of data that can be leveraged to have an insight on the projects. However, all the data produced by different and disconnected tools are still used in silo and large data available creates complexity in analyzing and interpreting it. The AWP+LEAN approach brings transformation without disruption: an automated integration with existing systems used in the organization can be established in order to collect, give consistency and synchronize all the available information hassle-free. The novelty of the approach presented in the paper compared to the other practices is its non-disruptive nature. The idea is to combine in a consistent fashion, all the information collected during the project by different tools and orchestrate them to provide a deep insight and granular visibility to the project. This means that there are no switching costs for the EPC companies and less resistance from people in adopting the new processes, making the journey to improvement easy and smooth.

Digitally Enabled Organizations- Leveraging New Age Technologies

When inadequate information appears via a long-winded channel, project leaders usually struggle to make timely decisions. There is frequently a lack of visibility, contractual and organizational fragmentation, and genuine facts being segregated and concealed due to an optimism bias. Despite the finest planning and estimation efforts, projects frequently exceed their budgets or experience delays of more than 30%. The paper outlines the importance of data and of data use to improve the performance in projects planning and delivery. The data value and hierarchy are reviewed in the context of the construction industry and the importance of a smooth digitalization process for ensuring acceptance and adoption is discussed. The concept of ‘digital construction blocks’TM and Lean thinking is introduced to address the problem of complexity which is commonly recognized as the main cause of cost overruns, time delays, and poor quality and safety for the construction industry. To capture the footprint of how the asset was built, the authors propose the Digital Twin of Execution adding dynamism to the commonly discussed Digital Twin of Asset, which is more static when the asset has already been constructed. The project is organized into digital blocks, allowing all project functions and disciplines to focus on a common path of construction, allowing for an earlier start of a constraint-free construction and, as a result, de-risking and compressing the total execution schedule. Data from existing systems and technologies is unlocked and placed in automated processes, allowing thousands of documents, activities, and fast-moving events to be collected in digital blocks of construction. The digital block is connected throughout project stages and taken across all aspects of the project, including plot plans, activity plans, drawings, 3D, materials, and so on, resolving the project's disarray caused by manual and analogue procedures. The entire planning, project setup, and execution process is aided by GIS, which provides visibility at various levels of magnification via an interactive geo spatial map superimposed with plot plans, timetables, and work packages. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can be used to forecast the probability of danger in various field operations. It's done by using IoT devices implanted in employees’ PPE and in the environment to process data collected on the system. Digital Control Tower can provide a smart dashboard that not only displays the KPIs but also helps the user prioritize his next steps. It may provide an overall view of the project's progress and KPIs, as well as get to the root of a problem in a specific installation area, raise red flags and alerts, and function as a user's assistant by predicting errors early on.