Performance Assessment on the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Construction Material Industry

Along with global geopolitical complex, information network security issues and increased natural disasters, risk management should be well considered in the construction material industry to re-integrate and establish stiff and flexible supply chains in order to cope with emergencies in the future market. Taking the construction material industry in Taiwan as the research object, representative enterprises with artificial intelligence applied sustainable supply chain management are studied. With the Delphi method and data envelopment analysis, the public data of annual statistics reports of the enterprises are used for selecting the performance indicators of inputs and outputs. Empirical data analysis is also performed to provide reference for the improvement. The research results are summarized as follows. 1. Substituting various input/output index values into CCR and BCC models, the overall production efficiency and pure technical efficiency of enterprises are calculated; by dividing the two, the returns to scale of enterprises are acquired. 2. Critical factors in artificial intelligence applied sustainable supply chain management could be found out through sensitivity analysis. Using the rate of sensitivity change as the evaluation baseline, sensitive factors contain financial aspect, scale aspect, financial performance, and profit before tax. Finally, discussions are proposed according to the results, expecting to help domestic businesses in the construction material industry establish steady and flexible supply chains and present diversified procurement sources to reinforce the emergency defensive ability of the construction material industry.

Quality improvement of energy management: an analysis of industries in a developing country

Energy management is a critical question for the progress in developing countries. In fact, it is one of the most important foundations of sustainable development. Optimizing the use of energy resources is an issue with notable multiplier effects on the social evolution of the people of these regions. Similarly, the civil construction industry is also relevant, since it represents a strong economic and social contribution for these countries. It is important to remark that the demands of the construction material industry in combustible consumption for their productions, frequently with low rate efficiency, require a systematic management activity able to detect improvement alternatives, based on process approaches to contribute to the energy efficiency and the quality of the final production. This paper proposes a set of procedures to implement technological and organizational improvements of the combustible consumption practice in brick production plants in the construction material industry in a developing country (Cuba). Quality improvement opportunities are detected, together with the energetic characterization of the process. Some well-defined parameters and indicators have evidenced the improvement potentialities and its execution. The placement of domes in the furnace defines a new zone of quality control with losses from 0.5 - 1.5%, that at the beginning of the research were 2.4 - 4.5%. This enabled to plan a loss level rate at least 1.6% lower and a variability two times lower. Besides it is achieved a consumption rate average of 0.2739 to 0.2387 liters per brick in the covered furnace, saving 11,000 liters of fuel in the semester. The generalization of the procedure in the entity producing roof tiles and clay pipes in Sancti-Spíritus municipality (Cuba) showed a significant contribution since the reductions in the fuel consumption rate were greater than the achieved in the brick productions. As these industrial processes are similar to those in many other countries, this case study shows some analyses, practical applications and results that can be used abroad.

The Quantified Analysis of Causes of Market Risk Fluctuations in the Group of Construction, Real Estate and Construction Material Companies in Vietnam During and After the Global Crisis 2007-2011

This research analyzes the fluctuations on market risk for the listed firms in the Vietnam real estate, construction and construction material industries as it becomes necessary, esp. after the financial crisis 2007-2011. It also provides us with a model to identify key causes of these above risk fluctuations. Firstly, by using quantitative and analytical methods to estimate asset and equity beta of the total 205 listed companies in Vietnam’s real estate, construction and construction material industry with a proper traditional model, we found that in the viewpoint of asset beta used as market risk measurement, the construction industry has the lowest risk, next is the construction material industry and real estate one has the highest risk. Secondly, we recognized that in the real estate, construction and construction material industry, the main factors affecting market risk are GDP growth, lending rate, and inflation. Thirdly, by using a proper quantitative analysis method, the study realized that in the viewpoint of asset beta, construction industry has the lowest market risk because of GDP growth decreasing, inflation increasing and average income increasing. On the contrary, real estate industry has the highest market risk because GDP growth decreases and lending rate increases. Finally, this paper provides some outcomes that could provide companies and government with more evidence in establishing their policies in governance and in monitoring these industries.

Status and Trends of Low Carbon Activities of Construction Materials in Korea

A building is a structure constructed using various methods. An enormous amount of resources and energy is invested in the construction of buildings. In order to reduce the energy spent and the environmental load incurred by the construction of buildings, it is necessary to first reduce the energy spent in and the environmental load of each material involved in the construction of buildings. To achieve low carbon greenhouse gas emissions and energy goals, locally as well as internationally, both public and private sectors have focused on improving the environmental impact of products. This paper discusses the low carbon activities of the construction material industry. Here, we investigate the trend of each country in policy support and technological innovation for realizing low carbon activities. We also analyze the carbon dioxide emissions of certified carbon labeled construction materials. Because the process of producing construction materials makes it difficult to reduce the generation of carbon, only 68 items of a total of 962 items were certified as carbon labeled materials. However, leading material manufacturers are ready to recognize certified carbon labeling as an important process in order to gain the customer's trust and play a leading role.