Paving the Path towards Efficient Construction Logistics by Revealing the Current Practice and Issues

Ahmet Anil Sezer,Anna Fredriksson

doi:10.3390/logistics5030053

Abstract

Multiple deliveries and long turnaround times on construction sites harm the environment and disturb on-site productivity and safety. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the transport patterns of construction material deliveries, including turnaround times. In order to investigate the number of transports and turnaround times, transport data for 13 Swedish construction sites, which were collected with the help of booking systems, were used. By comparing data from the cases, several patterns were observed: (i) very few projects receive deliveries at weekends, (ii) almost all projects receive 50% of their daily deliveries before 09:00, (iii) long goods, standard euro pallets and lightweight goods (less than 500 kg) are the most common deliveries, (iv) trucks and delivery vans are the most common vehicles used and (v) goods to be handled by crane and lightweight goods generate the longest turnaround time/delivery. This is one of the rare studies revealing current practice and issues associated with material deliveries, which is a necessary first step to increase efficiency of construction logistics. This study shows that it is possible to influence these issues, as some projects performed better than others regarding turnaround times and transport.

Highlights

Construction accounts for 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) globally, and employs 7% of the world’s working population [1], while suffering from low productivity growth rates and being harmful to the environment
According to Pearce and Ahn [2], the construction industry is responsible for 40% of the energy use and one third of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) worldwide
In line with Lacoste and Johnsen [35], we have used ‘tacit knowledge’ gained through longitudinal immersion in the field [36] to guide the selection of illustrative cases in Sweden. This type of data can be found as part of construction logistics setups (CLSs), such as checkpoints [18,37] or construction consolidation centres (CCCs) [20,38]

Summary

Introduction

Construction accounts for 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) globally, and employs 7% of the world’s working population [1], while suffering from low productivity growth rates and being harmful to the environment. According to Pearce and Ahn [2], the construction industry is responsible for 40% of the energy use and one third of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) worldwide. When it comes to productivity and environmental sustainability in the construction industry, a vast majority of previous studies present the contractor’s perspective [3]. Workers spend 15% of their time moving equipment and materials to assembly areas [6], and transportation by hand represents 43% of the logistics cost [7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion