The material supply chain management in a construction project: A current scenario in the procurement process

Abstract

Supply chain (SC) is a new term that emphasizes interaction between marketing, logistics, and production. With the application of SC, comes the opportunity primarily related to the management of procurement of logistics material across corporate boundaries, such as between firm and its suppliers. This paper presents the existing research in the field of materials procurement of SC which includes SC concepts and traditional management versus supply chain management (SCM). The discussions on the evolution of SCM have also been included to show how SC is defined and practised today, with the intention of highlighting new opportunities to improve the performance of materials SCM. This paper indicated that SCM has transferred us from ultra-functional material chain insights to intervention and even between organizations. The SCM concept is now commonly used in businesses for corporate interests in the SC (from organizations that extract basic raw materials to end customers). The basic principles of SCM are integration. However, SCM is not well-known in the construction industry. This paper considers the potential of applying SCM to integrate the construction process in Malaysia and hence, addressing urgent issues including poor cost, practices and environmental performance associated with the traditional process.