Indian Construction Industry Research Articles

Liquidated Damages Law in Indian Construction Industry: A Critical Analysis

Liquidated Damages Law in Indian Construction Industry: A Critical Analysis

A Survey Study on Challenges and Factors Affecting in Adopting Sustainable Construction Methods in Indian Construction Industry

Due to India’s growing urbanization, the building industry is experiencing severe environmental challenges. Demand for residential housing is rising, which causes people to use more energy, resources, and raw materials leading to the rise of the carbon footprint. The environment is significantly impacted by the construction sector. It uses up natural resources and energy reserves, and it contributes significantly to the world’s CO2 emissions. The production of waste, the use of energy and water inefficiently, as well as several other environmental harms, have all been linked to the building sector. The step towards sustainability is getting a good cause due to the extinction of resources and increase of pollution in the environment. As per the sources, the majority of the carbon footprint is produced from cement and cement-related products (Construction Industry). Green Building practices are showing a good impact in the reduction of carbon footprint in the environment from the construction industry. This study aims to explore the importance of sustainable construction by conducting two surveys, a primary survey and a secondary survey. The primary survey focused on identifying the challenges in adopting sustainable construction practices, while the secondary survey aimed to identify the factors that influence the adoption of sustainable construction practices. The research employed the Relative Importance Index (RII) to identify the major challenges faced in adopting sustainable construction practices. With the help of RII factor, I was easily figured out the main challenges are Limited Awareness and Expensive Products.

Application Of Design For Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS) In Product Development: A Comprehensive Study

Organizations have been made to adopt innovative approaches to management in order to stand up to the increasing demands on product creation to be timely, qualitative, and low-cost. The DFLSS methodology stands for Design for Lean Six Sigma; it is a robust method since it knits together concepts of Lean- focused on waste reduction-with the ideas of Six Sigma, which focus on defect minimization in order to advance product development processes. This research undertakes the implementation of DFLSS in Indian manufacturing companies with a view to solving specific issues brought about by limited resources and variable degrees of technological adoption. It applies to a case study to present significant enhancement in process efficiency, defect reduction, and overall product quality. The current case study is related to the development of SOP for manufacturing an ATV and optimization of a manufacturing process. The result of this study has highlighted the capability of DFLSS as a strategic tool for competitive advantage strengthening in the manufacturing segment of the Indian construction industry. On the other hand, for successful implementation, barriers related to change resistance and resource restriction need to be crossed. The set of practical directions for DFLSS implementation in Indian contexts is presented as the end of this study. These guidelines provided a conceptual framework for further research and implementation and completed the study.

A Project Report on Planning, Scheduling, and Delay Analysis of a Construction Project during Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

Abstract: Time delay is one of the biggest problems faced by the construction industry in India. Completing projects on time isthe key factor of the project, but the construction process is subject to many variables and unpredictable factors, which result from many sources such as the availability of resources, external factors, the performance of parties, and the type the structure. Delay in the project, leadsto loss of productivity,increased cost, contract termination, and disputes between contractor and owner. These types of unrealistic exceptions are usually avoided by using a clean and efficient planning mechanism, which specifies the work and timetable to be used.This project aims to examine the causes and effects of delay ona building construction project during the construction phase and to provide control measures for time overrun in the project. A study was carried out on construction schedule, delays an,d various delay analysis techniques and methods to evaluate the causes of delay and their impacts on the construction project. The current study is based on a residential building, “Savali Saffron” located at Mundhwa, Keshav Nagar, near the old Orbis School, Pune, developed by Sapthasiddhi Associates. Studyingthe A-Wing, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a delay of 42 days has been observed, with a sum of RS 8,26,500/- added to the original budget of the construction project. The effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Constructiontion Project is studied.

Effective Scheduling and Time Management of Dhamra Railway Project Using Primavera P6

Indian construction industry is growing quickly and huge development projects are going on. Most certainly it’s justifiably or in a roundabout way connected with the Indian economy, the speed with which projects complete have appeared to influence the GDP of the country. Appropriate scheduling and planning are substantial in construction projects for decreasing and controlling postponements of the project, while an error in the same causes squandering of a significant quantity of time, capital, resources, and quality. Despite firm principles and policies, the monitoring process may be inefficient because of the practical problems prevailing or rising in the project. An attempt has been made in realizing the practical problems in project execution will contribute to proper recognition of the problem areas and implementing mitigation. The main objectives of this study are to plan, schedule, monitor, and control a railway infrastructure i.e. Dhamra Railway Project, Orissa, India with the help of Oracle Primavera P6 software. The review of various research articles has been performed and twenty-five factors from nine categories are shortlisted for the study and the time factor is considered for analysis. Thereafter, critical time analysis of the project has been performed, listing project activities with duration, their logical relationships, scheduling, and network updating considering factors from the nine categories. The main challenges leading to delays are climate, government approvals, material availability, and the remote project location. Further, project crashing is done by provision of additional labour resources to critical activities and observation can be made that a raise of 21% of labour resources would offer a reduction of 17% of the activity completion time, this trend doesn’t imply that surging the resources directly reduces duration, it will reduce duration but up to the minimum fundamental duration required only.

Addressing of Value Management Implementation Barriers within the Indian Construction Industry: A PLS-SEM Approach

This study aims to evaluate the value management (VM) implementation barriers in construction projects. Consequently, information from 126 experts in the building industry was gathered via a questionnaire survey. Subsequently, the data were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and partial least square structural modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of EFA revealed that the VM barriers were grouped into six new constructs: client, knowledge, information, culture, resources, team members, and workshop. The barriers prioritization model was developed using PLS-SEM, and it indicated that team members are critical barriers to VM adoption. Although this study was limited to India’s VM context, its findings can be applied to other developing countries yet to implement VM in their construction industries. The study enhances stakeholder awareness and an understanding of the barriers affecting the implementation of VM, including building professionals, in India. It suggests strategies and activities overcome these barriers and facilitate a higher building quality, while maintaining a reasonable price.

Implementation of Just-In-Time approach in Construction Project (A Review Paper)

Abstract: Indian development environment has changed radically over the span of final three decades. All the divisions in development industry ought to adapt up with the alter happening within the industry over time. Stock administration points at optimization of stock speculation to guarantee expanded productivity inside the development process. In our conventional framework, tragically, stock plays a part of resource while it is most costly risk. Medium and little scale organizations have a difficult time due to inaccessibility of software’s like Endeavor asset arranging. It is important to bring modern hones into usage so as to remain lively within the competition. Fair in Time procedure (JIT) is one such activity that can improve stock administration without expansive investments. JIT is a lean concept which increases efficiency and decreases waste by receiving raw materials only as needed for production process thus reducing inventory cost. It is best suited to small and large scale projects as it does not require major financial investment. This project covers a case study where the proposed system is implemented and compared with conventional approach of inventory management on a Residential building to demonstrate the usefulness of JIT in terms of cost, and to increase its base of application in Indian construction industry. The conventional material procurement procedure will be studied thoroughly and the JIT philosophy will be used to reduce the cost of project efficiently. This paper will take review about past research made in JIT and focus on feature work can be implemented through JIT in construction sector

Competencies of civil engineering graduates: Indian construction professionals’ perspective

Universities and institutes have become training centers where talented construction graduates are constantly created. This study aims to determine the skills and competencies construction graduates require to be eligible for entry-level positions on project sites. This research is necessary because it pinpoints the specific knowledge and abilities that undergraduate programmes should emphasize to provide their graduates with the foundation they need to succeed in today’s construction industry. This study utilized a quantitative methodology, and respondents from the Indian construction industry were given a close-ended questionnaire to fill out as a part of the research process. The collected data were analyzed using various statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, mean score and exploratory factor analysis. Findings revealed that tendering and bidding, decision-making, leadership and motivation skills are essential for construction graduates. The study concludes that eight factors, namely managerial skills, site administration skills, business development skills, design management skills, procurement and materials management, risk management skills, planning and scheduling, ethics and professionalism, contain one or more skills and competencies essential for construction graduates. Education in the construction sector should focus on developing these competencies required so that graduates are prepared for careers in both the domestic and international construction industries.

Identification and severity assessment of challenges in the adoption of industry 4.0 in Indian construction industry

The current exploratory study identifies the major challenges in the adoption of Industry 4.0 framework in the Indian construction industry and subsequently ranks the challenges on the basis of the severity. Based on the extant literature review and personal interaction with construction management, information technology (IT) professionals, and academicians, twenty-five challenges were identified. After validating the challenges, they were ranked from most severe to least severe using the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method based on rough set theory that leans on the indiscernibility relation between the objects. The study indicates that huge initial investments and costs incurred to mobilize the internet of things (IoT) enabled framework in the construction firms are the major obstacles to the adoption of the Industry 4.0 methods. The recruitment of experts to train the employees and workers is seen as another big hurdle in the aforementioned objective. It is a challenge to educate and train them on sophisticated technology that requires a basic understanding of computer fundamentals and IT-related concepts that is found lacking in the workers employed at the lower levels. Proper maintenance of sensitive tools and equipment such as IoT devices is a challenging task due to the nature of the activities taking place at construction sites. The multi-criteria method of ranking based on Dominance-based Rough Set Analysis (DRSA) has never been attempted to rank the challenges and assign a severity score. The study adds novelty to the existing literature in the domain of multi-criteria ranking by including a tool that is new to this area of research.

The impact of various safety leadership styles on construction safety climate: A case of South India

The Indian construction industry is the second-largest job-providing sector in the country, which comprises many investments. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) report, India is a significant contributor to construction site accidents and fatalities among world nations. The poor Safety Leadership (SL) style and the diminished leader’s commitment to quality safety outcomes have caused misfortunes in construction sites. This paper aims to identify the impact of various safety leadership styles on the Organisational Safety Climate (OSC) predictors and propose a conceptual model explaining the relationship between SL styles and OSC. The study identifies six leadership styles from the works of literature: Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Distributed leadership, Contingent reward, Laissez-faire leadership, Management-by-exception, and Superior’s empowerment leadership. Structured questionnaires were circulated for data collection among construction professionals working in metropolitan cities in south India. The collected data were analysed using the stepwise regression analysis and Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis to identify the SL styles influencing OSC predictors. The findings revealed that four out of six SL styles are optimistic. On the other hand, two of them are pessimistic, namely laissez-faire leadership and management-by-exception leadership style, which leads to an increase in construction site misfortunes. The outcome of this study helps the top-level management personnel build and develop a positive safety leadership trait to achieve quality safety outcomes of the construction organization.

An investigation on the effects of psychological contract (PC) towards site safety in the south Indian construction industry

The construction sector is India’s second-largest industry, contributing to the country’s economy and providing many job opportunities. However, construction has been described as a hazardous industry with a high rate of injuries, accidents, and fatalities compared to other sectors worldwide. The “psychological contract of safety (PCS)” is one of the safety climate (SC) variables that influence worker safety behavior (WSB) actions on construction sites to improve safety. This research investigates the influence of SC factors on PCS and PCS on WSB in construction site safety. A quantitative research method has been adopted in this study, and the data is collected from the construction professionals working in South India. Statistical analyses were performed for the collected data; consisted of stepwise regression analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis to determine the significance of PCS. The findings disclose that in direct effect, four out of six SC factors contribute to enhancing PCS, namely supervisor safety behavior, co-worker safety behavior, worker involvement, and safety system, and it shows that PCS influences WSB. In indirect effect of SC factor on WSB two factors positively influence namely: supervisor safety behavior, co-worker safety behavior and remaining two negatively influences. The outcome of this study helps the construction professionals to improve safety performance by fulfilling their obligations and improving WSB in construction sites.

Identification of Critical Barriers in Implementing Lean Construction Practices in Indian Construction Industry

Identification of Critical Barriers in Implementing Lean Construction Practices in Indian Construction Industry

Mitigating the barriers to green procurement adoption: An exploratory study of the Indian construction industry

The construction sector in India is in the government's intense focus on creating a world-class infrastructure balancing environmental conservation. Adopting green procurement practices by mitigating adoption barriers is necessary for Indian construction firms to achieve the goal. However, none of the existing research identified the comprehensive list of barriers, analysed their impacts on green procurement adoption, prioritized the barriers and formulated the solution strategies to mitigate them and maximize green procurement adoption for the Indian construction sector. To bridge this gap, this study has identified barriers, analysed their impact, prioritized the criticality, and developed the solution strategies to alleviate them. Questionnaire surveys and descriptive statistics are first performed for data analysis of the firms based on the firm's size and domain of expertise. Later, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed and identified the significant differences in the impact of the barriers on Indian construction firms having different sizes or domains of expertise. The fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM) is then used to identify the most significant barriers as “reduced commitment from higher management”, “lack of management support”, and “perception of higher cost for adhering to green procurement”. Finally, the Delphi technique and assessment of various portals of the Government of India (GOI) have been carried out to identify the solutions to mitigate the barriers. The research results in an original and unique approach to identifying and analysing the critical barriers to green procurement adoption and their impact on different categories of Indian construction firms. It has identified the topmost barriers and then the solution strategies Indian construction firms and GOI need to focus on to embrace green procurement. The procurement managers can identify the top-rated barriers derived from the present study to closely focus and make strategies to eliminate them, helping their organisations adopt green procurement practices. The solution strategies derived from the study may be ready to implement action plans for construction and infrastructure companies of India, environmental and social development of the country, and assisting the GOI in developing and implementing the policy of green procurement for the Indian construction industry.

Construction and demolition waste causative factors in building projects: survey of the Indian construction industry experiences

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) management is one of the reasons for the success of any construction project. Over time, the construction sector has consistently witnessed its projects getting complicated to manage. Along with this, the pressure comes from the growing demand to build intelligent and sustainable buildings. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the C&DW. This study intends to determine the variables generating C&DW in India's construction sector and identify the criteria that merit a reduction in a construction project based on their importance level. An extensive literature review was conducted, and numerous attributes causing C&DW were examined. The questionnaires were disseminated to stakeholders, and an analysis of the collected data to understand the degree of importance of each attribute was appraised. The factor analysis divided the attributes into eight factors and 44 identified attributes, and none of them were excluded from the analysis. The eight parameters were then used to build the conceptual framework for assessing the C&DW in the Indian construction industry. This study seeks to build a conceptual framework for assessing the causes of C&DW in the Indian construction industry, which would help reduce C&DW and motivate most construction companies' applications. It must provide a better understanding of the architecture, engineering, and construction industry players and build consciousness among them for tackling future construction projects.

Fatal fall incidents in the Indian construction industry: a case study analysis

The fall from height fatal accident rate is higher than those of other accidents in the construction sector because of work-related causes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal factors of fatal fall incidents in the Indian construction industry. This study adopted a three-level accident causation model developed by Loughborough University researchers, aiming to identify immediate circumstances, shaping factors and originating influences in selected incidents. The accident cases were retrieved from police records and government documents. Accident data from 2019 to 2020 were studied, and specific emphasis was placed on fatal fall events. These events were subjected to content review to determine causal factors. In total, ten fatal fall cases were analysed in which immediate circumstances were established for all the cases that involved the use of unsafe methods of work. In some cases, shaping factors were identified as possible contributors to the events, such as the work process nature and team members’ communication. Originating influences could not be established in any of the cases. The study findings could give a more comprehensive qualitative insight into the causal factors of fatal fall accidents, which could alert stakeholders in developing safety programmes and providing effective fall preventive measures.

Potential application of over-burnt brick and fly ash for sustainable inverted pavement structure

• The potential application of overburnt brick has been shown for inverted pavement. • Fly ash can be used in the subbase of inverted pavement using cement stabilization. • Response spectrum method has been utilized for pavement thickness optimization. The scarcity of natural aggregate required for infrastructural development (including road construction) is a global problem. Therefore, researchers have constantly been exploring the possibility of different kinds of non-conventional aggregate for sustainable road construction. In this context, over-burnt brick is one among the most common wastes from the construction industry in India, which can be utilized as non-conventional aggregates in the granular layer of pavement structure with the help of a stabilization technique. Pavement structure containing stabilized/cementitious underlying base/sub-base layer is termed as inverted pavement (asphalt layer supported by a relatively stiffer stabilized layer). Attempts have been made in the past to utilize over-burnt brick as an alternative aggregate in different types of pavement structures. However, whether such over-burnt aggregate can be utilized in the stabilized layer of the inverted pavement structure is still unknown. Therefore, this research aimed to explore the potential application of over-burnt brick with the help of stabilization using a cement-fly ash mixture for the base layer of inverted pavement. Likewise, the mixture of fly ash and cement mixture was investigated for their potential application in the subbase layer of the inverted pavement structure. The optimal quantity of cement in both layers for stabilization was initially determined based on strength and durability criteria. Finally, the inverted pavement was analyzed based on the design of experiment approach using the response surface methodology. The analysis of strength and durability components indicated that cement content equal to 6% for brick-fly ash mixture is suitable for the base layer of the inverted pavement. Likewise, cement content equal to 7% with fly ash was found to be suitable for its application in the sub-base layer. It is expected that this research work will help improve the sustainability quotient associated with an inverted pavement structure.

Automated Construction Progress Monitoring of Prefabricated Concrete Structures using Building Information Modeling and Internet of Things

The construction industry in India is facing various issues pertaining to low productivity, inefficient management at construction sites, high construction safety risk and lack of information on the status of project. With the development of modern tools and technologies prefabricated construction is becoming more prevalent in the building industry. However, there are many limitations in the actual manufacturing process such as storage, quality checks, installation of the prefabricated components and its status which is due to the lack of real-time information collection and sharing. In order to speed up the construction process and better management and monitoring of the project, this research proposes the framework for integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and Building Information Modeling (BIM). The paper proposes a conceptual framework of an IoT enabled BIM platform to accomplish a real-time visualization in prefabricated concrete structures construction. This is done by using various sensors in the prefabricated components to demonstrate a highly efficient automated progress monitoring system of prefabricated construction.

Various Construction Machinery Analyses

Abstract: Construction is the various hazards available industry. At the same time these hazards make more reportable or non – reportable accident in the construction field. Most of the accidents are arrived due to the construction machinery. Now, in the modern construction field the usage of machinery is quite high. Maintenance and it will also focusing on calculating the overall equipment effectiveness. Utilization of machine properly and match their capacities to specific project requirements. Current practices and observations made in Indian construction industry. The effectiveness of construction machineries is a major factor that differentiates construction companies in terms of heavy construction and light construction. The objective of the work is to enhance the equipment effectiveness at a construction company. So we need to save the time in the construction field at the same time the machine related safety also important as well as reduce the accident.

Comparative Study of Green Rating Systems in India

Indian construction industry is highest growth rate from last years, which is having a negative impact on the environment and natural resources available for construction. Following this problem of carbon imprint, concept of sustainable development in construction industry is the need of an hour. With increase in demand of sustainable buildings or green buildings demand of green rating and assessment tools is also increasing. Rating tools set benchmark for green building measurement, which are helpful in reducing negative impact on environment by promoting quality green building. India has two main building environment assessment tools i.e., Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA). The former is benchmarked with global standards while later is indigenously developed. This paper aims to focus on comparative study of IGBC (LEED India) and GRIHA rating system and compare both with regards to their certification-cost, influence and popularity, performance criteria and benchmarks 9rating score). Through this study, an attempt is made to make clear understanding of IGBC and GRIHA rating system assessment criteria that need to be considered before certification.

Exploring the journey of BIM in the Indian AECO industry (2008–2022) an excelize perspective

The journey of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in India has been from skepticism to acceptance to leveraging the higher potentials of BIM. Excelize Software, serving the global Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations industry from their headquarters in Aurangabad, has been a witness to and participant in this transformational journey for nearly last two decades. This paper is aimed at exploring their journey of offering BIM services to a wide variety of projects that were undertaken in the construction industry of India during this period. The construction sector has historically grappled with the challenges of managing productivity with respect to completion of projects on time, management of labor and materials and maintenance of built assets. BIM made its foray into the Indian construction industry towards the end of the first decade in this millennium. Typical of any technology adoption curve, BIM was met with a fair share of skepticism across stakeholders. Yet, awareness about its potential benefits, scope of application in design and management of various aspects of the project and subsequent adoption has grown slowly yet steadily in the past decade. Data published by Invest India (Source: https://www.investindia.gov.in/sector/construction) states that the construction Industry in India is expected to reach $1.4 Tn by 2025. Urban population is said to contribute 75% of GDP (63% present), and 68 cities will have a population of more than 1 million; up from 42 today. The construction industry market in India works across 250 sub-sectors with linkages across sectors. Given these projections, India is likely to go through massive urbanization and economic growth. All construction activities that result from this growth will need proper planning, scheduling, design and information management. Meeting these needs will require a strong framework for implementation, a sophisticated level of design communication, project co-ordination and documentation as well as robust technology tools. BIM is well-designed to be the first building block of such a framework that can radically support and enhance the massive needs of the construction sector in India. Through the various projects executed by Excelize and a set of parameters that reveal the BIM adoption metrics for the said period, this paper will navigate the journey of BIM from ‘We are not interested’ to ‘Nice to have tool’ to ‘Must have technology aid’ to ‘Exploring BIM for greater possibilities.’