Advancing the Competitiveness and Efficiency of the U.S. Construction Industry (2009) / Chapter Skim
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2 Obstacles to Improving Construction Productivity
2 Obstacles to Improving Construction Productivity
Pages 19-26
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From page 19... ...
The 1983 report of the Business Roundtable entitled More Construction for the Money (BRT, 1983) identified an array of obstacles hindering productivity: • Adversarial relationships between owners and contractors, management and labor, union and open-shop workers, business and government; • The lack of accurate information about the industry, its projects, and its labor supply; • Poor safety performance; • Undertrained foremen and poor job-site management; • A lack of training and education for the workforce; • Disinterest in adopting new technologies and a slow pace of innovation; • The lack of management systems; • Collective bargaining agreements and labor practices; and • Government regulations, including building code administration.
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From page 20... ...
Seeking to apply these lessons to construction, large Japanese construction companies invested significant resources to automate and integrate some construction-related tasks in the 1980s and 1990s. They attempted to completely automate and integrate processes and technology, using modularization, just-in-time delivery, robotics, rigid supply chain management, and innovations in connections and assembly methods (in Appendix C, see the subsection entitled "Japan")
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From page 21... ...
To date, available automated equipment, prefabricated components, and other innovations have been used primarily by large construction companies on industrial and infrastructure projects. Their widespread use by contractors for commercial projects has been hampered by a number of factors, including the costs to own, lease, or operate automated equipment; the limited availability of some automated equipment; and conventional design practices that typically do not consider the use of automated equipment during preproject planning.
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From page 22... ...
. In the automotive industry, for example, designers first develop virtual models and digital databases for vehicles, complex projects that involve numerous interrelated systems, a variety of materials, and a range of designers, engineers, suppliers, and constructors.
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From page 23... ...
2 Hazards for construction workers include working at heights, in excavations and tunnels, on highways, and in confined spaces; exposure to high levels of noise, to chemicals, and to high-voltage electric lines; and the use of power tools and heavy equipment. Significant health risks include hearing loss, silicosis, musculoskeletal disorders, skin diseases, and health effects associated with exposures to lead, asphalt fumes, and welding fumes (NRC, 2009)
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From page 24... ...
The importance of metrics to improved productivity is captured in the often-repeated phrase "You can't improve what you don't measure." One method used by industries to measure changes in productivity and efficiency is to set benchmarks by collecting data for various facilities, processes, and practices. In the automotive industry, for example, an annual report by Harbour Associates measures various automotive plants using statistical sampling techniques.
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From page 25... ...
Most task-level metrics include explicit measures of output for specific tasks and the labor hours required to complete the task. CII also collects task-level data for participating firms.
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