| 1. |
- Björnfot, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Application of line-of-balance and 4D CAD for lean planning
- 2007
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 7:2, s. 200-211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to suggest the application of the line-of-balance (LoB) scheduling technique in combination with a 4D CAD workspace model as a method to improve the management of the flow of resources through locations in construction projects, defined as work flow. Current scheduling methods fail to consistently manage work flow, which can disrupt the construction process, leading to waste such as conflicts in time and space by construction crews. Design/methodology/approach - LoB and 4D CAD are applied to a case study of multi-story timber housing project involving the construction of 95 apartments in five six-storey buildings. Based on the case study results, the benefits and limitations of the combined use of both methods are discussed. Findings - The majority of the problems experienced during the actual construction process quickly become evident from an analysis of a relatively simple LoB diagram. Furthermore, the 4D CAD workspace model provides additional insights in the scheduling of construction activities, such as workspace availability, the spatial context of workspaces and partial overlap of workspaces. Practical implications - Virtual design and construction methods based on principles from lean construction can contribute significantly to the value of the product and the elimination of waste in any construction project. Originality/value - The paper refers to the guiding principles from lean construction in relation to virtual design and construction methods, such as simulations with 4D CAD. Additional research and studies of practical applications are suggested to facilitate the combination of principles from lean construction with virtual design and construction methods.
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| 2. |
- Bosch-Sijtsema, Petra, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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The hype factor of digital technologies in AEC
- 2021
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - 1477-0857 .- 1471-4175. ; 21:4, s. 899-916
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – This paper aims to focus on 11 digital technologies (i.e. building information modeling, artificial intelligence and machine learning, 3D scanning, sensors, robots/automation, digital twin, virtual reality, 3D printing, drones, cloud computing and self-driving vehicles) that are portrayed in future trend reports and hype curves. The study concentrates on the current usage and knowledge of digital technologies in the Swedish architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry to gain an insight in the possible expectations and future trajectory of these digital technologies. Design/methodology/approach – The study applies an abductive approach which is based on three different types of methods. These methods are a literature and document study which focused on 11 digital technologies, two workshops with industry (13 participants) and an online survey (N = 84). Findings – The paper contributes to a current state analysis of the Swedish AEC industry concerning digital technologies and discusses the trajectory of these technologies for the AEC industry. The paper identifies hype factors, in which the knowledge of a digital technology is related to its usage. From the hype factors, four zones that show different stages of digital technology usage and maturity in the industry are induced. Originality/value – The contribution of the paper is twofold. The paper shows insight into opportunities, the current barriers, use and knowledge of digital technologies for the different actors in the AEC industry. Furthermore, the study shows that the AEC industry is behind the traditional Gartner hype curves and contributes with defining four zones for digital technologies for the Swedish AEC industry: confusion, excitement, experimentation and integration.
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| 3. |
- Bröchner, Jan, 1948
(författare)
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Construction patents and university-industry research interaction: An analysis of Nordic region data
- 2013
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - 1477-0857 .- 1471-4175. ; 13:4, s. 410-423
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose– In the context of university-industry interaction, little is known about construction patents. The purpose of this paper is to explore this aspect of construction innovation systems.Design/methodology/approach– After a review of studies of academic interaction with the construction sector, applications for construction patents in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden for 2006-2010 were analysed. References to academic publications in US patent applications in three relevant classes were identified.Findings– References to university interaction occur in construction patents, but only seldom and not for mechanical devices. Country differences in patent legislation, such as legal protection for utility models and concerning university ownership of patents, have little effect on construction patenting.Research limitations/implications– Further analyses of construction-specific relations between types of university-industry interaction are needed, as well as empirical studies of other regions.Practical implications– Patterns found here should offer useful insights for firms designing their intellectual property strategies.Social implications– The findings suggest that government innovation strategies and internal university policies should recognise the wide variety of interactions with construction sector firms. Policies reflecting innovation systems in industries that depend highly on intellectual property rights should be reconsidered.Originality/value– This analysis has exploited recent advances in searchable patent databases in several countries.
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| 4. |
- Engström, Susanne, et al.
(författare)
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Sustaining inertia? : Construction clients' decision-making and information-processing approach to industrialized building innovations
- 2012
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 12:4, s. 393-413
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – Humans tend to rely on beliefs, assumptions and cognitive rules-of-thumb for making judgments and are biased against taking more uncertain alternatives. Such inertia has implications for client organizations' decision making about innovations, which are inherently more uncertain than conventional alternatives. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to furthering the understanding of barriers to overcoming inertia in client decision making in new-build. Design/methodology/approach – A descriptive behavioural decision-making perspective is combined with an organizational information-processing perspective. To identify and discuss individual and organizational barriers that potentially distort clients' decision making on innovation, the analysis addresses aggregated data from four studies. The analysis focuses on inferences and interpretations made by decision makers in Swedish client organizations, their information-processing practices and the subsequent impacts on perceived meanings and judgments about industrialized multi-storey, timber-framed building innovations, which are perceived by Swedish clients as new and different building alternatives. Findings – Cognitive and organizational barriers maintain status-quo decisions. Clients are inclined to make biased judgments about industrialized-building alternatives because non-applicable cognitive rules-of-thumb, based on their experiences of conventional-building alternatives, are used. Furthermore, client organizations' information-processing practices do not allow different meanings to surface, interact and potentially suggest different conclusions, at odds with established beliefs. Originality/value – The paper's conclusions highlight how inertia is sustained in client decision making in new-build. They illustrate the limitations of a common engineering approach, i.e. supporting decision making about innovations by focusing on providing more information to the decision maker in order to reduce uncertainty, as well as managing multiple meanings by reductionism.
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| 5. |
- Eriksson, Per-Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Managing the tensions between exploration and exploitation in large construction projects
- 2017
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 17:4, s. 492-510
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – Prior studies highlight the importance of building ambidextrous capabilities to achieve both exploitation of current knowledge and technologies to make profits today, and exploration of new knowledge and technologies to adapt to and prepare for tomorrow's demands. In spite of its theoretical and practical importance, research on organizational ambidexterity in project-based organizations is scarce. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to study how ambidexterity may be managed and how exploration and exploitation may be achieved in construction projects. The research identifies some drivers and barriers to exploration and exploitation and also sheds light on how various management approaches interact and affect exploration and exploitation activities. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical material is drawn from 40 semi-structured interviews with managers representing the client, the contractor and the designer involved in each of the seven large construction projects in the sample. Findings – In contrast to prior literature in high-tech industries where exploitation focuses on continuous development, exploitation in construction projects often involves adopting conventional methods and solutions based on existing knowledge without any development efforts at all. This may enhance short-term efficiency and lower risk at the project level but increase risk at the firm level. Tight time schedules hinder both radical innovations and incremental developments, and the findings also reveal that to invest in efforts on explorative solutions, it must be possible to exploit the solutions in the same project. Research limitations/implications – In this empirical context, the traditional structural and sequential ambidexterity solutions are not sufficient. In construction projects, contextual ambidexterity solutions in which key project actors collaborate in developing systemic innovations and fine-tuning solutions across projects are more effective. Practical implications – Sufficient project size and/or long-term contracts over a series of projects enhance both investments in explorative activities and exploitation through continuous developments from project to project. In design-bid-build contracts, the client and consultant often miss opportunities to explore new technical solutions that rely on contractor competencies. Early procurement of contractors (e.g. in collaborative design-build contracts) thereby enables the achievement of both exploration and exploitation. Originality/value – This study provides important input to the authors' understanding of how exploration and exploitation may be managed in project-based industries, which has been scarcely studied in previous ambidexterity literature.
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| 6. |
- Forsman, Samuel, et al.
(författare)
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Need for innovation in supplying engineer‐to‐order joinery products to construction: A case study in Sweden
- 2012
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 12:4, s. 464-491
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The construction industry has been criticized for not keeping up with other production industries in terms of cost efficiency, innovation, and production methods. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge about what hampers efficiency in supplying engineer-to-order (ETO) joinery-products to the construction process. The objective is to identify the main contributors to inefficiency and to define areas for innovation in improving this industry.Design/methodology/approach – Case studies of the supply chain of a Swedish ETO joinery-products supplier are carried out, and observations, semi-structured interviews, and documents from these cases are analysed from an efficiency improvement perspective.Findings – From a lean thinking and information modelling perspective, longer-term procurement relations and efficient communication of information are the main areas of innovation for enhancing the efficiency of supplying ETO joinery-products. It seems to be possible to make improvements in planning and coordination, assembly information, and spatial measuring through information modelling and spatial scanning technology. This is likely to result in an increased level of prefabrication, decreased assembly time, and increased predictability of on-site work.Originality/value – The role of supplying ETO joinery-products is a novel research area in construction. There is a need to develop each segment of the manufacturing industry supplying construction and this paper contributes to the collective knowledge in this area. The focus is on the possibilities for innovation in the ETO joinery-products industry and on its improved integration in the construction industry value chain in general.
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| 7. |
- Gharaibeh, Lina, et al.
(författare)
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Digital transformation of the wood construction supply chain through building information modelling: Current state of practice
- 2024
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1477-0857 .- 1471-4175. ; 24:7, s. 273-291
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: This study aims to present a state-of-the-art review of BIM in the Swedish construction practice with a focus on wood construction. It focuses on examining the extent, maturity, and actual practices of BIM in the Swedish wood construction industry, by analysing practitioners’ perspectives on the current state of BIM and its perceived benefits. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was selected, given the study's exploratory character. Initially, an extensive review was undertaken to examine the current state of Building Information Modelling utilization and its associated advantages within the construction industry. Subsequently, empirical data was acquired through semi-structured interviews featuring open-ended questions, aimed at comprehensively assessing the prevailing extent of BIM integration within the Swedish wood construction sector. Findings: The research concluded that the wood construction industry in Sweden is shifting towards BIM on different levels, where in some cases, the level of implementation is still modest. It should be emphasised that the wood construction industry in Sweden is not realising the full potential of BIM. The industry is still using a combination of BIM and traditional methods, thus limiting the benefits that full BIM implementation could offer the industry. Originality: This study provided empirical evidence on the current perceptions and state of practice of the Swedish wood construction industry regarding BIM maturity.
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| 8. |
- Guerrero, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Clients as drivers of innovation in the infrastructure sector: implications of hard and soft project management approaches
- 2024
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 24:7, s. 239-256
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - By adopting the "hard" and "soft" project management (PM) approaches from the PM-literature, this paper aims to problematize the expected role of client organizations in driving innovation in the transport infrastructure sector.Design/methodology/approach - Addressing a large public client in Sweden, a case study design was initially applied to provide in-depth insights and perspectives of client project managers's views and experiences of managing projects expected to drive innovation. In this paper, the concepts of "hard" and "soft" are used to discuss empirical findings on challenges associated with adopting a PM-approach for driving innovation in projects. The empirical material consists of interview data, complemented with observations and archival data.Findings - Findings reveal challenges associated with combining hard and soft approaches, frequently demonstrating difficulties in balancing short-term project expectations with the promotion of innovation. In line with the literature, project managers note that there is a need for soft approaches to promote development and drive innovation. Yet, findings reflect a situation in which operational success criteria predominate, whereas soft approaches are not sufficiently used to create the grounds required for fostering innovation.Originality/value - Insights are provided into how PM-approaches may impact construction innovation in the infrastructure sector, demonstrating a need for further research on the challenges and implications of applying and combining hard and soft PM-approaches.
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| 9. |
- Haglund, Petter, 1995-, et al.
(författare)
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Organizing construction logistics outsourcing : a logistics strategy perspective
- 2023
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The construction industry shows an increased interest in how to manage logistics within construction projects. Often construction logistics is outsourced to a logistics service provider (LSP). However, construction logistics is normally approached either as a strategic decision or as an operational issue and rarely as a tactical concern. The purpose of this study is to explore how to organize the logistics outsourcing decision at strategic, tactical and operational levels.Design/methodology/approach This study is performed as a single-case study within a construction corporation, containing (amongst others) a building contractor (BC) and a construction equipment rental company (CERC) offering logistics services.Findings The study shows that to procure construction logistics service successfully, BCs need logistics capabilities at strategic and tactical levels to maintain an alignment between the use of logistics services and operational characteristics. Simultaneously, CERC’s need to design their service offerings to correspond to the needs of the BC.Research limitations/implications This study builds on a single-case study of a Swedish construction corporation. Further research is needed to better understand current logistics outsourcing and development practices and how these can be improved to foster better logistics management at the project level.Practical implications BCs find suggestions of different logistics organization structures and suitable outsourcing arrangements. CERCs and LSPs can use the findings to understand their customers’ needs and adapt service offerings.Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies of how two companies within a corporation can work together to develop construction logistics service offerings.
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| 10. |
- Hedborg Bengtsson, Susanna, et al.
(författare)
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Users’ influence on inter-organizational innovation : mapping the receptive context
- 2018
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Ingår i: Construction Innovation. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1471-4175 .- 1477-0857. ; 18:4, s. 488-504
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeInnovation is constantly present in the construction industry, however, mainly on a single project level. Initiating and implementing inter-organizational innovation in a multi-project context such as in urban development entails large complexity, for example, because of the many interdependent projects and users of innovation. The users’ influence on inter-organizational innovation in a multi-project context has not been fully explored. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to discuss how users influence inter-organizational innovation in multi-project contexts by mapping the receptiveness for change.Design/methodology/approachA single case study approach was used, where empirical material including semi-structured interviews in combination with meeting observations, document studies and participative workshops were gathered. The rich empirical material, studying inter-organizational innovation in an urban development context, was mapped based on the receptive context for change framework.FindingsA receptive context for change was not present in the studied multi-project context. Communication to develop and implement inter-organizational innovation was not sufficient and the clients’ procurement strategies were to a large extent not developed to facilitate inter-organizational innovation. Findings show differences in users’ possibility and aim to implement inter-organizational innovation.Originality/valueThe mapping of the receptive context to influence inter-organizational innovation widens the knowledge base and provides valuable insights on how inter-organizational innovation may be implemented in the loosely coupled construction industry. Furthermore, the findings broaden the discussion on clients as innovation supporters, and contribute to the debate on clients as innovation supporters, by highlighting the importance of distinguishing between different types of clients.
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