Business-to-business case study
The aim of this project was to assist the development of an Urban Construction Consolidation Centre (UCCC). Solutions were designed which would promote the efficient flow of construction materials through the supply chain to the workface on site, providing just-in-sequence consolidated supplies to multiple construction sites, reducing vehicle deliveries and reducing the impact of congestion, pollution and waste.
Background
The challenges facing the UK construction industry reflect many of the inefficiencies in current practice. Of planned vehicle deliveries, 60% do not arrive on time and 20% of all UK waste comes from construction (15% from over-ordering of materials and there is nearly one hour of lost productivity per person per day on every construction project due to materials delay). This project looked at identifying the hard and soft factors that influence public sector approval in the context of UCCC to aid the development of a collaboration model between private companies and public resources, and then link the key processes and requirements of the stakeholders to inform the potential development of a new industry standard for the UK construction industry.
Resulting supply chain configuration
The diagram below shows how the role of the UCCC is to promote the efficient flow of construction materials through the supply chain to the workforce on site. Construction material is delivered to the UCCC, formed into work packs as defined by the various contractors, and delivered to the workface ‘just-in-sequence’.
Benefits
This approach is highly innovative in terms of the design and operation of a semi-permanent UCCC spanning multiple projects with different start and end dates, served by just-in-sequence supply to local sites. This results in significant reduction in traffic congestion and consequent environmental benefits in addition to cost savings.
Urban construction consolidation centre for efficient material flow
Capturing value from global networks
Strategic approaches to configuring international production, supply and service operations
ISBN: 978-1-902546-30-8
