Construction Innovation and Process Improvement

Construction Innovation and Process Improvement
Author: Akintola Akintoye
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1405156481

Innovation in construction is essential for growth. The industry strives to remain competitive using a variety of approaches and needs to engage structured initiatives linked to proven innovation concepts, techniques and applications. Even in mature markets like the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector, where business behaviour is generally considered as being risk averse, it is increasingly important to embed innovation into mainstream business practices. In Construction Innovation and Process Improvement a number of wide ranging issues from construction practice in different countries with different contexts are presented to provide a rich collection of literature embracing theory and practice. Chapters are divided into three broad themes of construction innovation relating to: Theory and Practice; Process Drivers; and Future Technologies. Several questions are posed, including for example: What is particularly unique about construction innovation in theory and practice? What are the major drivers of construction innovation? What factors are needed to support and deliver future construction technologies? In attempting to respond to such questions, the book sheds new light on these challenges, and provides readers with a number of ways forward, especially cognisant of the increased role of globalisation, the enhanced impact of knowledge, and importance of innovation. All these can have a significant impact on strategic decision-making, competitive advantage, and sustainable policies and practices. Part One deals with change management, technology, sustainable construction, and supply chain management; Part Two addresses innovation and process improvement drivers, including strategic management, concurrent engineering, risk management, innovative procurement, knowledge management; Part Three explores future technologies in construction – and particularly, how these can be harnessed and leveraged to help procure innovation and process improvement.

Construction Innovation

Construction Innovation
Author: Finn Orstavik
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2015-04-20
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1118655532

Construction innovation is an important but contested concept, both in industry practice and academic reflection and research. A fundamental reason for this is the nature of the construction industry itself: the industry and the value creation activities taking place there are multi-disciplinary, heterogeneous, distributed and often fragmented. This book takes a new approach to construction innovation, revealing different perspectives, set in a broader context. It coalesces multiple theoretical and practice-based views in order to stimulate reflection and to prepare the ground for further synthesis. By being clear, cogent and unambiguous on the most basic definitions, it can mobilise a plurality of perspectives on innovation to promote fresh thinking on how it can be studied, enabled, measured, and propagated across the industry. This book does not gloss over the real-life complexity of construction innovation. Instead, its authors look explicitly at the challenges that conceptual issues entail and by making their own position clear, they open up fresh intellectual space for reflection. Construction Innovation examines innovation from different positions and through different conceptual lenses to reveal the richness that the theoretical perspectives offer to our understanding of the way that the construction sector actors innovate at both project and organizational levels. The editors have brought together here leading scholars to deconstruct the concept of innovation and to discuss the merits of different perspectives, their commonalities and their diversity. The result is an invaluable sourcebook for those studying and leading innovation in the design, the building and the maintenance of our built environment.

Innovative Production And Construction: Transforming Construction Through Emerging Technologies

Innovative Production And Construction: Transforming Construction Through Emerging Technologies
Author: Wu Peng
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 714
Release: 2019-05-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9813272503

Throughout the 38 chapters, this must-have volume outlines essential information about the implementation of emerging technologies, from building information modeling and 3D printing, to life cycle assessment and information technology in construction and engineering projects.It covers practical case studies to demonstrate the implementation of emerging technologies in a compact style, ensuring that practitioners can adopt these methods to realize immediate benefits in productivity, safety and performance improvement.

Modern Construction

Modern Construction
Author: Lincoln H. Forbes
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2010-10-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1420063138

During the past several decades, the manufacturing and service industries significantly increased their levels of productivity, quality, and profitability through the application of process improvement techniques and information technology. Unfortunately, the construction industry lags far behind in the application of performance improvement and optimization techniques, as well as its overall competitiveness. Written by Lincoln H. Forbes and Syed M. Ahmed, both highly regarded for leadership and innovation, Modern Construction: Lean Project Delivery and Integrated Practices offers cutting-edge lean tools and other productive strategies for the management of people and processes in the construction industry. Drs. Forbes and Ahmed focus mainly on lean construction methodologies, such as The Last Planner(R) System, The Lean Project Delivery System (TM), and Integrated Project Delivery(TM). The tools and strategies offered draw on the success of the world-renowned Toyota Production System (TPS) adapted to the construction environment by construction professionals and researchers involved in developing and advocating lean construction methods. The book also discusses why true lean construction can best occur when all the construction stakeholders, owners, designers, constructors, and material suppliers are committed to the concept of optimizing the flow of activities holistically while de-emphasizing their self-interest. The authors also reintroduce process improvement approaches such as TQM and Six Sigma as a foundation for the adoption of lean methodologies, and demonstrate how these methods can improve projects in a so-called traditional environment. The book integrates these methods with emerging interest in "green construction" and the use of information technology and Building Information Modeling (BIM), while recognizing the human element in relation to motivation, safety, and environmental stresses. Written specifically for professionals in an industry that desperately needs to play catch up, the book delineates cutting-edge approaches with the benefit of successful cases and explains how their deployment can improve construction performance and competitiveness.

Ten Types of Innovation

Ten Types of Innovation
Author: Larry Keeley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 581
Release: 2013-07-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1118571398

Innovation principles to bring about meaningful and sustainable growth in your organization Using a list of more than 2,000 successful innovations, including Cirque du Soleil, early IBM mainframes, the Ford Model-T, and many more, the authors applied a proprietary algorithm and determined ten meaningful groupings—the Ten Types of Innovation—that provided insight into innovation. The Ten Types of Innovation explores these insights to diagnose patterns of innovation within industries, to identify innovation opportunities, and to evaluate how firms are performing against competitors. The framework has proven to be one of the most enduring and useful ways to start thinking about transformation. Details how you can use these innovation principles to bring about meaningful—and sustainable—growth within your organization Author Larry Keeley is a world renowned speaker, innovation consultant, and president and co-founder of Doblin, the innovation practice of Monitor Group; BusinessWeek named Keeley one of seven Innovation Gurus who are changing the field The Ten Types of Innovation concept has influenced thousands of executives and companies around the world since its discovery in 1998. The Ten Types of Innovation is the first book explaining how to implement it.

The Lean Builder: A Builder's Guide to Applying Lean Tools in the Field

The Lean Builder: A Builder's Guide to Applying Lean Tools in the Field
Author: Joe Donarumo
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2019-08-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1483430936

Sam Brooks, a young superintendent with ProCon Builders, has been given responsibility for the largest and most complicated project of his career. He struggles with all of the common difficulties in construction -- lack of communication, coordination issues, and other kinds of wasteful occurrences that rob his project of time and money, while leaving him and his team frustrated and overworked. Luckily, his friend, mentor, and co-worker, Alan Phillips, brings the benefit of his experience and his knowledge of Lean Construction tools and processes to help Sam learn valuable skills for improving the operation of his project. Together, Sam and Alan discuss the merits and explore the practical applications of: Daily Huddles Visual Communication The "Eight Wastes" Managing Constraints Pull Planning The Last Planner System(TM) Percent Plan Complete

Innovation in Construction

Innovation in Construction
Author: Marcela Miozzo
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 184542073X

The authors deserve credit for their collection and skillful processing of qualitative data from five European countries, which have enabled them to identify similarities and differences in the functioning of national construction industries. . . Innovation in Construction is an important contribution to increasing one s understanding of innovation in the construction industry. Ina Drejer, Building Research and Information This book deals with some of the most important questions in innovation research such as the role of corporate governance, national systems of innovation, and government regulation in the development and adoption of innovations. In particular, it presents new evidence on the factors which shape innovation in construction by drawing on extensive interviews with construction firms across Europe. The authors offer broad lessons for the systems of innovation approach and suggest that particular structures of ownership and management, and inter-organisational relations are responsible for variations in the economic performance of the construction industry in different European countries. The particular challenges posed by the adoption of sustainable technologies such as natural thermal insulation and active solar heating systems are also explored. These environmental innovations are expected to have an impact on sustainable building and regeneration, and at a more general level can help identify the factors which can facilitate or inhibit the innovation process. Importantly, the book does not simply focus on the relationship between technology, firm organisation and competitiveness, but also considers the social and institutional aspects which affect the construction sector s ability to innovate. The extensive case studies from 5 European countries allow the reader to analyse innovation performance from an international comparative perspective. Innovation in Construction represents an important contribution to the theoretical debate on innovation. It will be highly useful to scholars and students interested in innovation studies, environmental management, and construction management and economics.

Technology Innovation in Underground Construction

Technology Innovation in Underground Construction
Author: Gernot Beer
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2009-10-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1482266598

This richly-illustrated reference guide presents innovative techniques focused on reducing time, cost and risk in the construction and maintenance of underground facilities:A primary focus of the technological development in underground engineering is to ease the practical execution and to reduce time, cost and risk in the construction and mai

Total Construction Management

Total Construction Management
Author: John S. Oakland
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2017-02-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317439333

A convergence of lean management and quality management thinking has taken place in organizations across many industries, including construction. Practices in procurement, design management and construction management are all evolving constantly and understanding these changes and how to react is essential to successful management. This book provides valuable insights for owners, designers and constructors in the construction sector. Starting by introducing the language of total quality, lean and operational excellence, this book takes the reader right up to the latest industry practice in this sector, and demonstrates the best way to manage change. Written by two of the world's leading experts, Total Construction Management: Lean quality in construction project delivery offers a clearly structured introduction to the most important management concepts and practices used in the global construction industry today. This authoritative book covers issues such as procurement, BIM, all forms of waste, construction safety, and design and construction management, all explained with international case studies. It is a perfect guide for managers in all parts of the industry, and ideal for those preparing to enter the industry.

10th Symposium Construction Innovation and Global Competitiveness

10th Symposium Construction Innovation and Global Competitiveness
Author: Ben Obinero Uwakwhe
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 1510
Release: 2002-09-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1420040103

This two-volume set comprises the proceedings of the 2002 symposium concerned with innovation in the construction industry and global competition. Approximately 115 papers address topics ranging from business improvement to the impact of innovation on the built environment; and globalization and competitiveness.