Construction Innovation and Process Improvement

Akintola Akintoye, Jack Goulding, Girma Zawdie, Akintola Akintoye, Jack Goulding, Girma Zawdie

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781405156486
• eBook ISBN: 9781118280317
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Civil Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

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.

Part I

Theory and Practice

1

Construction Innovation and Process Improvement

Akintola Akintoye, Jack S. Goulding and Girma Zawdie

1.1 Introduction

In order to promote and retain competitiveness, industry needs to focus on innovation and the improvement of their processes. Panuwatwanich et al. (2008) noted that innovation is necessary as a source of competitive advantage for firms operating in the construction industry, and consequently, that many firms are expending a significant amount of resources in an effort to acquire various forms of innovation in order to maintain and/or increase their competitiveness. Similarly, Aouad et al. (2010) highlighted that the competitiveness of firms inevitably depends on national and regional systems of innovation, which in turn depends on government policy. Therefore, given the constant changes and dynamism of the business environment, securing competitiveness is therefore high on the agenda of most firms. In this respect, securing innovation and process improvement is an influential lever for delivering this. On this theme, the increased complexity and sophistication of the Architectural Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector is now placing unparalleled demands on stakeholders to keep projects on time and within budget, with a new emergent theme of developing and maintaining robust and defendable innovation policies and procedures. Although it is not easy to sustain radical improvement in an industry that has historically been categorised as diverse and fragmented (Banwell, 1964; Latham, 1994; Fairclough, 2002), it has been recognised that there is a need for continuous and sustained improvement, using focused efforts to deliver the value needed by customers, along with addressing the industry challenge concerning waste and poor quality arising from existing structures and working practices (Egan, 1998). In this respect, Professor Watson (CSaP, 2011) reviewed the key concepts of innovation, noting that innovation was more than invention or creativity, as it enveloped commercialisation, implementation and entrepreneurship as part of the innovation process – which required a change in culture to proactively promote and support innovation.

This book raises a number of wide ranging issues relating to construction innovation and process improvement, especially in the light of experience derived from construction practice in different countries with different contexts. The chapters therefore provide a rich collection of literature embracing theoretical and practice-empirical appeal, which gives credence to the pervasive and transformative effect that innovation can bring. Moreover, even in mature markets such as the AEC sector, where business behaviour is generally considered as risk averse, it highlights the increased importance and significance of embedding innovation initiatives into mainstream business practices. In this respect, construction practice is still evolving, with complex aspects underpinned by organisational and management responsibilities that seek to draw alignment across a wide range of players, not least contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and clients. This network of players in the industry is important, as they have a significant bearing on the manner in which innovative activities occur in the industry. It is also important to note that the nature of construction innovation is closely examined in terms of its impact on technological progress of the industry to date, and emergent technological trajectories.

The chapters in this book are divided into three broad themes of construction innovation relating to: Theory and Practice; Process Drivers; and Future Technologies. These three categories tease out the main salient issues on construction innovation and process improvement, and highlight the implications for future competitiveness and sustainability of the industry. These themes pose several questions for reflection, including ‘What is particularly unique about construction innovation in theory and practice?’, ‘What are the major drivers of construction innovation?’ and ‘What factors are needed to support and deliver future construction technologies?’

In attempting to respond to these questions, this 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, as all these can have a significant impact on strategic decision making, competitive advantage, and sustainable policies and practices.

1.2 Innovation in Construction

Several definitions have been proffered for innovation. For example, Van de Ven (1986) regards innovation as any ideas, practices and technologies perceived to be new by the organisation involved. Slaughter (1998) defined innovation as the actual use of a nontrivial change and improvement in a process, product or system that is novel to the institution developing the change; whereas, Stewart and Fenn (2006) described innovation as the profitable exploitation of ideas, which have an important role to play in seeking competitive advantage. Innovation in construction can therefore be considered as the successful development and/or implementation of new ideas, products, process or practices, in order to increase organisational efficiency and performance (Egbu et al., 1998; DTI, 2003; Ling, 2003; Sexton and Barrett, 2005; Panuwatwanich et al., 2008). On the other hand, some proponents advocate that because the construction industry is largely project-based and fragmented, the patterns of innovation differ in many ways from those of other industries, and therefore, industry innovation remains hidden when co-developed at the project level (Aouad et al., 2010). However, Stewart and Fenn (2006) noted that innovation in the construction industry has been recognised in three domains: product, process and organisation. Process innovation is oriented towards production methods, and organisational innovation to approaches to managing the firm and implementation of new corporate strategic orientations. They contest that in construction, innovation is mostly seen in terms of physical process and product, particularly improvements in materials. However, Blayse and Manley (2004) identified six main factors that could influence innovation in construction as:

1. clients and manufacturers;

2. the structure of production;

3. relationships between individuals and firms within the industry;

4. relations between the industry and external parties;

5. procurement systems regulations/standards; and

6. the nature and quality of organisational resources.

They noted that these influences are the key factors that drive (or in fact hinder) business innovation.

From a process perspective, the term ‘processes’ are ‘the fundamental building blocks’ of all organisations, and both process understanding and process improvement form the lifeblood of total quality organisations. Processes transform inputs, which can include actions, methods and operations, into outputs. They are the steps by which we add value, and it should be the aim of customer focused, total quality organisations, for these outputs to satisfy or exceed the needs and expectations of their customers’ (DTI, 2011). On this theme, Sarshar et al. (2004) developed a Structure Process Improvement for Construction Enterprises maturity framework to assess organisational performance. More fundamentally, the industry acknowledged that there was a need for new process configurations and innovation through life-cycle decision analysis (which had been championed in many countries and supported by industry stakeholder groups and government bodies). Moreover, both the Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) reports identified that the construction industry needed to embrace innovation and process improvement. Similarly, in Hong Kong, the government established a Construction Industry Review Committee (CIRC) that published its report, ‘Construct for Excellence’, in 2001. This report, amongst other recommendations, charged the industry to collectively develop a culture of innovation which deliberately concentrated and fostered innovation, both from a technology and fostered perspective. In Australia, Sidwell et al. (2004) reported on the importance of reengineering the construction delivery process, noting that the fragmented and differentiated structure of the construction industry was a major characteristic that militates against improvement. The core challenge for the construction industry was therefore to develop radical project delivery processes that concentrated on front-end issues of procurement strategies, interfaces in the process, information flows, and the elimination of non-value-adding activities.

The need for construction innovation and process improvement was further emphasised by the Egan (1998) report through the Construction Task Force, which identified as one of its terms of reference to ‘examine current practice and the scope for improving the industry by innovation in products and processes’; some notable areas of which included:

lack of research and development (R&D) investment (damaging the industry’s ability to keep abreast of innovation in processes and technology);

client dissatisfaction with consultants’ performance in coordinating teams, in design and innovation (to provide a speedy and reliable service and deliver value for money);

wasted talent (failure to recognise the significant contribution that suppliers can make to innovation);

repeated selection of new teams (inhibits learning, innovation and the development of skilled and experienced teams, preventing the industry from developing products and an identity/brand that can be understood by its clients);

product development requires continuity from a dedicated product team (needing product design skills, with close links to the supply chain through which the skills of suppliers and their innovations can be assessed, and with access to relevant market research);

supply chain is critical for driving innovation (and sustaining incremental and sustained performance improvement);

project implementation requires ‘organisation and management of the supply chain to maximise innovation, learning and efficiency’;

project implementation requires ‘capturing suppliers’ innovations in components and systems’;

component production also includes the sustained commitment to innovation in the design of components (including the development of a range of standardised components);

continuous learning (‘upgrading, retraining and continuous learning are not part of construction’s current vocabulary. There is already frustration amongst component suppliers that their innovations are blocked because construction workers cannot cope with the new technologies that they are making available. This has to change’);

improvements in innovation (more can be achieved by co-operation between clients, constructors and suppliers than through competition);

need to encourage long-term partnering arrangements between clients and providers (to secure consistency, continuity, innovation and value for money);

need to develop knowledge centres (through which the whole industry and its clients can gain access to knowledge about good practices, innovations and the performance of companies and projects;

need for training (new technical and managerial skills required in order to get full value from new techniques and technologies);

learning from other industries (‘…in both manufacturing and service industries there have been increases in efficiency and transformations of companies, which a decade or more ago nobody would have believed possible);

change in culture (changing this is fundamental to increasing efficiency and quality in construction);

improving project processes (‘…construction has two choices: ignore all this in the belief that constr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contributors
• Part I: Theory and Practice
• Part II: Process Drivers
• Part III: Future Technologies
• Index