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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a special issue about the construction industry and the management of its supply chains. It aims to
discuss and point to some differences and possible similarities with traditional manufacturing and its supply chains.
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Design/methodology/approach The paper is mostly a literature review and contains official statistics.
Findings The market of the construction company is mostly local and highly volatile. The long durability of the construction product contributes to
the volatility. The product specification process before the customer order arrives shows different degrees of specifications: engineer to order, modify to
order, configure to order, select a variant. (The common make-to-stock in traditional manufacturing does not exist.) A construction company only
executes a small part of the project by its own personnel and capacity. This is a way of risk spreading and risk mitigation and to compensate for an
unstable market. If a construction company wants to establish a new concept, from engineer to order to e.g. configure to order, it must be
engaged earlier in the business process and with other than usual customers, which might complicate the process.
Research limitations/implications Experiences from Sweden and Swedish developments are the main source of information.
Originality/value The paper introduces the articles that are a source of scientifically generated knowledge regarding various problems and
opportunities associated with supply chain management in the project-based construction industry.
Keywords Supply chain management, Construction industry, Sustainable development, Sweden, Project planning
Introduction Even so, much research work and several public funded
unraveling reports have assessed and suggested ways to
This is the introductory article in a special edition about the improve productivity in the construction industry.
construction industry and the management of its supply Since the 1990s there has been an increased interest of
chains. Eccles (1981) defined construction as the erection, supply chain management theories to understand and
maintenance, and repair of immobile structures, the characterize the deficiencies and to propose solution to
demolition of existing structures, and land development. improve the coordination of the often many subcontractors
The term architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) and suppliers in the construction supply chain. The UK-
industry also includes the design in the supply chain of the sponsored Latham (1994) and Egan (Construction Taskforce,
construction, repair and retrofit of our built environment. 1998) reports investigated the current practice of loosely
Also, the boundary between construction and the coupled supply chain; Dubois and Gadde (2002) suggested a
manufacturing industry is indefinite and fuzzy. Are plants more integrated supply chain using collaborative agreements
producing building insulations part of construction or part of between contractors, suppliers and clients. Cox and
the manufacturing industry? The difference in output Townsend (1998) discussed the relationship between supply
produced, firm size and use of technology in the residential, chain management and market structure, i.e. the constraints
commercial/public, industrial and infrastructure sector also
makes it hard to characterize and measure the performance of Many of the authors mentioned in this article have also served as
construction on industry level (Huang et al., 2009). reviewers; a lot of people have been engaged in the review process,
Therefore, several investigations showing a slow increase or therefore special thanks also go to: Paola Olimpia Achard, Diana
Chroneer, Tim Foster, Rickard Garvare, Jopp I. M.Halman, Petri Helo,
even decline in productivity developments may be debatable. Olli-Pecka Hilmola, Zhongsheng Hua, Karl Inderfurth, Patrik Jonsson,
Jari Juga, Kristian Kristiansen, Jarmo Laitinen, Ales Magdic, Stefan
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at Minner, Arthur Money, Andreas Norrman, Ossi Pesamaa, David Pyke,
Martin Rudberg, Goran Svensson, Ou Tang, Anders Thorstenson, Peter
www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-8546.htm
Wallstrom, Erik van der Sluis, Karel van Donselaar, Ruben Vrijhoef,
Simone Zanoni, Par A hlstrom
The authors would also like to thank Mrs Tatiana Liljestrom for
administrative help.
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
15/5 (2010) 347 353 The work with this special issue has been supported by the Swedish
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1359-8546] Research Council Formas (Project SE 468200440 and
[DOI 10.1108/13598541011068260] SE 358961522072) for which the authors are very thankful.
347
Supply chains in the construction industry Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Anders Segerstedt and Thomas Olofsson Volume 15 Number 5 2010 347 353
and structural forces of the market and Agapiou et al. (1998) to increase efficiency and lower costs in production,
introduced the building merchants providing supply for the decreasing delivery times, and even increasing the flexibility
building industry as an important player in the supply chain. and variety of products to satisfy customers demands.
Other perspectives and explanations of root causes for low Christopher (2001) discusses the introduction of a strategic
productivity development have been proposed by Vrijhoef and inventory to hold common sub-assemblies and only complete
Koskela (2000), who recommended an integrated the final assembly or configuration when the precise customer
management of the interface between site activities and requirement is known. This type of postponement strategy
supply chain. moving the customer order point up-streams is utilized in the
Several authors have also recognized the important role of mass-customization industry separating base and surge
the client. Briscoe et al. (2004) identified the client as the demands. However, unlike the construction industry, the
most significant actor in achieving integration in the supply product design is often developed in a separate product
chain. London and Kenley (2000) adapted Lambert et al. development process in the manufacturing industry by the
(1998) model of the supply chain structure from an industrial lead firm or system integrator.
organization perspective and put the client organization in the The peculiar relation between design and production in the
focal point. Vrijhoef and de Ridder (2005) developed this construction industry has also been recognized by Winch
concept further and discussed two strategies for integration; (1998), who classified from an institutional view the principal
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supplier driven integration and client driven integration. contractor and principal designer as sharing the role of the
system integrator, see Figure 1. The customer of a
construction company is often separated; this means the
What kind of supply chain is the construction first tier customer to the construction company is often an
supply chain? agent for the second tier customer; and the real consumer of
It is not uncommon to hear that the construction industry is the product (e.g. the tenant of the flat) is still not known.
totally different to other industries and must find other However, this is not totally unique for the construction
solutions and concepts for improving performance and industry, other companies are also often in a supply/demand
efficiency. Is it true or a myth? It is customary to view that chain where the first tier customer delivers to second and
there are certain peculiarities of construction, like one-of-a- third tiers customers, etc. But a construction company is
kind products, temporary organization, and site production, often more movable and impermanent in its supply chain
preventing the attainment of flows as efficient as in compared to other industries; the construction company can
manufacturing (Koskela, 1992). As an example the principal be the focal company in a development project and be
construction company that manages a construction project positioned as first or even second tier supplier in other
mostly executes only a small part of the product by its own projects (see Figure 1) (Figure 1 is adapted after Lambert et al.
personnel and its own production facilities. The great part, (1998), London and Kenley (2000) and Vrijhoef and de
approximately 75 percent and more, of the products value is Ridder (2005)).
built with help from suppliers and subcontractors (Dubois
and Gadde, 2000). It is often believed that advances in Market volatility: the Swedish case
construction are related to the elimination of these
peculiarities, like site production by means of The construction industry is local. Governmental subsidies,
industrialization or one-of-a-kind products by means of pre- national and local regulations and culture have essentially
engineering. These peculiarities are also at the core of the protected the construction industry from global competition.
argument that construction is so different, especially from The building products also have a long life-span creating a
manufacturing that technology transfer from other fields is situation where the demands vary dramatically over time.
not possible. Ballard and Howell (1998a, b), advocates of Since 1950 the number of initiated flats in Sweden has varied
Lean construction, who posed the question What kind of with a factor of 10 over time, Figure 2.
production is construction? argued that parts and In the 1960s when the large governmental multi-dwelling
components more suitable for manufacturing should take program was launched many concrete prefabrication factories
started changing the construction from an essential craft
advantages of lean techniques developed in manufacturing
based industry to more of an assembly on-site operation.
while lean techniques suitable for the dynamics of
During this era both construction companies as well as client
construction should be developed to minimize the
organizations started element factories. As the demand
peculiarities in construction. One such technique to shield
decreased in the 1970s many of these prefabrication
the production on-site from the jumbled flow and loosely
facilities were closed and more work were again performed
linked process segments is the Last planner approach (Ballard
on-site (Kadefors, 1995).
and Howell, 1998b). Vrijhoef and Koskela (2000)
In the 1970s the energy crisis introduced thicker insulation
characterized the supply chain in construction as:
and more advanced systems for heating and ventilation
.
converging at the construction site where the object is
introducing new specialists in the project organization.
assembled from incoming materials;
However, the market for single housing was still booming
.
temporary producing one-off construction projects
due to beneficial interest rate subsidies, which resulted in the
through repeated reconfiguration of project organizations
build-up of the one-family detached timber house
separated from the design; and
manufacturing industry in Sweden. The financial crisis in
.
typical make-to-order supply chain, with every project
the real estate sector together with the de-regulation and
creating a new product or prototype.
decrease of governmental subsidies in the 1990s caused the
In traditional manufacturing, modularization and production of single and multi-dwelling flats in Sweden to
standardization of semi-manufactured items have been ways drop to historically low numbers.
348
Supply chains in the construction industry Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Anders Segerstedt and Thomas Olofsson Volume 15 Number 5 2010 347 353
Figure 1 The system integrator (SI) is located in the focal point of the supply and demand chain
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Figure 2 Started number of flats in apartment blocks (Flerbostadshus) and detached single houses (Smahus) in Sweden from 1950 to 2008
The business cycles in the construction industry seem to 1981). The durability and the long life span of building
have higher amplitudes than in other manufacturing products also contribute to the amplitude of the business
industries. The unemployment of construction workers is cycle. The more durable a product is the more the demand
greater in low business cycle than in other industries. In will oscillate, since the yearly production only adds a small
high business cycles more unskilled people are hired than in volume of an already existing product. It is also common, as
other industries; people go out and in from the construction described above, that governments try to stimulate the
industry at a greater rate than other industries (Eccles, economy in low business cycles by subsidiaries and other
349
Supply chains in the construction industry Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Anders Segerstedt and Thomas Olofsson Volume 15 Number 5 2010 347 353
stimulation activities in order to start new construction Figure 3 Product specification process for different variants of building
projects (Kalbro et al., 2009). system
350
Supply chains in the construction industry Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Anders Segerstedt and Thomas Olofsson Volume 15 Number 5 2010 347 353
options including energy performance and exterior design. Andreas Hartmann and Jasper Caerteling,
This kind of building product is sold directly to the client or Subcontractor procurement in construction: the
developer. The role of the principal designer is replaced by interplay of price and trust
sales staff. It further requires that the product can be A key characteristic of the construction industry is a huge
introduced early in the conceptual phase of the construction amount of subcontracting. Subcontractors supply drawings,
project. labor and material and transform order-related specifications
The configure to order type of product offers are based on into physical components that will be included in the
modules and standard parts that can be configured to satisfy construction projects. Selecting appropriate subcontractors
customer needs. These type of building systems are relative and managing subcontractor relationships is very important
uncommon. The NCC Komplett is an example of a more for an efficient project performance. From about 200
flexible and configurable building system that recently was questionnaires from the Dutch residential building industry
the authors conclude that neither price nor trust can be
closed down due high development cost and poor return on
downplayed as sole procurement mechanisms. The study
investment (Andersson et al., 2009). The system was quit
shows what is more, and what is less important. We have no
flexible and consisted of configurable modules with all
doubts about that most of this study in The Netherlands
equipment, fittings, wallpaper and flooring attached to the would also be found applicable to Sweden and other nearby
elements before assembly on-site. As in the select-a-variant
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351
Supply chains in the construction industry Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Anders Segerstedt and Thomas Olofsson Volume 15 Number 5 2010 347 353
(SCM) and related concepts such as partnering and lean Ballard, G. and Howell, G. (1998b), What kind of
construction have been proposed as solutions to these production is construction?, Proceedings of the 6th Annual
problems. The authors define, or point to, three different Conference International Group for Lean Construction, Sao
types of supply chain dependencies; pooled interdependencies Paulo, Brazil, August, pp. 13-15.
(e.g. two specialists share a crane), sequential Bergstrom, M. and Stehn, L. (2005), Matching
interdependencies (the traditional production process of industrialised timber frame housing needs and enterprise
material and components), reciprocal interdependencies (the resource planning: a change process, International Journal
output of each become inputs for the others). A plasterboard of Production Economics, Vol. 97 No. 2, pp. 172-84.
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interdependencies in construction industry
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SOU 2002:115 (2002), Ska rpning gubbar! Om
konkurrensen, kvaliteten, kostnaderna och kompetensen i Further reading
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Byggkommissionens betankande Skarpning gubbar!,
available at: www.statskontoret.se/upload/Publikationer/
Corresponding author
2009/200906.pdf (in Swedish).
Voordijk, H., Meijboom, B. and de Haan, J. (2006), Anders Segerstedt can be contacted at: anders.segerstedt@
Modularity in supply chains: a multiple case study in the ltu.se
353
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