Transshipment approach to coordinate materials for a contractor’s project portfolio
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Date
2022
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
The challenges to coordinate material supply and dynamically changing demand always lead to construction interruptions or a considerable waste of materials on-site. Mainstream research has provided various advanced digital solutions to solve these problems; however, they have not addressed how to make reliable decisions with digital models to manage the demand fluctuations of construction materials. This study proposes a transshipment approach to enable the lateral sharing of perishable materials and optimize material allocation for a contractor’s project portfolio. The transshipment approach includes two main steps. First, the daily material supply and demand data are collected from a continuously updated schedule and three-dimensional models as input for calculating unused material quantities. Second, an evolutionary optimization algorithm is used for optimizing the transshipment quantities with minimal cost. As proof of concept, the proposed transshipment approach is demonstrated by looking at a portfolio of seven building projects managed by the same contractor. The demonstration shows that the allocation of the unused materials helps to avoid waste and reduce costs from over-ordered materials by around 52%. As a result, this also leads to improved coordination between contractors and suppliers and better material flow in construction projects.
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published
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Book title
Journal / series
Volume
22 (16)
Pages / Article No.
3065 - 3076
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
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Edition / version
Methods
Software
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Date collected
Date created
Subject
3D models; material allocation; project portfolio management; supply chain optimization; transshipment and lateral sharing
Organisational unit
03859 - Adey, Bryan T. / Adey, Bryan T.
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG