Innovative Processes and Quality Management Methods in the Building and Construction Industry

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2023) | Viewed by 5241

Special Issue Editors

School of Surveying and Built Environment, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, QLD 4300, Australia
Interests: construction management; project management; Six Sigma; risk management; quality management; digital built environment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The recent waves of digitalization and globalization have disrupted all industries, including the construction and building industry and the wider built environment. However, this industry has been slow to adopt innovative methods and techniques and is still lagging behind the global technology adoption curve. This must change in line with the goals of Industry 4.0 and 5.0. To achieve these goals, innovative processes, quality assurance, and control and management techniques should be implemented, such as Six Sigma, 5S, Total Quality Management, Lean Construction, Agile, Continuous Improvement (Kaizen), Plan Do Check Act (PDCA), European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and Business Process Management (BPM). Currently, the state of adoption and implementation of these methods and techniques in the building and construction industry is underreported and needs further exploration. This is crucial to meet the global demands fueled by Industry 5.0 endeavors. Therefore, the industry must embrace these methods and techniques to move forward and match the pace of technological advancements. This Special Issue aims to collect high-quality articles on innovative process management methods in the building and construction industry. We welcome contributions from construction and project managers, building and construction quality managers, city and council members, building certifiers, builders, civil engineers, engineering managers, real estate and property managers, urban and regional planners, as well as the higher degrees of research students and academics, including university professors in the field of building and construction. These articles should focus on various topics related to innovative quality and process management methods and techniques in the construction industry.

These topics may include, but are not limited to:

- Six Sigma in buildings and construction

- 5S in buildings and construction

- Total Quality Management in buildings and construction

- Lean Construction in the building and construction Industry

- Agile applications in buildings and construction

- Continuous Improvement in buildings and construction

- PDCA in buildings and construction

- EFQM Excellence Model Applications in buildings and construction

- Business Process Management in buildings and construction

- The integration of BIM and Quality Management in buildings and construction

- ISO in buildings and construction

- Other innovative processes and Quality Management methods in buildings and construction

Dr. Fahim Ullah
Guest Editor

Siddra Qayyum
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • quality management
  • quality improvement
  • quality assurance
  • quality control
  • total quality management
  • process management
  • construction quality management
  • continuous improvement
  • Six Sigma
  • lean construction
  • agile
  • Plan Do Check Act
  • European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model
  • business process management

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 4931 KiB  
Article
Carbon Emission Composition and Carbon Reduction Potential of Coastal Villages under Low-Carbon Background
by Zejun Yu, Guanhua Qu, Zhixin Li, Yao Wang and Lei Ren
Buildings 2023, 13(12), 2925; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13122925 - 23 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 549
Abstract
Rural buildings have high optimization potential as a major source of carbon emissions. However, the current research on carbon reduction in rural buildings is rough and lacks categorization and geographic studies. Coastal villages are more economically developed than other types of villages and [...] Read more.
Rural buildings have high optimization potential as a major source of carbon emissions. However, the current research on carbon reduction in rural buildings is rough and lacks categorization and geographic studies. Coastal villages are more economically developed than other types of villages and have greater potential for energy saving. Therefore, this study takes the carbon emission data of buildings and life in 409 villages in typical coastal provinces of China as the basis and proposes optimization strategies for carbon reduction in coastal village buildings via cluster analysis and correlation analysis. The results show that the carbon emission characteristics of coastal villages can be categorized into three scenarios: for scenario 1, villages, their population, and village cultivated area are the core influencing factors of carbon emission, while for scenarios 2 and 3, the most central influencing factors are coal and electricity consumption. Therefore, different types of villages should be guided differently when studying carbon sinks and carbon emission projections in coastal villages. This study aims to establish a low-carbon performance quality assessment and optimization pathway for coastal villages, and the analysis of carbon emission influencing factors and the assessment and optimization provide theoretical support and quantitative methods for the optimization of carbon reduction in villages. Full article
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17 pages, 4022 KiB  
Article
Integrating BIM–IoT and Autonomous Mobile Robots for Construction Site Layout Printing
by Fahad Iqbal, Shiraz Ahmed, Fayiz Amin, Siddra Qayyum and Fahim Ullah
Buildings 2023, 13(9), 2212; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092212 - 30 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2413
Abstract
The traditional methods of marking construction site layouts using manual techniques such as chalk lines are prone to human errors, resulting in discrepancies between blueprints and actual layouts. This has serious implications for project delivery, construction, costs and, eventually, project success. However, this [...] Read more.
The traditional methods of marking construction site layouts using manual techniques such as chalk lines are prone to human errors, resulting in discrepancies between blueprints and actual layouts. This has serious implications for project delivery, construction, costs and, eventually, project success. However, this issue can be resolved through autonomous robots and construction automation in line with Industry 4.0 and 5.0 goals. Construction automation enables workers to concentrate on the construction phase and not worry about manual site markups. This leads to an enhancement in their productivity. This study aims to improve the floor layout printing technique by introducing a framework that integrates building information modeling (BIM) and the Internet of Things (IoT), i.e., BIM–IoT and autonomous mobile robots (AMR). The development process focuses on three key components: a marking tool, an IoT-based AMR and BIM. The BIM-based tools extract and store coordinates on the cloud platform. The AMR, developed using ESP32 and connected to the Google Firestore cloud platform, leverages IoT technology to retrieve the data and draw site layout lines accordingly. Further, this research presents a prototype of an automated robot capable of accurately printing construction site layouts. A design science research (DSR) method is employed in this study that includes a comprehensive review of the existing literature and usage of AMRs in construction layout printing. Subsequently building upon the extant literature, an AMR is developed and experiments are conducted to evaluate the system’s performance. The experiment reveals that the system’s precision falls within a range of ±15 mm and its angle accuracy is within ±4 degrees. Integrating robotic automation, IoT and BIM technologies enhances the efficiency and precision of construction layout printing. The findings provide insights into the potential benefits of deploying AMRs in construction projects, reducing site layout errors and improving construction productivity. This study also adds to the body of knowledge around construction automation in line with Industry 4.0 and 5.0 endeavors. Full article
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21 pages, 3597 KiB  
Article
Post-Handover Housing Quality Management and Standards in Korea
by Junmo Park and Deokseok Seo
Buildings 2023, 13(8), 1921; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13081921 - 28 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 698
Abstract
Housing quality is a subject of dispute worldwide, and these disputes are increasing due to the significant differences in the views of producers and consumers on quality standards. To arbitrate disputes, an objective evaluation of housing quality is necessary. In Korea, disputes over [...] Read more.
Housing quality is a subject of dispute worldwide, and these disputes are increasing due to the significant differences in the views of producers and consumers on quality standards. To arbitrate disputes, an objective evaluation of housing quality is necessary. In Korea, disputes over housing quality in the post-handover stage result in lawsuits, thus becoming a social issue. This study analyzed the results of lawsuits against housing complexes in Korea. The ratio of defect repair cost to construction cost (DRCCC) was adopted as an indicator, and the quality level of the building was evaluated using a control chart to select failures. The findings showed that there were more cases where the construction cost was small, the housing quality was poor, the deviation was wide, and the quality defect exceeded the limit level of the control chart. To improve housing quality, it is necessary to strengthen quality management, to control the quality within the management limit, and to adjust standards by reflecting the consumer’s viewpoint. Full article
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19 pages, 922 KiB  
Article
Factors Hindering Solar Photovoltaic System Implementation in Buildings and Infrastructure Projects: Analysis through a Multiple Linear Regression Model and Rule-Based Decision Support System
by Mansoor Mustafa and Muhammad Omer Farooq Malik
Buildings 2023, 13(7), 1786; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13071786 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1045
Abstract
Energy plays a predominant role in the development of society. With advancements in technology and the growth of society (buildings and infrastructures), the demand for energy is rapidly increasing. Developing countries typically rely on the import of fossil fuels and capital investments in [...] Read more.
Energy plays a predominant role in the development of society. With advancements in technology and the growth of society (buildings and infrastructures), the demand for energy is rapidly increasing. Developing countries typically rely on the import of fossil fuels and capital investments in infrastructure development to meet their energy needs. The execution of solar PV projects in developing countries is currently not being implemented promisingly. Therefore, the determination of the critical success factors hindering the implementation of solar PV projects is the need of the hour. The aim of this study is to determine the factors that hinder the implementation of solar PV projects through the use of a multiple linear regression model (MLRM) and a rule-based decision support system (RBDSS). Seven categories of factors were identified through a detailed literature review and interviews with energy experts. Four hundred and twenty-nine complete responses were collected in total through a questionnaire, and they were analyzed using relative importance indexing (RII) and MLRM and RBDSS approaches. A comparison was carried out against both methodologies to determine the most critical barriers to the implementation of solar PV projects. The findings regarding the MLRM approach showed that the top seven critical factors were economic conditions, encouraging policies, technological knowledge, organizational support, social awareness, market stability, and miscellaneous aspects. Similarly, the results for the RBDSS approach identified that the top seven critical factors were encouraging policies, economic conditions, organizational support, technological knowledge, market stability, social awareness, and miscellaneous aspects. The application of MLRM and RBDSS will help stakeholders in making timely decisions and corrections during the implementation phase, providing a systematic way to support the performance and execution of solar projects. Full article
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