The development of a process map for the construction sector

Abstract

Abstract The construction industry has witnessed serious efforts in the last few years through the consideration of the adoption of new procurement systems and production/manufacturing philosophies. However, process maps which can help organisations map their processes into some meaningful structure are still lacking. The product (building) is still the main focus in construction. In the manufacturing industry, most large organisations have process maps which can assist them in ensuring the delivery of products on time, within budget and to the right quality while capturing the best process practices. In construction, there had been some efforts to devise process maps such as the RIBA plan of work in the UK. This paper presents a process map based on principles used in the manufacturing industry. Knowledge was elicited from experts through a series of workshops and case studies. The results of some of these case studies, which have been used to assess the practicality of implementing this process map on real life projects, are presented. Finally, the IT required to support and enable the effective implementation of the process map is briefly described.

Keywords: Process map, manufacturing, IT support, case studies.