13th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction - Sydney, Australia - 2005

Why Is on-Site Fabrication of Cut & Bent Rebar Preferred in Turkey?

Gul Polat1 & Glenn Ballard2

1Research Assistant, Construction Management Program, Department of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, Tel: +90-212-285-3737; Fax: +90-212-285-6587; E-mail: [email protected]
2Research Director, Lean Construction Institute, 4536 Fieldbrook Road, Oakland, CA 94619. 510/530-8656, [email protected]; Associate Adjunct Professor, Project & Engineering Mgmt. Group, Dept. of Civil and Env. Eng., University of California at Berkeley; and Principal, Strategic Project Solutions.

Abstract

Off-site fabrication of materials is a key feature of lean construction. However, the tradition of the industry has long been to fabricate materials on-site, and there are various factors that compel contractors to continue that tradition. These factors are especially powerful in developing countries. As an example, there is a strong preference for fabricating cut & bent rebar on-site in the Turkish construction industry. Using open-ended interviews, this study identifies the reasons for that preference and offers recommendations for improving off-site fabrication performance in Turkish construction. This study suggests that the preference for on-site fabrication of cut & bent rebar is based on the lack of management capability of contractors including the poor coordination capability and the defective ordering procedure, and it enables contractors to fiddle the numbers on workers and scrap in order to increase the money they receive from clients. The paper hopes to make a contribution to the theory and practice of lean implementation, especially in developing countries.

Keywords

Developing countries, Implementation, Cut & bent rebar, On-site fabrication, Off-site fabrication.

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Reference

Polat, G. & Ballard, G. 2005. Why Is on-Site Fabrication of Cut & Bent Rebar Preferred in Turkey?, 13th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 449-456. doi.org/

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