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16th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction - Manchester, UK - 2008

Supply Chain Management in Construction - A Case Study of a Portuguese Company

Tiago Pinho¹, Jose Telhada² & Maria S. Carvalho³

¹PhD Student, Systems and Production Department, School of Engineering - Gualtar, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, [email protected]
²Professor, Systems and Production Department, School of Engineering - Gualtar, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, [email protected]
³Professor, Systems and Production Department, School of Engineering - Gualtar, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, [email protected]

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the preliminary results of the implementation of a construction supply chain management application, which is being developed in a PhD graduation project. This project was thought to overcome significant inefficiencies of the rudimentary and bureaucratic communication system of a case study company. The main result of this implementation was the design and the implementation of a web portal that allows the adequate portability to help local project managers on construction sites filling their material and equipment orders to the central warehouse. The project involved several stages, including preparatory reengineering processes conducted in the logistics sector and the implementation of a fleet management system. The web portal is being currently used by the company and there are now clear evidences that its implementation brought effective competitive gains by minimizing communication errors, improving resource usage, lowering stock levels and, most of all, by reducing the overall costs of construction projects.

Keywords

supply chain management, construction logistics, information system, case study

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