Construction industry supply chain data sharing framework

Through a participatory design approach, the project will identify appropriate use cases for construction material supply chain data sharing and how such use cases could translate to social, economic, and environmental outcomes for all stakeholders involved. This project will have a particular focus on the concrete supply chain in the Western Alliance Program of the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP).

The LXRP project is directly responsible for one of the largest rail infrastructure projects in the State of Victoria’s history. Central to the LXRP project is the elimination of 85 rail level crossings across metropolitan Melbourne by 2025, in addition to other rail network upgrades such as new train stations, track duplication and train stabling yards.

The logistics of getting materials to and from construction sites represent a large proportion of the billions of dollars spent annually in Australia’s construction sector. Large material supply companies, transport companies and contractors have invested in digital and data-capturing systems to improve visibility of the movements of materials.

However, the data from these systems is generally only accessible to themselves. Sharing of data between the different companies involved in the various supply chains at LXRP is limited.

While the construction supply chain is becoming more digital, lack of data sharing standards/protocols across the multiple companies is limiting the efficiency gains across the LXRP program.

This project, first, aims to develop a better understanding of existing data sharing framework, best practices and platforms used in construction. Second, through a combination of desktop research and stakeholder consultation, this project will establish a data sharing framework together with other purpose-driven organisations within LXRP partner ecosystem, who share the drivers for success and reap the rewards across their transport supply chain.

Participants

• Level Crossing Removal Project
• Swinburne University of Technology
  

Project background

The benefits of integrating and coordinating supply chain partners have been well recognized in many industries.

In such process, relying on accurate and timely information related to material delivery within the supply chain is a key mechanism.

In the construction industry, supply chain integration is technically challenging due to the high fragmentation of the industry. Information, applications, and services are loosely distributed among participants with a wide range of hardware and software capabilities.

Currently, there is a large discrepancy in the number of integrated systems in operation within the construction sector when compared to other industries, with construction being one of the least digitally transformed sectors (Office of the Chief Economist 2018). Additionally, productivity within the construction industry decreased by 17% over a 5-year period spanning from 2013-2018, falling to levels not seen since the late 1990s (Australian Constructors Association, 2020, p. 5).

Construction is also one the main contributors to emission and other environmental and social externalities comparative to other industries (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). This is even more evident when it comes to major and complex infrastructure projects that involves large volume of materials delivered to various sites.

As construction activity rapidly grows in Australia, particularly government funded infrastructure projects, there is an urgent need to introduce efficiency across the processes and activities to minimise the construction costs, but also reduce the wastage of resources and materials (Doust, Battista & Rundle, 2021).

These challenges highlight the need for improved coordination and inter-operability amongst actors, necessitating the implementation of a data sharing frameworks to ensure a coherent working relationship can be maintained between all involved actors.

Project objectives

Real-time tracking and tracing of materials is a strategic capability when managing complex supply chains consisting of several parties. With a focus on the ready-mix concrete use case, this project aims to develop a better understanding of supply chain data sharing in the construction industry, identify and map the key stakeholders, validate their needs, and provide recommendation on the key features and requirements of data sharing platform/framework, suitable for the construction industry and LXRP program.

More specifically, this project will provide insights on the future requirements and design of a data sharing framework, together with other purpose-driven organisations within LXRP partner ecosystem, to introduce construction supply chain productivity benefits.

Through the stakeholder consultation and further analysis, this project will identify and assess the benefits of developing data sharing platform for the parties involved in the concrete supply chain, which could result in::

• minimisation of downtime
• streamlined communication between concrete supplier, sites, main contractor, and other key stakeholders
• compliance management and identification of opportunities to reduce material waste

Project wrap-up

This project has been completed. Find a wrap-up of the project at: Improving efficiency in the concrete supply chain. Includes details of the project scope, stakeholder consultation, topics of interest, use cases, recommendations, and expected project impacts.