NETWORK OPTIMIZATION FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

Construction industry being comprised of diverse activities and an open environment work, it is difficult to track all the activities. Due to various uncertainly in activities, demand and flow of information and materials, concept of supply chain is at very preliminary stage introduced to the construction industry. Akintolaet et al. (2000) define supply chain management in construction as “the process of strategic management of information flow, activities, tasks and processes, involving various networks of organizations and linkages (upstream and downstream) involved in the delivery of quality construction products and services through the firms, and to the customer, in an efficient manner”. Variable cost contributes large enough share in the total construction project and also affects the profit margins of the construction company. It is also found that the share of carbon emission from the logistics involved in construction project is more than that from the actual site work. In this project we have being tried to develop the optimization model for the variable logistics cost and the carbon emission from the overall logistics that is involved in the construction company. The model is further demonstrated with the help of real problem case studies. Inputs from the managers of construction firms are considered and suggestions and recommendations are given after studying the present practices in the supply chain management in the construction industry. Proper planning of logistics strategies also speeds up the construction work and thus reduces the project overrun cost by reducing the transportation and variable costs. The computational analysis is performed using linear programming and excel solver and the results have shown the significant reduction in cost of transportation and emission from the transportation