The Last Planner SystemTM (LPS) is well-documented in the literature, and has sometimes been used to represent lean construction or lean project management. LPS aims to achieve reliable workflow by encouraging foremen to have a sense of ownership of the project programme and to build-in their commitment into it. This study reports on the perceptions of Chinese building professionals of the appl...

The building construction industry faces challenges, such as increasing project complexity and scope requirements, but shorter deadlines. Additionally, economic uncertainty and rising business competition with a subsequent decrease in profit margins for the industry demands the development of new approaches to construction management. However, the building construction sector relies on practice...

The data generated within the construction industry has become increasingly overwhelming. Data mining technology presents an opportunity to increase significantly the rate at which the volumes of data generated through the maintenance process can be turned into useful information. This can be done using classification algorithms to discover patterns and correlations within a large volume of dat...

This paper presents the implementation of an adaptive control strategy of the climbing robot ROMA2. Its main area of application is an autonomous inspection of complex 3D infrastructure in construction industry, like bridges, skeletons of the buildings, offshore platforms, etc. Due to the fact that gravity factors have a high influence on the quality and security of the motion, the adaptive con...

The use of 3D virtual worlds in the construction industry is not limited to simulation of building models. Whilst in a 3D virtual world, designers can view their work from various viewpoints by moving around. However explorations within these environments are not simple affairs due to the absence of many sensorial stimuli that exist in the physical world. Hence there needs to be a tool aiding d...

The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety clima...

Ambient intelligence (AmI) is a multidisciplinary paradigm based on the Invisible Computer and Ubiquitous Computing. In AmI, technologies are deployed to make computers disappear in the background, while the human user moves into the foreground in complete control of the augmented environment. AmI is a user-centric paradigm, it supports a variety of artificial intelligence methods and works per...

Productivity is a key issue in the construction industry. It has been forecasted that the labour productivity of the Japanese construction industry should be increased twice in the year 2010, comparing with the present rate. Automation and robotics in next generation construction should try to improve not only productivity but also take humanity into consideration and be harmless to the global ...

Brazil’s house construction industry is currently undergoing changes in its structure due to the new competitive environment. In São Paulo, among other states, production is passing from an in-house type to a subcontracted type. Finding an effective way to manage the supply chain is crucial for the success of this new situation. With the main focus on the Brazilian supply management in this ind...

Natural radioactivity is responsible for most of the total radiation dose received by human population. Geological materials used in building industry usually become contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive materials. They are used as mixtures in building industry (kaolin, zircon, frit, feldspar) or mechanically processed and used for covering floors and walls of the rooms (granite). I...