Supply Chain Productivity in construction: Transforming Construction Network Plus digest series

All too often, construction firms focus on improving their own productivity at the expense of the other firms they work with. This reflects their tendency to not engage with a collaborative approach in which all firms involved in a construction project are working together. This reduces overall productivity, so projects overrun on cost and time. This is further exacerbated by a low rate of technological innovation, poor communication and coordination, and the inefficient use of resources.

This digest shows how productivity improvements based on supply chain management used in manufacturing could be applied to improve the performance of construction. It presents three considerations for improving productivity in construction:

1. Building end-to-end supply chain integration
2. Achieving ‘economies of repetition’
3. Adopting digital technologies to improve supply chain planning

We know that one size doesn’t fit all, so this digest aims to help firms understand when to focus on supply chain flexibility and when to seek economies of repetition. In this way they will stand a better chance of radically improving productivity across projects and programmes.