Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

HANDBOOK 2 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
Designing, planning and controlling the production process on a construction site is therefore an
extremely difficult task, and consequently the time, cost, quality, safety and environmental
performance on many construction projects can be highly variable.
In response to the need to increase predictability of project delivery and improve project performance,
construction professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the role that correctly executed
logistics plays in delivering successful project outcomes for clients and for the companies involved in
project delivery.
What is construction project logistics?
There are many different definitions of logistics. Each provides a different emphasis on the
relationship of strategy, tactics, production and movement. This is illustrated by the definition
examples shown below.
‘All the operations needed to deliver goods or services, except making the goods or
delivering the services’ (Michael Baudin)
‘Logistics plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods,
services and related information from the point of origin to the point of use’ (The Council
of Logistics Management)
“The detailed coordination of a large and complex operation” (Oxford English Dictionary)
‘The management of materials flow through an organisation from raw materials t finished
goods (Collins English Dictionary)
‘ The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces. In its
most comprehensive sense, the aspects of military operations that deal with:
A. Design, development, acquisition, storage, transport, distribution, maintenance,
evacuation and disposition of materiel 1
B. Transport of personnel
C. Acquisition and furnishing of services
D. Medical and health services support
(NATO)
Logistics does not add value itself. However, logistics enables value-creating work to flow by creating
a production process and work environment in which construction assembly tasks can be undertaken
efficiently, effectively, safely and with minimal environmental and social impact.
For example, a construction client does not receive the cranes, hoists, scaffold structures, mobile
working platforms, loading gantries, material handling equipment, delivery pit lanes and temporary
road configurations that enable construction assembly tasks to be performed. Nor does it receive the
detailed effort that a project team puts in to design the site production environment and plan the
dynamic sequence of logical construction tasks that take place within this work environment.
However, an operationally-ready building, delivered to the client’s time and cost requirements, would
not be safely produced without this detailed logistical effort by the construction project team.
In the context of construction projects, it is evident that logistics is about delivering the right products
to the right place at the right time, faster and at lower cost. However, it is important to understand that
construction project logistics involves much more than this.
1 In this context, materiel includes materials, tools, plant, equipment, vehicles, ammunition and fuel
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