Procurement and Supply Chain Enhancement by Application of Building Information Modelling in the Construction Industry

Abstract

The aim of this study is put forward Building Information Modelling can effectively empower and enhance the procurement process, particularly by achieving seamless data flow from design to procurement. Dealing with the practical advantages of efficient and accurate transfer of BIM models from the design phase to the procurement phase to guide material/component selection and ordering, this study has a starting point from practical experience of the CDM project, explores the key issues of streamlined extension of BIM models to CAD applications (such as door/window and sanitary ware selection) and further to the procurement end (PDM/PLM). The research first examines the new requirements posed by the trends in building industrialization for software technology, especially in terms of precise data transmission and cross-departmental collaboration. These points were taken as a basis to propose and validate an innovative BIM-PDM-CAD data linkage. As a result of the proposed approach, design duration reduction, material costs, potential supply chain synergies, and return on investment were analysed and it is roughly estimated that using this integrated system will save nearly 20% of costs compared to the traditional design to procurement process. Afterwards, the approach was used in a certain project by selecting and designing of key parts in the project such as doors, windows, and curtain walls and it was observed that the total time consumption was significantly reduced from 37% of the total design time to 18%. It is thought that for especially for prefabricated parts as components of any construction project, this approach will demolish the obstacles between design, management and construction phases. Proposed approach ensures that component information from BIM models can drive material data in the PDM system in real time and accurately, ultimately serving specific on-shop alternatives in the construction industry to achieve an efficient supply chain management, material and/or component order from the vendors/producers from phase till the end of construction phase.

Keywords

• Building Information Modelling (BIM)
• industrialised procurement
• BIM–PDM–CAD integration
• parametric component selection
• digital supply Chain management

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