RFID-facilitated construction materials management (RFID-CMM) – A case study of water-supply project

Due to the complex and dynamic nature of the construction industry, construction materials management faces many unique challenges from material planning, ordering, receiving and storing, handling and distribution, site usage and monitoring. Poor materials management has been identified as a major source of low construction productivity, cost overrun and delays. Lack of active, accurate and integrated information flow from material planning, inventory, site use to monitoring and control is a major contributor to such problems. However, it is difficult to obtain such accurate information actively due to the nature of the industry, particularly for large or material intensive projects such as oil or water pipe-laying projects. This paper presents a Radio Frequency Identification system (RFID) facilitated construction material management system which is developed to tackle this problem. This latest technology helps project teams to collect material storage and usage information in an active and accurate way. Additionally, it facilitates the flow of information through the construction materials management process focusing on dynamic material planning, ordering and monitoring. The developed system is being implemented in a water-supply project.