Construct IT Autumn 2007 Members' Meeting

in conjunction with the West Midlands Centre For Constructing Excellence
 
Summary (1 of 3)
The Autumn 2007 Members' meeting was held in conjunction with the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence (WMCCE) on the 21st November in Birmingham.
 
Today it is widely accepted that ICT is becoming a strategic asset for any organisation to deliver business improvement and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The event focused on the strategic alignment of business and ICT with the experiences from both the construction industry and others sectors being presented.
 
With the construction sector largely consisting of SMEs, their engagement in the supply chain is critical in the industry's ability to operate more efficiently and effectively. The first session focused on SMEs and the importance of their engagement through the supply chain. Phil Wilson (Operations Director, WMCCE) began by providing an introduction to WMCCE who are a Regional Centre delivering the Constructing Excellence best practice agenda along with the nature of their work in supporting SMEs, supply chain programmes, supporting Best Practice clubs, demonstration projects, and information/knowledge exchange. Phil then went on to discuss the importance of SMEs to the industry and WMCCE's range of activities as part of their European Regional Development Fund project to support and assist SMEs within the West Midlands region. Finally, Phil presented the way forward of the supply chain programmes, improving quality, productivity (through lean programmes), and viability (through collaboration/consortia approaches) and adapting to new challenges in relation to sustainability, climate change, innovation, offsite manufacturing, frameworks/partnering arrangements, etc. Michael Thomas (Executive Director, WMCCE) then followed with a discussion on integrated supply chains. Michael began by focusing on the original drivers for change based on Egan's Rethinking Construction (1998) and Accelerating Change (2002) and questioning the actual progress that has been achieved over the last decade. Michael then discussed integrated project teams and supply chains. In the first instance, he presented the strategic targets that by the end of 2004 20% of construction projects (by value) should be undertaken by integrated teams and supply chains and 20% of client activity (by value) should embrace the principles of the Clients' Charter, both of which should rise to 50%. Michael then suggested that in actual fact these targets in terms of fully integrated project teams and supply chains are in the region of 15% and 5%, respectively. The remainder either believe they are integrated but are not or do not recognise the benefits. Furthermore, 50% integrated by value will not be achieved by the end of 2007. Michael concluded with discussing the way forward, firstly for client organisations as part of integrated project teams understanding the necessity for integrated supply chains in reducing the 50% wastage of the value chain, which in the main is associated with reducing risk, and secondly, the need for changes to procurement and logistics.
 
Next, Bashir Khan (Managing Director, Amara Partnership Ltd.) focused on SME interoperability by providing an introduction and overview of their Consortium of SMEs project (amaraSortium), which requires the input of main contractors and Local Authorities who can benefit from utilising local supply chains on their regeneration and new build social housing projects. This included how local SMEs are developing and sustaining their business based on a Common Consortium IT System, which is targeting a radical breakthrough from the current 'Main Contractor 2 Sub-Contractor' model. Bashir began by asking delegate's perception of what large organisations and building organisations are good at and what large building organisations are not good at. Bashir then proposed the need for a change in the current partnering system in social housing before discussing the leveraging of resources and expertise in order to address such challenges associated with innovation, excellence and VFM. Partnership through consortia to provide an innovative resource by bringing together an integrated supply chain was presented followed by the benefits of such an approach to consortium members. Bashir then discussed the delivery concept whereby SMEs have early engagement during project design rather than at the delivery phase, providing them with a greater understanding of projects along with the opportunity for SMEs to provide valuable expertise to the project design. How this will work was demonstrated through an Open Book Financial process and the measurement of Cost, Quality and Performance, both facilitated by a Common Consortium IT System. The benefits of the approach to the client were discussed before Bashir concluded by providing an overview of their Vision 2010 - a partnership that engages industries, professional bodies, academia, and government towards achieving construction excellence, innovation in the industry, up-skilling of local labour, cost reduction, business development, supply chain value and completing projects on time, within budget, etc. ... more>