Materials management in construction projects is a key function that significantly contributes to... more Materials management in construction projects is a key function that significantly contributes to the success of a project. The management of materials in construction projects is made problematic by materials shortages, delays in supply, price fluctuations, damage and wastage, and lack of storage space. Paper-based reports are mostly used to record and exchange information related to the materials component within a supply chain, which is problematic, error-prone, and inefficient. Generally, emerging technologies such as wireless system, bar-coding and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are not being adequately used to overcome human error and are not well integrated with project management systems to make the tracking and management of materials easier and faster. Thus, this study seeks to identify the potential employment of that technology focusing on RFID for materials management in construction projects. As a precursor to this work, a literature review on materials manageme...
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Dec 2, 2020
Green Building Index (GBI) is a rating tool provides an opportunity for developers and building o... more Green Building Index (GBI) is a rating tool provides an opportunity for developers and building owners in Malaysia to design and construct green, sustainable buildings that can reduce environmental impact from construction. However, the awareness and challenge for the developer to construct green building may influence the developer to get GBI platinum certification. In Malaysia construction industry, GBI standards is perceived as being too expensive for many developers. Out of the total 516 certification projects, only 20 projects get Platinum certification. The awareness is relatively low for the developers to implement suitable green technology to achieve Platinum certification. Their strategies apply to get the certification will affect the result of achievement. The objectives of the research are to explore the awareness of developer on green building projects, to identify the challenges for developer in achieving platinum rating of GBI and last to investigate the strategies of developer towards achieve platinum rating of GBI. The research was implemented by qualitative method which collects the data by interviews with 3 developers who involved green building GBI platinum certificated projects in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After the interview session, qualitative content analysis method was using for this research. Through the data research, it shows that high investment cost implementation initially was one the biggest challenge faced by the developers to achieve Platinum certification. Most of the respondent agreed that hire expertise and adopting useful green technology can be the strategies to achieve GBI platinum certification. In the conclusion, the research help and encourage more developer and give the awareness to develop more GBI platinum certification green building in Malaysia.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
The construction industry sector is an increasingly challenging sector with construction project ... more The construction industry sector is an increasingly challenging sector with construction project activities that can be categorized as dangerous. Use of accident detection technology for safety management on construction sites. This technology will be able to reduce or anticipate accidents that occur during construction work. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the types and advantages of technology, as well as barriers to the use of accident detection technology for safety management on construction sites. To achieve these objectives, this study will use quantitative methods through questionnaires to collect data for this study. The respondents of this study consisted of Grade 7 contractors registered in the state of Kuala Terengganu and involved project managers and security managers who are experienced in the field of the construction industry. The data to be collected will be analyzed using SPSS software. As a result of the data analysis that has been done, it is found that different types of information and communication technology are used to collect data quickly and accurately for security management on construction sites. Meanwhile, the advantages of accident detection technology can increase the safety of the construction site is an advantage supported by the respondents. However, barriers to accident detection technology require high costs which are barriers supported by respondents to ensure safety at the construction site. Therefore, the objectives of this study will be achieved and the results of this study can provide effective information to contractors so that safety at the construction site is more guaranteed without accidents. In conclusion, the parties involved should work together to ensure that the use of accident detection technology for safety management at construction sites can be expanded for use in the construction industry.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
In construction industry, cement is important for the production of concrete. It is also a binder... more In construction industry, cement is important for the production of concrete. It is also a binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Unfortunately, manufacturing process of cement contributes the greenhouse gases which harmful the environment. On the other hand, steel slag which has a huge potential to be utilize in concrete as replacement material could be used as an alternative material in concrete. The needed to improve the use of steel slag is an effective way to solve these problems. The objectives of this study are to determine the factors that influence the concrete production, to observe the future acceptance to produce concrete using the steel slag among concrete manufacturer, to identify the initiative in managing by product of steel and improving the product in the market. The methodology of this research uses consistency approaches by interviewing a concrete supplier from Inno Concrete Technologies Sdn. Bhd, Seng Foong Concrete Sdn. Bhd and Renggam Concrete. The finding show that all factors stated influence the choice of materials in concrete manufacturing. From the qualitative analysis, respondents agreed that the use of steel slag could be an alternative material in concrete but required a lot of improvement to be accepted in the industry besides aiming to reduce the environment impact from production of cement. Thus, it is anticipated that the objective of this analysis will have a possible to contribute as an alternative material and also towards better future in this field.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
The use of reinforced concrete is not a new feature in the construction industry in Malaysia. Now... more The use of reinforced concrete is not a new feature in the construction industry in Malaysia. Nowadays, the problem of overuse of steel in the industry, cracks and low strength of concrete had been issued especially in the low cost residential area. On the other hand, bamboo is a natural resources which have a big population and potential to be used in construction due to the strength, durability and ability to replace steel in concrete. So, bamboo culm will be used as reinforcement material in concrete to improve the problems. The research objective of this study are to compare the compressive strength of the bamboo with various diameters and to compare the structural strength of reinforced concrete with standard concrete. The experimental work consists of casting and testing the 100x100x100 mm of reinforced concrete with concrete cover/diameter (0.781, 0.971 and 1.224) in various diameters Ø29, Ø34 andØ39) of bamboo culms. Then, the slump and compression test to determine workability and strength standard concrete and bamboo reinforced concrete were compared. The results of this study prove that bamboo culm are suitable to be used as reinforcement material and able to improve the strength and workability in reinforced concrete. Apart of reducing the usage of concrete and suitable to replace steel in reinforced concrete, this study is also to encourage the usage of natural renewable material as an alternative construction materials. It is also to educate society on the negative impact of carbon emission towards the environments and also to explore more on the potential of bamboo as an alternative material.
International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 2021
The rapid growth of construction industry has caused a huge demand on natural aggregate as the pr... more The rapid growth of construction industry has caused a huge demand on natural aggregate as the production of concrete requires massive use of natural stone materials. Due to the increase of demand of this material, it has affected to the shortage of natural aggregate and increased the cost of construction material. On the other hand, bamboo is one of the materials which have a big population and potential to be used in construction due to its durability, flexibility and strength performance. So, bamboo fiber was used as aggregate replacement material to reduce the cost of construction material and pollution as well as to improve the quality of the concrete. The research objectives in this study are to determine the optimum percentage of bamboo fiber as aggregate replacement in concrete and to compare the compressive strength of the bamboo fiber concrete with standard concrete. There were 4 cube specimens casted for each proportion of 0%, 5%, 12.5%, 10%, 12.5%, 15% and 17.5% of bambo...
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
Due to the population of Malaysia rise every year and the demand for property increase so the con... more Due to the population of Malaysia rise every year and the demand for property increase so the construction industry in Malaysia growth rapidly. Some of the states in Malaysia that occur urbanization lead the construction project in the current state increase and cause limited space for the construction project. Limited space of construction site directly affects to the congested construction site and bring delay issues. One of the factors of delay issues is the materials tracking problem at the congested construction site. Many types of materials tracking system implementation at the congested construction site but Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) seem more prominent. Even though RFID is established in the market but there are still challenges in the implementation of this technology. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the effectiveness of materials tracking at the congested construction site with the potential implementation of RFID. The research methodology adopted in this research is quantitative methods and the instrument that use to collect the data is questionnaires. The location of this research was conducted at Johor and the respondents of this research are G7 contractors. The results of this study show that RFID has the potential in providing convenient materials tracking to reduce the cost of materials wastage. The biggest challenge of RFID implementation is the financial support due to the cost of technology. In conclusion, the research provides substantial knowledge of effective materials management with RFID implementation in material tracking at the congested construction site.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides significant benefits to the contractors. However, B... more Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides significant benefits to the contractors. However, BIM tools in construction phase projects seem not fully been implemented and rarely used by contractors. This is because of the certain problem faced by contractors, which are interoperability, high implementation cost, lack of knowledge by site workers about BIM tools technologies, and other consultants not using BIM tools. Therefore, the purpose of this research to study what is the current practices, challenges and benefits of BIM tools implementation among contractors at the construction phase. The literature review was carried out to discover BIM tools implementation among contractors during the construction phase. Qualitative research methodology conducted by interviews with the contractors which currently involved and have been involved in projects using BIM tools for residential and commercial projects in Malaysia. All data obtained from the interviews were analyzed and carried out by using content analysis. Therefore, both data from the literature review and the interviews were used to complete this research. The contractor realizes the importance of using BIM tools during the construction phase such as Revit and Navisworks that assist them in the construction site. The awareness of the importance of using BIM tools and cost becomes a major challenge for the contractors to implement BIM tools during the construction phase. This research needs to know how BIM tools can be fully implemented during construction, to help the contractor achieve several advantages provided in the construction phase by the implementation of BIM tools.
International Journal of Supply Chain Management, 2017
Late delivery and sick housing project problems were attributed to poor decision making. These pr... more Late delivery and sick housing project problems were attributed to poor decision making. These problems are the string of housing developer that prefers to create their own approach based on their experiences and expertise with the simplest approach by just applying the obtainable standards and rules in decision making. This paper seeks to identify the decision making methods for housing development at the initiation phase in Malaysia. The research involved Delphi method by using questionnaire survey which involved 50 numbers of developers as samples for the primary stage of collect data. However, only 34 developers contributed to the second stage of the information gathering process. At the last stage, only 12 developers were left for the final data collection process. Finding affirms that Malaysian developers prefer to make their investment decisions based on simple interpolation of historical data and using simple statistical or mathematical techniques in producing the required r...
International Journal of Computer and Communication Technology, 2011
Construction materials usually constitute a major portion of the total cost in a building constru... more Construction materials usually constitute a major portion of the total cost in a building construction project. Despite the potential benefit of ICT, convincing construction organisations to embrace its use and implementation has proved a difficult task. This research seeks to identify the implementation of ICT in construction materials management processes and to investigate on the acceptance of contractors for ICT transformation to the materials management in construction projects. In relation to that, current constraints that are found hindering the acceptance of ICT in materials management processes are also identified. A triangulation research approach which consists of standard derived questionnaires, semi structured interviews with class A contractors and review of previous research were conducted. The findings from this research reveal that the implementation of ICT in the materials management for construction projects in Malaysia is at early stage. Microsoft Excel Spreadshe...
Journal of Technology Management and Business, 2019
Nowadays, the Malaysian construction industry is moving forward to roll out technology advantage ... more Nowadays, the Malaysian construction industry is moving forward to roll out technology advantage across project life-cycle for enhancing human development skills. Therefore, the government has adopted industrialized building systems (IBS) to enhance control and balance of workforce supply for overall project performance achievement. However, the challenges faced by the construction industry such as delay the completion of construction projects was due to poor contractors' practices. In addition, there are significant challenges related to contractors' practices for instance shortage of skill, practical know-how, worker capability, and financial difficulties in IBS implementation. Therefore the purpose of this study was to identify current practices and influencing factors of contractors' practices for IBS implementation in the construction industry. This study also determines the improved ways of contractors' practices for IBS implementation in the construction industry. The study was conducted in Johor Bahru, Johor where various development and construction activities are currently active. Quantitative method was conducted by distribution the questionnaires to Grade 7 (G7) contractors as study respondents which involved wide practices of IBS construction projects. Data collected were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 22.0 software. The study reveals that, the problems faced by contractors in their practices of IBS implementation such as low productivity, management aspects, and financial problems. Therefore, training to labour, IBS instruction guideline and improving finance, and procurement mechanism are the top recommended factors to improve contractors' practices for successful IBS implementation. In conclusion, with the improvement of contractors' practices, the productivity of IBS implementation in the construction industry can be improved.
International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Technology, 2019
Construction industry comprises 3 main stages in construction which are pre-construction, constru... more Construction industry comprises 3 main stages in construction which are pre-construction, construction and the maintenance of the project. Normally when the main contractor was entrusted to finish one project, they need to perform the works starting from planning and design, groundwork, substructure and superstructure, external work,
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2018
Facility management is the key phase in the development cycle of an assets and spans over a consi... more Facility management is the key phase in the development cycle of an assets and spans over a considerable length of time. Therefore, facility managers are in a commanding position to maximise the potential of sustainability through the development phases from construction, operation, maintenance and upgrade leading to decommission and deconstruction. Sustainability endeavours in facility management practices will contribute to reducing energy consumption, waste and running costs. Furthermore, it can also help in improving organisational productivity, financial return and community standing of the organisation. Facility manager should be empowered with the necessary knowledge and capabilities at the forefront facing sustainability challenge. However, literature studies show a gap between the level of awareness, specific knowledge and the necessary skills required to pursue sustainability in the facility management professional. People capability is considered as the key enabler in managing the sustainability agenda as well as being central to the improvement of competency and innovation in an organisation. This paper aims to develop a guidelines for interpersonal capabilities to support sustainability in facility management practice. Starting with a total of 7 critical interpersonal capabilities factors identified from previous questionnaire survey, the authors conducted an interview with 3 experts in facility management to assess the perceived importance of these factors. The findings reveal a set of guidelines for the enhancement of interpersonal capabilities among facility managers by providing what can be done to acquire these factors and how it can support the application of sustainability in their practice. The findings of this paper are expected to form the basis of a mechanism framework developed to equip facility managers with the right knowledge, to continue education and training and to develop new mind-sets to enhance the implementation of sustainability measures in FM practices.
The industries business play a significant role to contribute toward economic growth in develop a... more The industries business play a significant role to contribute toward economic growth in develop and developing country. However, they always face serious problems such as time overrun, waste generation, and cost overrun during their operation and maintenance. Traditional practice is found unable to control that situation. These challenges accent the need for practitioners to rethink and improve their process management. This show that industries business has major potential when applying sustainable development by focusing on three pillars (economic, environment, and social). By adopting sustainability, it can reduce energy consumption and waste, while increasing productivity, financial return and corporate standing in community. FM personnel are most suitable position to lead organizations toward sustainability implementation. However, lack of skill and capability among FM personnel to achieve sustainable goal had become barrier that need to overcome. This paper focus to identify capability challenges of FM personnel toward sustainability. A multiple researches were conducted and data were gathered through literature review from previous studies.
Management and Production Engineering Review, 2017
Construction projects are more often than not plagued by poor performances such as delays, cost o... more Construction projects are more often than not plagued by poor performances such as delays, cost overrun, low productivity, construction wastes and compromised quality. Amongst the critical contributory factors of poor project performances, is the ineffectiveness of materials management occurring in the construction sites. Indeed, materials management is a very important component for construction projects. However, there are only limited numbers of research available regarding this topic. Thus, this research focuses its study on materials management, specifically in identifying the influential factors that affect materials management in the construction project activities. Literatures from books, journal articles and conference papers related to poor project performances and materials management have been reviewed. Consequently, this study sorted the salient influential factors and categorized them based on their specific group. Out of 47 factors identified, they are classified into...
The pressures of internationalisation have generated a high competitive market on Malaysian const... more The pressures of internationalisation have generated a high competitive market on Malaysian construction industry. However, the competitive and saturated of domestic market has driven many Malaysian contractor to undertake international projects. Without any denial, participation in international projects is a challenging task. It requires Malaysian contractors to develop strategy to enable them to operate successfully abroad. Therefore, the objectives of this research is to examine the key challenges for Malaysian contractors to undertake international construction projects thus identify strategies for Malaysian contractors to undertake international construction projects. To achieve the objectives of this research, quantitative method were adopted by using questionnaires. Questionnaire were distributed to participants from well experienced management team of G6 and G7 companies that have vast involvement in international projects. The findings of this research revealed that skille...
Robotics is one of the advanced technologies that is used in various aspects of the construction ... more Robotics is one of the advanced technologies that is used in various aspects of the construction industry to improve the efficiency and the performance of construction projects. The adoption of construction robotics technologies is significant strategies to maintain and improve productivity in the construction industry. Even though the implementation of construction robotics technologies can improve productivity, many Malaysian contractors do not embrace the existence of robotic technology and still practicing the traditional method due to many challenges. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to investigate the challenges of the implementation of construction robotics technologies in the Malaysian construction industry and the improvement method. The data of the research were achieved through a quantitative method, which questionnaires were distributed to 180 G7 contractors in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently, 50 valid responses were retrieved and the collected data were analysed u...
International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Technology, 2018
Construction projects are plagued with the issue of poor project performance such as low producti... more Construction projects are plagued with the issue of poor project performance such as low productivity, wastage, time overrun, compromised quality and cost overrun. Research literature reveals that this issue occurs partly due to ineffective materials management. Nonetheless, the effective management of materials seems like a viable solution to enhance the performance of any construction projects. Despite its importance, not much literature has explored the influential factors for effective management of materials. Since the identification of factors is an essential step to recommend any improvement efforts, thus, this paper examines the influential factors for effective materials management. A questionnaire survey was conducted with practitioners from contractor organisations and 111 valid responses were obtained. Data was analysed using exploratory factor analysis via the IBM SPSS version 21 software. Results indicate that only 50 influential factors were relevant in Malaysian construction project and these were categorised into 8 specific components namely: management, purchasing, expediting, transportation, site storage and condition, supplier, contractual and governmental interference. Summarily, findings reported in this paper constitute part of a questionnaire development process for a research project undertaken to develop an effective materials management model for better projects performance. Thus, the outcome of this study may assist practitioners in decision making process by understanding the identified influential factors that contribute to effective materials management.
As the result of government's initiative and future outlook in uprising the awareness towards the... more As the result of government's initiative and future outlook in uprising the awareness towards the implementation of sustainable elements in construction industries, the Industrialized Building System (IBS) is one of the approaches that had been introduced as an alternative to conventional building method and produce the new strategy of reducing the waste of materials in construction. The IBS approach is actively promoted through several strategies and incentives as an alternative to conventional building methods. Extensive uptakes of modern Information Communication Technology (ICT) applications are able to support the different IBS processes for effective production. However, it is argued that ICT uptake at the organizational level needs to be regularly improved. Thus, this paper fulfills the need to identify the critical barriers to ICT employment and highlighting the ICT drivers in enhancing the IBS management process. Critical barriers and drivers to ICT uptake were identified through questionnaire survey with industry stakeholders and were analyzed using mean index and critical t-value with the use of SPSS software. The critical drivers are top management support and commitment and improving the availability of the technologies. The critical drivers which were identified are significant in ensuring the enhancement of ICT implementation. Hence, any system in place should avoid the highest ranked barriers or seek to alleviate their impact by focusing on the identified drivers in order to enhance implementation of ICT in IBS process management.
Materials management in construction projects is a key function that significantly contributes to... more Materials management in construction projects is a key function that significantly contributes to the success of a project. The management of materials in construction projects is made problematic by materials shortages, delays in supply, price fluctuations, damage and wastage, and lack of storage space. Paper-based reports are mostly used to record and exchange information related to the materials component within a supply chain, which is problematic, error-prone, and inefficient. Generally, emerging technologies such as wireless system, bar-coding and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are not being adequately used to overcome human error and are not well integrated with project management systems to make the tracking and management of materials easier and faster. Thus, this study seeks to identify the potential employment of that technology focusing on RFID for materials management in construction projects. As a precursor to this work, a literature review on materials manageme...
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Dec 2, 2020
Green Building Index (GBI) is a rating tool provides an opportunity for developers and building o... more Green Building Index (GBI) is a rating tool provides an opportunity for developers and building owners in Malaysia to design and construct green, sustainable buildings that can reduce environmental impact from construction. However, the awareness and challenge for the developer to construct green building may influence the developer to get GBI platinum certification. In Malaysia construction industry, GBI standards is perceived as being too expensive for many developers. Out of the total 516 certification projects, only 20 projects get Platinum certification. The awareness is relatively low for the developers to implement suitable green technology to achieve Platinum certification. Their strategies apply to get the certification will affect the result of achievement. The objectives of the research are to explore the awareness of developer on green building projects, to identify the challenges for developer in achieving platinum rating of GBI and last to investigate the strategies of developer towards achieve platinum rating of GBI. The research was implemented by qualitative method which collects the data by interviews with 3 developers who involved green building GBI platinum certificated projects in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After the interview session, qualitative content analysis method was using for this research. Through the data research, it shows that high investment cost implementation initially was one the biggest challenge faced by the developers to achieve Platinum certification. Most of the respondent agreed that hire expertise and adopting useful green technology can be the strategies to achieve GBI platinum certification. In the conclusion, the research help and encourage more developer and give the awareness to develop more GBI platinum certification green building in Malaysia.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
The construction industry sector is an increasingly challenging sector with construction project ... more The construction industry sector is an increasingly challenging sector with construction project activities that can be categorized as dangerous. Use of accident detection technology for safety management on construction sites. This technology will be able to reduce or anticipate accidents that occur during construction work. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the types and advantages of technology, as well as barriers to the use of accident detection technology for safety management on construction sites. To achieve these objectives, this study will use quantitative methods through questionnaires to collect data for this study. The respondents of this study consisted of Grade 7 contractors registered in the state of Kuala Terengganu and involved project managers and security managers who are experienced in the field of the construction industry. The data to be collected will be analyzed using SPSS software. As a result of the data analysis that has been done, it is found that different types of information and communication technology are used to collect data quickly and accurately for security management on construction sites. Meanwhile, the advantages of accident detection technology can increase the safety of the construction site is an advantage supported by the respondents. However, barriers to accident detection technology require high costs which are barriers supported by respondents to ensure safety at the construction site. Therefore, the objectives of this study will be achieved and the results of this study can provide effective information to contractors so that safety at the construction site is more guaranteed without accidents. In conclusion, the parties involved should work together to ensure that the use of accident detection technology for safety management at construction sites can be expanded for use in the construction industry.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
In construction industry, cement is important for the production of concrete. It is also a binder... more In construction industry, cement is important for the production of concrete. It is also a binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Unfortunately, manufacturing process of cement contributes the greenhouse gases which harmful the environment. On the other hand, steel slag which has a huge potential to be utilize in concrete as replacement material could be used as an alternative material in concrete. The needed to improve the use of steel slag is an effective way to solve these problems. The objectives of this study are to determine the factors that influence the concrete production, to observe the future acceptance to produce concrete using the steel slag among concrete manufacturer, to identify the initiative in managing by product of steel and improving the product in the market. The methodology of this research uses consistency approaches by interviewing a concrete supplier from Inno Concrete Technologies Sdn. Bhd, Seng Foong Concrete Sdn. Bhd and Renggam Concrete. The finding show that all factors stated influence the choice of materials in concrete manufacturing. From the qualitative analysis, respondents agreed that the use of steel slag could be an alternative material in concrete but required a lot of improvement to be accepted in the industry besides aiming to reduce the environment impact from production of cement. Thus, it is anticipated that the objective of this analysis will have a possible to contribute as an alternative material and also towards better future in this field.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
The use of reinforced concrete is not a new feature in the construction industry in Malaysia. Now... more The use of reinforced concrete is not a new feature in the construction industry in Malaysia. Nowadays, the problem of overuse of steel in the industry, cracks and low strength of concrete had been issued especially in the low cost residential area. On the other hand, bamboo is a natural resources which have a big population and potential to be used in construction due to the strength, durability and ability to replace steel in concrete. So, bamboo culm will be used as reinforcement material in concrete to improve the problems. The research objective of this study are to compare the compressive strength of the bamboo with various diameters and to compare the structural strength of reinforced concrete with standard concrete. The experimental work consists of casting and testing the 100x100x100 mm of reinforced concrete with concrete cover/diameter (0.781, 0.971 and 1.224) in various diameters Ø29, Ø34 andØ39) of bamboo culms. Then, the slump and compression test to determine workability and strength standard concrete and bamboo reinforced concrete were compared. The results of this study prove that bamboo culm are suitable to be used as reinforcement material and able to improve the strength and workability in reinforced concrete. Apart of reducing the usage of concrete and suitable to replace steel in reinforced concrete, this study is also to encourage the usage of natural renewable material as an alternative construction materials. It is also to educate society on the negative impact of carbon emission towards the environments and also to explore more on the potential of bamboo as an alternative material.
International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 2021
The rapid growth of construction industry has caused a huge demand on natural aggregate as the pr... more The rapid growth of construction industry has caused a huge demand on natural aggregate as the production of concrete requires massive use of natural stone materials. Due to the increase of demand of this material, it has affected to the shortage of natural aggregate and increased the cost of construction material. On the other hand, bamboo is one of the materials which have a big population and potential to be used in construction due to its durability, flexibility and strength performance. So, bamboo fiber was used as aggregate replacement material to reduce the cost of construction material and pollution as well as to improve the quality of the concrete. The research objectives in this study are to determine the optimum percentage of bamboo fiber as aggregate replacement in concrete and to compare the compressive strength of the bamboo fiber concrete with standard concrete. There were 4 cube specimens casted for each proportion of 0%, 5%, 12.5%, 10%, 12.5%, 15% and 17.5% of bambo...
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
Due to the population of Malaysia rise every year and the demand for property increase so the con... more Due to the population of Malaysia rise every year and the demand for property increase so the construction industry in Malaysia growth rapidly. Some of the states in Malaysia that occur urbanization lead the construction project in the current state increase and cause limited space for the construction project. Limited space of construction site directly affects to the congested construction site and bring delay issues. One of the factors of delay issues is the materials tracking problem at the congested construction site. Many types of materials tracking system implementation at the congested construction site but Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) seem more prominent. Even though RFID is established in the market but there are still challenges in the implementation of this technology. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the effectiveness of materials tracking at the congested construction site with the potential implementation of RFID. The research methodology adopted in this research is quantitative methods and the instrument that use to collect the data is questionnaires. The location of this research was conducted at Johor and the respondents of this research are G7 contractors. The results of this study show that RFID has the potential in providing convenient materials tracking to reduce the cost of materials wastage. The biggest challenge of RFID implementation is the financial support due to the cost of technology. In conclusion, the research provides substantial knowledge of effective materials management with RFID implementation in material tracking at the congested construction site.
Research in Management of Technology and Business, Jun 12, 2021
Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides significant benefits to the contractors. However, B... more Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides significant benefits to the contractors. However, BIM tools in construction phase projects seem not fully been implemented and rarely used by contractors. This is because of the certain problem faced by contractors, which are interoperability, high implementation cost, lack of knowledge by site workers about BIM tools technologies, and other consultants not using BIM tools. Therefore, the purpose of this research to study what is the current practices, challenges and benefits of BIM tools implementation among contractors at the construction phase. The literature review was carried out to discover BIM tools implementation among contractors during the construction phase. Qualitative research methodology conducted by interviews with the contractors which currently involved and have been involved in projects using BIM tools for residential and commercial projects in Malaysia. All data obtained from the interviews were analyzed and carried out by using content analysis. Therefore, both data from the literature review and the interviews were used to complete this research. The contractor realizes the importance of using BIM tools during the construction phase such as Revit and Navisworks that assist them in the construction site. The awareness of the importance of using BIM tools and cost becomes a major challenge for the contractors to implement BIM tools during the construction phase. This research needs to know how BIM tools can be fully implemented during construction, to help the contractor achieve several advantages provided in the construction phase by the implementation of BIM tools.
International Journal of Supply Chain Management, 2017
Late delivery and sick housing project problems were attributed to poor decision making. These pr... more Late delivery and sick housing project problems were attributed to poor decision making. These problems are the string of housing developer that prefers to create their own approach based on their experiences and expertise with the simplest approach by just applying the obtainable standards and rules in decision making. This paper seeks to identify the decision making methods for housing development at the initiation phase in Malaysia. The research involved Delphi method by using questionnaire survey which involved 50 numbers of developers as samples for the primary stage of collect data. However, only 34 developers contributed to the second stage of the information gathering process. At the last stage, only 12 developers were left for the final data collection process. Finding affirms that Malaysian developers prefer to make their investment decisions based on simple interpolation of historical data and using simple statistical or mathematical techniques in producing the required r...
International Journal of Computer and Communication Technology, 2011
Construction materials usually constitute a major portion of the total cost in a building constru... more Construction materials usually constitute a major portion of the total cost in a building construction project. Despite the potential benefit of ICT, convincing construction organisations to embrace its use and implementation has proved a difficult task. This research seeks to identify the implementation of ICT in construction materials management processes and to investigate on the acceptance of contractors for ICT transformation to the materials management in construction projects. In relation to that, current constraints that are found hindering the acceptance of ICT in materials management processes are also identified. A triangulation research approach which consists of standard derived questionnaires, semi structured interviews with class A contractors and review of previous research were conducted. The findings from this research reveal that the implementation of ICT in the materials management for construction projects in Malaysia is at early stage. Microsoft Excel Spreadshe...
Journal of Technology Management and Business, 2019
Nowadays, the Malaysian construction industry is moving forward to roll out technology advantage ... more Nowadays, the Malaysian construction industry is moving forward to roll out technology advantage across project life-cycle for enhancing human development skills. Therefore, the government has adopted industrialized building systems (IBS) to enhance control and balance of workforce supply for overall project performance achievement. However, the challenges faced by the construction industry such as delay the completion of construction projects was due to poor contractors' practices. In addition, there are significant challenges related to contractors' practices for instance shortage of skill, practical know-how, worker capability, and financial difficulties in IBS implementation. Therefore the purpose of this study was to identify current practices and influencing factors of contractors' practices for IBS implementation in the construction industry. This study also determines the improved ways of contractors' practices for IBS implementation in the construction industry. The study was conducted in Johor Bahru, Johor where various development and construction activities are currently active. Quantitative method was conducted by distribution the questionnaires to Grade 7 (G7) contractors as study respondents which involved wide practices of IBS construction projects. Data collected were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 22.0 software. The study reveals that, the problems faced by contractors in their practices of IBS implementation such as low productivity, management aspects, and financial problems. Therefore, training to labour, IBS instruction guideline and improving finance, and procurement mechanism are the top recommended factors to improve contractors' practices for successful IBS implementation. In conclusion, with the improvement of contractors' practices, the productivity of IBS implementation in the construction industry can be improved.
International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Technology, 2019
Construction industry comprises 3 main stages in construction which are pre-construction, constru... more Construction industry comprises 3 main stages in construction which are pre-construction, construction and the maintenance of the project. Normally when the main contractor was entrusted to finish one project, they need to perform the works starting from planning and design, groundwork, substructure and superstructure, external work,
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2018
Facility management is the key phase in the development cycle of an assets and spans over a consi... more Facility management is the key phase in the development cycle of an assets and spans over a considerable length of time. Therefore, facility managers are in a commanding position to maximise the potential of sustainability through the development phases from construction, operation, maintenance and upgrade leading to decommission and deconstruction. Sustainability endeavours in facility management practices will contribute to reducing energy consumption, waste and running costs. Furthermore, it can also help in improving organisational productivity, financial return and community standing of the organisation. Facility manager should be empowered with the necessary knowledge and capabilities at the forefront facing sustainability challenge. However, literature studies show a gap between the level of awareness, specific knowledge and the necessary skills required to pursue sustainability in the facility management professional. People capability is considered as the key enabler in managing the sustainability agenda as well as being central to the improvement of competency and innovation in an organisation. This paper aims to develop a guidelines for interpersonal capabilities to support sustainability in facility management practice. Starting with a total of 7 critical interpersonal capabilities factors identified from previous questionnaire survey, the authors conducted an interview with 3 experts in facility management to assess the perceived importance of these factors. The findings reveal a set of guidelines for the enhancement of interpersonal capabilities among facility managers by providing what can be done to acquire these factors and how it can support the application of sustainability in their practice. The findings of this paper are expected to form the basis of a mechanism framework developed to equip facility managers with the right knowledge, to continue education and training and to develop new mind-sets to enhance the implementation of sustainability measures in FM practices.
The industries business play a significant role to contribute toward economic growth in develop a... more The industries business play a significant role to contribute toward economic growth in develop and developing country. However, they always face serious problems such as time overrun, waste generation, and cost overrun during their operation and maintenance. Traditional practice is found unable to control that situation. These challenges accent the need for practitioners to rethink and improve their process management. This show that industries business has major potential when applying sustainable development by focusing on three pillars (economic, environment, and social). By adopting sustainability, it can reduce energy consumption and waste, while increasing productivity, financial return and corporate standing in community. FM personnel are most suitable position to lead organizations toward sustainability implementation. However, lack of skill and capability among FM personnel to achieve sustainable goal had become barrier that need to overcome. This paper focus to identify capability challenges of FM personnel toward sustainability. A multiple researches were conducted and data were gathered through literature review from previous studies.
Management and Production Engineering Review, 2017
Construction projects are more often than not plagued by poor performances such as delays, cost o... more Construction projects are more often than not plagued by poor performances such as delays, cost overrun, low productivity, construction wastes and compromised quality. Amongst the critical contributory factors of poor project performances, is the ineffectiveness of materials management occurring in the construction sites. Indeed, materials management is a very important component for construction projects. However, there are only limited numbers of research available regarding this topic. Thus, this research focuses its study on materials management, specifically in identifying the influential factors that affect materials management in the construction project activities. Literatures from books, journal articles and conference papers related to poor project performances and materials management have been reviewed. Consequently, this study sorted the salient influential factors and categorized them based on their specific group. Out of 47 factors identified, they are classified into...
The pressures of internationalisation have generated a high competitive market on Malaysian const... more The pressures of internationalisation have generated a high competitive market on Malaysian construction industry. However, the competitive and saturated of domestic market has driven many Malaysian contractor to undertake international projects. Without any denial, participation in international projects is a challenging task. It requires Malaysian contractors to develop strategy to enable them to operate successfully abroad. Therefore, the objectives of this research is to examine the key challenges for Malaysian contractors to undertake international construction projects thus identify strategies for Malaysian contractors to undertake international construction projects. To achieve the objectives of this research, quantitative method were adopted by using questionnaires. Questionnaire were distributed to participants from well experienced management team of G6 and G7 companies that have vast involvement in international projects. The findings of this research revealed that skille...
Robotics is one of the advanced technologies that is used in various aspects of the construction ... more Robotics is one of the advanced technologies that is used in various aspects of the construction industry to improve the efficiency and the performance of construction projects. The adoption of construction robotics technologies is significant strategies to maintain and improve productivity in the construction industry. Even though the implementation of construction robotics technologies can improve productivity, many Malaysian contractors do not embrace the existence of robotic technology and still practicing the traditional method due to many challenges. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to investigate the challenges of the implementation of construction robotics technologies in the Malaysian construction industry and the improvement method. The data of the research were achieved through a quantitative method, which questionnaires were distributed to 180 G7 contractors in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently, 50 valid responses were retrieved and the collected data were analysed u...
International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering and Technology, 2018
Construction projects are plagued with the issue of poor project performance such as low producti... more Construction projects are plagued with the issue of poor project performance such as low productivity, wastage, time overrun, compromised quality and cost overrun. Research literature reveals that this issue occurs partly due to ineffective materials management. Nonetheless, the effective management of materials seems like a viable solution to enhance the performance of any construction projects. Despite its importance, not much literature has explored the influential factors for effective management of materials. Since the identification of factors is an essential step to recommend any improvement efforts, thus, this paper examines the influential factors for effective materials management. A questionnaire survey was conducted with practitioners from contractor organisations and 111 valid responses were obtained. Data was analysed using exploratory factor analysis via the IBM SPSS version 21 software. Results indicate that only 50 influential factors were relevant in Malaysian construction project and these were categorised into 8 specific components namely: management, purchasing, expediting, transportation, site storage and condition, supplier, contractual and governmental interference. Summarily, findings reported in this paper constitute part of a questionnaire development process for a research project undertaken to develop an effective materials management model for better projects performance. Thus, the outcome of this study may assist practitioners in decision making process by understanding the identified influential factors that contribute to effective materials management.
As the result of government's initiative and future outlook in uprising the awareness towards the... more As the result of government's initiative and future outlook in uprising the awareness towards the implementation of sustainable elements in construction industries, the Industrialized Building System (IBS) is one of the approaches that had been introduced as an alternative to conventional building method and produce the new strategy of reducing the waste of materials in construction. The IBS approach is actively promoted through several strategies and incentives as an alternative to conventional building methods. Extensive uptakes of modern Information Communication Technology (ICT) applications are able to support the different IBS processes for effective production. However, it is argued that ICT uptake at the organizational level needs to be regularly improved. Thus, this paper fulfills the need to identify the critical barriers to ICT employment and highlighting the ICT drivers in enhancing the IBS management process. Critical barriers and drivers to ICT uptake were identified through questionnaire survey with industry stakeholders and were analyzed using mean index and critical t-value with the use of SPSS software. The critical drivers are top management support and commitment and improving the availability of the technologies. The critical drivers which were identified are significant in ensuring the enhancement of ICT implementation. Hence, any system in place should avoid the highest ranked barriers or seek to alleviate their impact by focusing on the identified drivers in order to enhance implementation of ICT in IBS process management.
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Papers by narimah kasim