Clarifying the Interface Between Construction Supply Chain and Site - A Key to Improved Delivery Efficiency.

The purpose of the paper is to capture non-value adding activities of the order-to-delivery process at the interface between construction site and the supply chain to identify efficiency improvement potentials. The paper is based on a case study of a Swedish construction site. The unit of observation has been the activities taking place at the interface between construction supply chain and construction site. i.e. deliveries and on-site material handling. Data is collected through observations in the unloading zone of the construction site, unstructured interviews, and a workshop with site management. The findings of the paper show that there exists fuzziness in the interface of construction supply chain and construction site causing the observed non-value adding activities such as waiting, excessive material handling, unnecessary vehicle movements etc. The root causes of the fuzziness are poor planning, lack of communication between site management and transporter/material supplier, and lack of standard operating procedures for unloading. The paper provides knowledge of the importance of managing interface between construction supply chain and site to remove non-value adding activities. Additionally, the paper provides a clear view of the different actors’ roles in the non-value adding activities and give suggestions of how to improve efficiency of construction deliveries. The paper is based on a single case study and further studies are needed to provide deeper insights into the phenomenon.