Supply Chain Management in the Construction Industry

Annotation

This e-book concentrates on the Construction Industry and the management of its supply chains, to discuss and point to some differences and possible similarities with traditional manufacturing and its supply chains. The market of the construction company is mostly local and highly volatile. The long durability of the construction "product" contributes to the volatility. The product specification process before the customer order arrives shows different degrees of specifications: engineer to order, modify to order, configure to order, select a variant. (The common make-to-stock in traditional manufacturing does not exist.) A construction company can only execute a small part of the project by its own personnel and capacity. This is a way of risk spreading and risk mitigation and to compensate for an unstable market. If a construction company wants to establish a new concept, from 'engineer to order' to e.g. 'configure to order', they must be engaged earlier in the business process and with other than usual customers, which might complicate the process. Experiences from Sweden and Swedish developments is the main source of information for the e-book. The forthcoming articles are a source of scientifically generated knowledge regarding various problems and opportunities associated with supply chain management in the project-based construction industry.