Quality Management System In Construction

This paper describes the Quality Management System (QMS) concept and its application in the construction industry. A misunderstanding among the construction players on the QMS concept has become the stumbling block for its successful implementation

Exploring critical success factors of energy management for sustainable building in Malaysian university

Universities are increasingly consuming energy due to its population with various activities. Thus, Malaysian Higher Education Ministry insisted all parties involved to take the initiatives in reducing the energy consumption. Focusing on the importance of practicing energy management (EM) effectively, this paper discusses the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) towards sustainable university. Structured interviews, pilot study and a questionnaire survey were conducted. The findings disclose the relative importance of the 23 number of identified CSFs. In order to explore the underlying relationship among the identified CSFs, factor analysis method was adopted, which leads to grouping the 23 identified CSFs into four group

Service level agreements: governance in outsourcing facility management

Governance mechanism is playing vital role in service performance. Service level agreement is a governance mechanism to facilitate the performance management of the facility management services outsourced. Service level agreement is indispensable document to be referred to ensure that the facility management services delivery comply the quality standard stipulated in the agreement. The service level agreement elements represent the required service performance. Previous research indicates that one of the reasons for the agreement failure is due to unclear and confusing service level agreement elements. The aim of this study is to develop the service level agreement fundamental elements for facilities management services in outsourcing contract

An overview of the forecasting methods used in real estate housing price modelling

Forecasting is very fundamental in real estate where the past transactions become the evidences while decision making for the present and the future. Several techniques and validation approached that were commonly used in housing price index forecasting. Beside the appropriate forecasting method, error calculation is one of the critical constraints in accuracy out of all methods. This paper overview the available methods and the types of error being considered in forecasting techniques. Then the forecasting methods, namely Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) and Artificial Neural Network which are highly applied in forecasting modelling are compared over its error accuracy

Exploring competencies for green building project manager

Sustainability concept has grown in recognition and importance since the last 10 to 15 years and the issues of achieving sustainability, climate change as well as environmental protection have been addressed by the construction players. While many studies have examined the competency of project managers, there is little attention given for green building construction. Therefore, this study aims at identifying a list of competencies for green building project manager. Through literature review, a total of 49 competencies have been identified from previous studies and this search is limited with the year of published article ranging from 2000 to 2015 using Google Scholar, which were then analysed using content analysis. This study can help in creating further knowledge and skills for project managers to be more relevant and effectively execute sustainable projects

Office space study: a review from facilities management context

Office space is one of the critical factors in managing an organization. Without efficient management, the organization has to bear many problems such as high cost and inefficiency of space utilization. Hence, this paper aims to review the space studies in facilities management context as well as to identify the potential research in this area. The review was based on multiple electronic databases for published peer-reviewed articles. 70 articles were selected by using ‘facilities management’ as key word. Results show that office space studies can be divided into space management, space utilization and space efficiency. Additionally, the most frequent suggestion for future research is space utilization performance measurement which aims to evaluate the current level of management and utilization

Effect of particle discretization and horizon size on the displacement and damage plot using bond-based peridynamics

Peridynamics (PD) represents a new non-local theory of continuum mechanics which uses integro differential equations instead of the typical local partial differential equations in its formulation. Thus, it is suitable for modelling fracture mechanics, where a continuum domain is modelled through particles connected via physical interactions. The PD formulation allows us to model spontaneous crack initiation, and crack branching without the need for special mathematical treatment. The value of parameters such as particle discretization and horizon size will be chechked to make sure that it agreed to the result from FEM in elastic deformation before proceed to the failure mode. In PD, failure criterion is established when its stretch value exceeds a prescribed critical stretch value. In the classical bond model or Prototype Microelastic Brittle (PMB), the bond force grows linearly with the bond stretch, and the value suddenly goes down to zero when the bond stretch exceeds its critical value. This study will focus on the effect of horizon size and particle discretization on PD displacement of elastic analysis, and damage patterns with PMB damage model. The proposed study leads to a better understanding of how horizon size and particle disretisation affect the damage patterns in PD frameworks

An overview of the management commitment to safety elements for mitigating accidents in the construction industry

Due to the importance of management commitment to safety for influencing workplace safety performance, this paper aims to investigate the current literatures, prepare a compilation and gap related to the demonstrated management commitment to safety and its elements that mitigate workplace accident in the construction industry through a clearly structural methodological approach. Hundreds of articles were explored using article keyword identified from the literature reviews. The articles abstract were reviewed repeatedly resulted in 61 relevant articles for compilation of management safety commitment including related articles from other industry. The elements of management commitment to safety were identified using content analysis and inductive coding technique. Apart from that, critical analysis was conducted to identify gaps in the literatures. From the content analysis, a total of 19 elements reflected the management commitments to safety were identified. Additionally, it was found that lots of studies have been done on safety commitment in specific aspect but more comprehensive research regarding cause and effect of actual safety commitment is suggested

Environmental hostility contingencies on the relationship between knowledge management strategy and firm performance

This study aims to investigate the environmental hostility contingencies on the relationship between knowledge management strategy and firm performance. Knowledge management strategies are classified into two dimensions: Codification and Personalization. These studies cover the 192 completed and usable questionnaires were received from respondents which comprises of large size Indonesian manufacturing firms. The result via smartPLS revealed that knowledge management strategies positively and significantly influence the Indonesian manufacturing firm’s performance. Other findings display that environmental turbulences has only the contingency effect (the moderating effect) on the relationship between knowledge management strategy and manufacturing firm performance. Based on findings, the implications and future research also be discussed in this paper

A new quasi-brittle damage model implemented under quasi-static condition using bond-based peridynamics theory for progressive failure

A novel quasi-brittle damage model implemented under quasistatic loading condition using bond-based peridynamics theory for progressive failure is proposed to better predict damage initiation and propagation in solid materials. Since peridynamics equation of motion was invented in dynamic configuration, this paper applies the adaptive dynamic relaxation equation to achieve steady-state in peridynamics formulation. To accurately characterise the progressive failure process in cohesive materials, we incorporate the dynamic equation with the novel damage model for quasi-brittle materials. Computational examples of 2D compressive and tensile problems using the proposed model are presented. This paper presents advancement by incorporating the adaptive dynamic equation approach into a new damage model for quasi-brittle materials. This amalgamation allows for a more accurate representation of the behavior of damaged materials, particularly in static or quasi-static loading situations, bringing the framework closer to reality. This research paves the way for the peridynamics formulation to be employed for a far broader class of loading condition behaviour than it is now able to