Causes of construction delay from contractors and suppliers in Thailand's oil and gas platform projects

Construction project delays caused by contractors and suppliers are the top problems in Thailand's oil and gas industries. Recognizing this importance and their relationships between factors can help reduce the risk of delays in construction projects. Therefore, this study set out to confirm factors and inspect relationships between delay factors of contractors and suppliers. A 16 item questionnaire survey was distributed to 134 managers, engineers, and supervisors in oil and gas platform construction projects in Thailand. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed by the use of Amos Version 20 software program. The analysis results showed that delays caused by the contractors and suppliers had high relationships, due to high regression weighs. The delays caused by the contractors included seven factors which included poor site management and supervision (17%), lack of safety rules and regulations (16%), poor communication and coordination with others (15%), poor procurement system management (15%), defective components and mistakes during construction (14%), supplier payments lateness (13%), and poor planning and scheduling (10%). The delays caused by the suppliers included six factors which included the supply of unqualified and unskilled personnel (22%), supply of low efficiency equipment (20%), late delivery of materials and equipment (20%), supply of low quality materials (16%), late supply of workers (16%), and price escalation (5%)

Project failure Indicators: perceptions of Thai and Malaysian engineers

This research aims to compare the rank and importance level of failure indicators of the construction projects from the perception of Thai and Malaysian engineers. The questionnaire was used to survey the opinions of the engineers who supervised construction projects in Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Analysis of the data was undertaken with the use of SPSS software which included a comparison of the importance level of construction project failure indicators from the perception of Thai and Malaysian engineers. Additionally, the Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the similarities and differences of construction project failure indicators from the perceptions of both Thai and Malaysian engineers. The results showed that construction project failure indicators from both Thai and Malaysian engineers were similar. Failure indicators ranked in importance were: 1) negative effects on safety, health and environment (18.83%), 2) cost overrun (18.44%), 3) time overruns (17.41%), 4) quality defects (16.43%), 5) stakeholders' dissatisfaction (15.36%), and 6) dispute and litigation (13.54%). The outcome of the research is therefore useful in assisting supervisory staff better understand project failure indicators. In addition, the research can be used as a guideline for analyzing the risk of failures in construction projects

A comparison of green building assessment systems

Construction is one of industries that have negative impacts on the environment. Relevant organizations both in Thailand and other countries have been trying to minimize these impacts. Developing green building assessment systems is one of efforts in reducing environmental impacts and using natural resources efficiently. Currently, there are many green building assessment systems with different objectives and assessment scopes in some details. This could cause some confusion in selecting the suitable system for the project in accordance with its environmental, social and economical contexts. This study was aimed to compare and provide overview and components of these systems. The comparison results can be used as a guideline for further development of green building assessment systems. It is found that most major green building assessment systems still concern only environmental issues while newly developed systems have included social and economic issues in their criteria. Furthermore, the system which is developed in one environment could not be used with full capabilities in another. This will lead to more research in developing the assessment system that is more comprehensive and adaptable enough to be used effectively in various environment

Project failure Indicators: perceptions of Thai and Malaysian engineers

This research aims to compare the rank and importance level of failure indicators of the construction projects from the perception of Thai and Malaysian engineers. The questionnaire was used to survey the opinions of the engineers who supervised construction projects in Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Analysis of the data was undertaken with the use of SPSS software which included a comparison of the importance level of construction project failure indicators from the perception of Thai and Malaysian engineers. Additionally, the Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the similarities and differences of construction project failure indicators from the perceptions of both Thai and Malaysian engineers. The results showed that construction project failure indicators from both Thai and Malaysian engineers were similar. Failure indicators ranked in importance were: 1) negative effects on safety, health and environment (18.83%), 2) cost overrun (18.44%), 3) time overruns (17.41%), 4) quality defects (16.43%), 5) stakeholders' dissatisfaction (15.36%), and 6) dispute and litigation (13.54%). The outcome of the research is therefore useful in assisting supervisory staff better understand project failure indicators. In addition, the research can be used as a guideline for analyzing the risk of failures in construction projects

A comparison of green building assessment systems

Construction is one of industries that have negative impacts on the environment. Relevant organizations both in Thailand and other countries have been trying to minimize these impacts. Developing green building assessment systems is one of efforts in reducing environmental impacts and using natural resources efficiently. Currently, there are many green building assessment systems with different objectives and assessment scopes in some details. This could cause some confusion in selecting the suitable system for the project in accordance with its environmental, social and economical contexts. This study was aimed to compare and provide overview and components of these systems. The comparison results can be used as a guideline for further development of green building assessment systems. It is found that most major green building assessment systems still concern only environmental issues while newly developed systems have included social and economic issues in their criteria. Furthermore, the system which is developed in one environment could not be used with full capabilities in another. This will lead to more research in developing the assessment system that is more comprehensive and adaptable enough to be used effectively in various environment

A multicriteria model's survey: state of the art and some necessary capabilities of future models

To identify a state-of-the-art model and some necessary capabilities for developing future multicriteria models, the literature on multicriteria models in operations research was surveyed. All the models required subjective inputs from decision-makers. A utility function was regarded as the best model for including risk and uncertainty into the solution analysis. On the other hand, a social welfare function was found to be the most attractive in a democratic organization in handling the involvement of multiple decision-makers. Thus, a combination of both the functions can be described as state-of-the-art. In addition, the subjective inputs changed over time in relation to a particular circumstance. For this reason, computer interaction should be incorporated with this combination. Therefore, some capabilities of (1) incorporating subjective inputs of multiple decision-makers, (2) including elements of risk and uncertainty and (3) absorbing the changes of subjective inputs via computer interaction are necessary for future multicriteria models.Multicriteria, multicriteria models, optimization, decision-making,

Social Sustainability: Satisfying Owners and Communities by Multilevel Strategies of Contractors

In sustainable construction/production, the social dimension regarding owner and community satisfaction has received the least focus. To promote social sustainability, the multilevel strategies of contractors should be developed for owner and community satisfaction. However, a literature review shows that there are few studies on how multilevel strategies influence such satisfaction. Hence, this study aimed to analyze such influences. A survey was conducted to gather data from the Thai construction industry, and these data were then analyzed by a structural equation model (SEM). The results, for the first time, highlight that corporate strategy influences business strategy (direct influence = 0.98), which in turn influences functional strategy (direct influence = 0.93). Additionally, only functional strategy influences owner (direct influence = 0.84) and community satisfaction (direct influence = 0.66). Furthermore, parenting, cooperation, and equipment/machinery substrategies obtain the highest weights within the management levels of corporation, business, and function (regression weights = 0.49, 0.48, and 0.55), respectively. The work productivity and site organization indicators have the largest weights for owner and community satisfaction (regression weights = 0.47 and 0.57), respectively. The findings provide a guideline that helps contractors allocate their available resources to substrategies according to their regression weights, enhancing owner and community satisfaction

Causes of construction delay from contractors and suppliers in Thailand's oil and gas platform projects

Construction project delays caused by contractors and suppliers are the top problems in Thailand's oil and gas industries. Recognizing this importance and their relationships between factors can help reduce the risk of delays in construction projects. Therefore, this study set out to confirm factors and inspect relationships between delay factors of contractors and suppliers. A 16 item questionnaire survey was distributed to 134 managers, engineers, and supervisors in oil and gas platform construction projects in Thailand. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed by the use of Amos Version 20 software program. The analysis results showed that delays caused by the contractors and suppliers had high relationships, due to high regression weighs. The delays caused by the contractors included seven factors which included poor site management and supervision (17%), lack of safety rules and regulations (16%), poor communication and coordination with others (15%), poor procurement system management (15%), defective components and mistakes during construction (14%), supplier payments lateness (13%), and poor planning and scheduling (10%). The delays caused by the suppliers included six factors which included the supply of unqualified and unskilled personnel (22%), supply of low efficiency equipment (20%), late delivery of materials and equipment (20%), supply of low quality materials (16%), late supply of workers (16%), and price escalation (5%)

TenSeM: a multicriteria and multidecision-makers' model in tender evaluation

In tender evaluation, there appears to be a lack of a realistic working models capable of simultaneously (1) compiling multiple decision-makers' inputs, (2) incorporating risk and uncertainty, and (3) offering computer interaction that makes a model flexible to any change in situation. Thus, the research has developed a more realistic working model including the necessary capabilities mentioned. The vital theory behind the model was a combination of a utility function and a social welfare function. The model was divided into two main steps (step1: evaluating contractor ability and step2: evaluating tenders) consisting of three main processes: (1) the contractor ability criteria selection process; (2) the contractor ability criteria balancing/measuring process; and (3) bid price and contractor ability balancing/measuring process. The model incorporated computer interaction in which Microsoft Excel performed calculation tasks while Visual Basic for Application (VBA) was coded for user interaction. To obtain a realistic working product, the model was tested for user friendliness, verification, sensitivity analysis, and validation. The test has shown that the multicriteria and multidecision-makers' model, TenSeM, is a rational and realistic approach in solving a tender evaluation problem.Multicriteria, Multidecision-makers, Interactive Model, Tender Evaluation, Social Welfare Function,