Power spectral and bispectral study of factors affecting employee turnover

Voluntary employee turnover can cause organ­izations to lose profits and competitiveness. Unexpected employee turnover may also result in project delay and reduction in project quality. It is important to control employee turnover rate and maintain good employees within an organization. This paper investigates the major causes of voluntary employee turnover in engineer­ing industries. Australia, Mainland China, and Taiwan were selected for the investigation. Questionnaires were administered, and structured interviews were conducted. Power spectrum was used for the analysis. It was found that “Good physical working environment”, “Receiving advanced training”, and “Short travel distance between home and work” are the major job-related ideal factors for the Australian, Mainland China, and Taiwan respondents, respectively. However, “Far distance between work and home” and “Dislike the colleague relationships” are found as the major factors for leaving jobs for the Australian/ Taiwan and Mainland China respondents, respectively. Recommendations to improve and to control employee turnover rate are also discussed

Integration of life cycle assessment and life cycle cost using building information modeling:A critical review

Integrating life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) is important for assessing and balancing the economic and environmental impact of buildings, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers a potential way of doing this. However, despite an ample amount of published work about the integration of LCA and LCC using BIM, no thorough review of this has yet been conducted. This study, therefore, aims to address this gap by reviewing the relevant peer-reviewed papers involved. After summarizing the applications of LCA, LCC, and BIM, a four-step methodology framework is presented for the development of BIM integrated LCA and LCC: (1) defining the system boundary of LCA and LCC; (2) defining the basic parameters and inventory analysis; (3) obtaining the environmental impact and cost results; (4) analyzing and optimizing the results. The results identify three main approaches for BIM integrated LCA and LCC: (1) using existing BIM software to obtain bills of quantities and other data, (2) exporting data from BIM model to an external platform, and (3) including information within the BIM model. Additionally, applications in life cycle stages and possible future research directions are further discussed. The study provides insights for both industry practitioners and academic researchers.</p

Implementing lean construction techniques and management methods in Chinese projects: A case study in Suzhou, China

Aimed at maximizing project value while reducing waste and cost, the lean construction (LC) approach was formally and successfully introduced to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry in 1993. Although LC has rapidly developed since that time, it was not applied to a Chinese construction project until 2005. However, due to insufficient knowledge and poor execution, this first attempt at lean construction in China was inadequate. The aim of this study was therefore to discover if the Chinese construction industry has since discovered how to use lean practices to maximize project value, shorten the project schedule, improve project quality, and reduce waste. This was achieved by conducting a case study of a LC project in Suzhou, China. The case study revealed that implementation of lean practices during the project, including Last Planner System (LPS), Kanban system, Just-In-Time (JIT), prefabrication, Internet of Things (IoT), quality and safety management, and continuous improvement, all contributed to the improvement of project performance. To supplement the case study and to provide insights on the differences between Chinese and international LC, interviews with project stakeholders and a questionnaire survey of global lean experts were conducted. Results indicated that interviewees and survey respondents both held the view that project waiting times and defects can be greatly reduced through the implementation of LC, and that improvement of construction workflow along with project productivity and quality were the two most valuable benefits of using lean practices; there was also a consensus that lack of trust and the abilities of stakeholders are the biggest challenges