Cloud-based Materials Tracking System Prototype Integrated with Radio Frequency Identification Tagging Technology

Highlights

• Cloud-based materials tracking system for small to medium-sized contractors.

• The system integrates RFID and barcoding data to improve supply chain visibility.

• The system provides a cost-effective solution.

• A simulation study shows the potential impact of the proposed system.

• Usability and environmental studies show the feasibility of system implementation.

Abstract

Materials management in construction has become more complex as projects grow in size and complexity with potential disruptions caused by participants in the supply network. IT-based solutions have been employed by large businesses; however, they are not affordable to small-to-medium businesses (SMB). This paper proposes a cost-effective materials management and tracking system based on a cloud-computing service integrated with RFID for automated tracking with ubiquitous access. The current workflow of a SMB contractor was investigated and system requirements were analyzed in order to enhance it. As a low-cost solution to fulfill the requirements and improve supply chain visibility, the proposed system was developed on the cloud and integrated with RFID technology. A simulation study was conducted to show the potential impact of the system on performance of the SMB. Finally, usability and environmental studies were conducted to show the feasibility of the system implementation in the real work environment.

Introduction

Construction clients are demanding faster, cheaper, and higher-quality facilities. These demands generally involve responsive production chains and closer coordination and collaboration between construction project teams. Appropriate management of information (e.g. orders and schedules) and material flows is required in order to respond to clients' expectations and keep supply chain costs at an adequate level [1].

In traditional construction practice, the material management process is decoupled from workflow [2]. Typically, the planning team creates baseline schedules that drive procurement and logistics operations, and buyers, members of another functional silo, ensure that materials are available for installation when scheduled. Moreover, construction materials management continues to rely heavily on information that is collected, recorded, and conveyed in a primarily manual fashion [3]. At each step of the material-handling process, from the fabricator's shop floor to the construction workface, there is specific information that must be accurately recorded and made available to others. Human errors and communication problems form an important part of problems that affect the process [4]. Lack of materials on site when required, lack of the ‘right’ materials on site, and accumulation of material inventories are just some of the types of problems generated by such practices, hampering overall project performance through delays, low quality workmanship, cost overruns, and poor safety levels on sites [2].

Automated materials locating and tracking technologies, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning system (GPS), and ultra-wideband, have been developed and tested to improve construction materials management. However, implementation has been limited to field-trial levels [3] and there is still a need to address the development and implementation of integrated technologies throughout construction supply networks.

The existing management systems may serve to certain extent with their localized information systems and barcode-based tracking; however, they do not suit well for frequent changes and updates that are requested by installation crews for design and manufacturing due to wrong specifications, receiving wrong items, schedule and unforeseen changes, etc. [4]. Due to the isolated nature of the existing systems, there are inevitable information mismatch and communication bottleneck between fabrication and installation, which cause frequent errors, interruptions, and delays. This can be a severe problem depending on the scale, type, and complexity of products furnished by the construction firms, particularly when they are small-to-medium businesses (SMB). For example, the SMB that participated in this study has to design, fabricate, and install hundreds of highly customized ducts and pipe spools at several job sites. Relying on the existing system, this company has been experiencing the negative effects caused by various unexpected changes over design specifications, manufacturing instructions and sequence, and installation schedules.

In order to tackle these problems caused by poor information management, this research proposes a low-cost solution that provides the right information at the right time to the right users. More specifically, this research will develop a cost-effective materials management and tracking system using the state-of-art information technology (IT), i.e., cloud computing and RFID, and study its feasibility for the SMB to improve their current workflow through increased supply chain visibility. Cloud computing and RFID have been gaining great attention by manufacturing and production industry for their supply chain management owing to their capabilities to enhance supply chain visibility while reducing operation and maintenance costs [5], [6], [7].

The proposed system is developed to

• automate data collection and provide real-time visibility in the construction chain;

• provide accurate information in a timely manner to avoid the bottleneck in information flow among the participants in the chain; and

• improve communication and coordination between SMB contractors and their project teams using user friendly interfaces at low cost and maintenance requirements.

To this end, this research is designed with the following components: 1) workflow analysis and requirement analysis to enhance the current workflow; 2) prototype system development with cloud computing and RFID; 3) discrete event simulation to estimate the performance of the proposed system in the complex settings; and 4) statistical analyses to test the system in the field. The system is developed and tested with the SMB contractor to track their duct and pipe spools from design release to fabrication and to installation. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the literature review. Section 3 describes the current workflow in the studied SMB as well as recommendations to improve it. Section 4 analyzes the requirements for the system to improve the current workflow. Section 5 describes the developed system and its architecture. Section 6 presents the discrete event simulation and field tests to evaluate the performance of the proposed system. Section 7 concludes this paper with research findings and potential future works.