Preliminary case studies of knowledge flow in construction supply chains

A critical issue in Construction Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the effective management of knowledge through the whole project lifecycle. This issue involves the enhancements of the flow of knowledge within and between different sectors of construction supply chain as well as the accumulation, coding, and storage of knowledge in the organizations. A typical construction project is one-of-a-kind, temporary, and involves different tasks which are held by different professional and trade disciplines of construction supply chains. These different disciplines of the supply chain have to work closely in an intense environment over a period of months or even years. The information shared between these organizations varies from technical drawings and legal contracts to purchase orders, project reports, and schedules. Moreover, project knowledge which has to be shared within and between the organizations is interconnected and includes all the knowledge about the end product. Within such a complex environment, the efficient flow of project knowledge between all the sectors of construction supply chain will directly improve all the SCM efforts. This paper presents the findings of preliminary case studies on knowledge flow in construction supply chains. The supply chain management approach and the main problems regarding the supply chain and the knowledge management practices in two supply chains are discussed. It also presents the research method to identify the knowledge requirements of different sectors of the construction supply chains. It concludes that the application of a systematic approach to knowledge management in construction supply chains will bring enhance knowledge flow and enable these supply chains to become construction knowledge chains.