Overproduction in the construction industry
Abstract
The construction industry for a long time has been faced with the silent challenge of lean construction wastes. Among these construction waste problems, overproduction proves to be the worst of them all since it amalgamates there whole construction activities. Overproduction is simply identified as producing or acquiring unnecessary items and materials that are quite independent of the construction demands. Overproduction often causes construction companies to draw more funds for extra materials, unessential tools and machinery, and extra labor. This does not only cause finance constraints, but it also cripples the entire company if not properly addressed. Therefore this publication presents an insight study on overproduction as lean construction waste with a suggestion to possible solutions to these menace in order to enhance better construction management.
Introduction
Increased growth in infrastructural development that revolves in building constructions due to hyped urbanization and rapidly growing population generates a large amount of waste all over the world (Esin, and Cosgun, 2017.). World census by 2018 was at 7.6 billion and the studies show that the population would probably project to 9.8 billion by 2050 (Ulsen et al, 2013). This means that the demand for structures will equivalently raise leading to increased effects of waste from construction activities. According to survey statistics, a considerable large amount of waste is being generated within the United Kingdom every year. These wastes if not properly managed and disposed of, might pose environmental challenges, health hazards, and soil contamination. Pollute air and water thus jeopardizing human health. Wastes from construction activities include concrete, gravel, sand, bricks, plastics, sand, glass, wood, metal, etc. Mostly, these construction wastes are contributed by construction and demolition activities (Begum et al. 2013).
Problem description
Overproduction is one of the worst lean construction wastes as it derails construction progress. In the construction context overproduction is the provision of more energy, efforts, or services in addition to what is required or before it is needed. Typical example overproduction in the construction industry is overestimation on the construction materials during the planning stage, then the whole activities consume less material than initially estimated hence more materials and items remain unused. Overproduction unnecessarily consumes money, effort, time, materials that could have been utilized in other projects. In most construction projects, overproduction has caused a domino effect that often starts with an inaccurate quotation and false demand on what is needed to complete the work. Construction of buildings i9s an involving process that requires proper planning and precision in terms of equipment and materials used. When item or material if procured yet not used in the actual construction works, it adversely impact on the budget of the whole process.
Overproduction is considered the worst of all the lean construction waste since it contributes to environmental pollution. When surplus materials are procured for construction purpose and don’t get utilized for a period of time, they become obsolete for any construction activity, therefore, bec0omes a waste. For a long time now, overproduction has been a challenge in construction and manufacturing processes affecting the smooth flow of operations and activities.
Scope of the problem
Overproduction in the construction industry has become a norm mostly practiced by contractors in construction projects. Overproduction is also a tempting treat for the contractor who realizes that completing the project on time will be difficult to do. The solution used too many times is simply just putting more workers on the project to finish. Sadly, had the project had better planning, preparation, and a lean approach to begin with the project would not have needed an overproduction solution. These types of wastes in time and resources affect the efforts towards the realization of sustainable construction practices. The main contributing factor to overproduction is poor planning and management of activities within the site. Lean construction processes offer adequate strategies on how best to manage and plan for construction processes. Studies suggest that overproduction causes higher costs to plans responsible for manufacturing as it decreases productivity and quality and hinders consistent material flow. Due to this, it may lead to deterioration of the products, or the inability to identify defects at the right time. Overproduction requires additional equipment, batch processing, extra-human resource, and additional storage, inconsistency in the material flow, bigger lot size, and extra storage space on the floor. Overproduction may result from inaccurate or incomplete information on services or products
Justification
The effect of construction waste from construction processes is a worldwide challenge, from developed and developing countries. The transparency market research projected that the volume of construction wastes would hit 2.2 billion tones by 2025, this would nearly double the current volume of waste received from construction space (Wong, and Yip, 2014). As illustrated earlier, the amount of waste from the construction project is approximately 30% of the volume of the material used therefor the bigger the project the larger the amount of waste produced. The problems of these waste materials range from waste management, environmental impact on disposal challenges. Considering only in the last decade, there have been lots of cases of adverse effects of overproduction in constructions.
In cases of overstaffing of workers in the site, it becomes a challenge to motor their productivity, quantify the rate of each operation. In the past few years, the construction industry has registered higher rates of overproduction. Though there is rapid population growth in the entire globe, real estate, and private developers have been doing lots of construction projects in urban and rural areas with the projection that the population rise will compel government and states to purchase these units for native settlement purposes. Despite the fact that the intentions are positive but it is a case of overproduction since more structural units than demanded.
For sustainability in the construction industry, it’s ethical to consider timely production that is providing only what is needed and when it is needed. Being skeptical about the future is not entirely a bad practice but it should be handled with consideration. Sustainable constructions outline the essence of producing what is required at the time it’s needed. To mitigate the menace of overproduction waste in construction activities, contractors need to fully embrace the just in time construction methodology where construction operations are being organized in a pull system rather than a push system.
Solution
A major challenge with overproduction wastes in construction is the inability to device a proper planning and management mechanism that would minimize the amount of construction equipment and materials that are not utilized during the construction process. To effectively reduce and contain the adverse effects associated with construction wastes, then a unique construction waste management known as Site Methodology Audit, based on construction sites and involves subjective analysis on the construction plans and incorporating all stakeholders in planning. Through consultative planning and budgeting, there will be reduced cases of oversupply of construction materials.
It’s the responsibility of construction managers to coordinate all the construction activities on the site therefore, the solution to overproduction squarely depends on how they plan and coordinate these operations. The following are some of the operational and management strategies that construction managers need to adapt to help in reducing the waste arising from overproduction; first, they should develop an inventory management system for the construction processes, with no frequently maintained material inventory there will be reduced cases of purchasing materials that are already in the store thus reducing overstocking in construction space.
Adopting lean construction strategies will greatly reduce the number of overproduction wastes in construction. Lean construction processes, just like lean manufacturing, lean construction entails supplying only what is essential for the construction project and at the time it’s needed. Just in time principles serves the best strategy for making supplies and deliveries for construction activities. This allows the use of an appropriate number of contractors and workers in the site, by this it will help in resolving the issue of assigning tools and workers out of the construction’s budget.
Conclusion
The construction and architecture industry is essential to any country’s socio-economic development. The growth in the construction industry is majorly attributed to rapid population growth and increased urbanization all over the world. Despite being a key player in infrastructural development, when not properly handled might lead to unreasonable construction budget and improper planning. There are different problems associated with construction wastes that contribute to the effects of constructions. Waste management from lean construction waste is one of the problems the industry has been facing for a while now. Lean construction wastes are often overlooked in construction industries yet they greatly influence the quality of the construction and smooth operations of the processes. In order to achieve sustainability in the construction industry, there is a need to explore better ways of reducing unnecessary complications and problems in the construction industry. Through thorough research and study, it is established that proper planning and management in construction industries will reduce issues and challenges posed by overproduction.
