Benchmarking site-plant resource matching performance of ready-mixed concrete delivery and placing

Abstract

Since on-time concrete delivery is important to both contractors and suppliers, performance benchmarking of the concrete delivery process, as actually achieved in practice, is a worthwhile undertaking of potential benefit to the construction industry. However, there has been no thorough such benchmarking in Hong Kong for 20 years, since the study by Anson et al. (2002). This research study has provided an up-to-date benchmark of the site/supplier resource matching, or coordination, performance for big building superstructure pours, based on study of the records of 77 pours placed on five buildings under construction in Hong Kong. This research study also aimed to assess whether there was any evidence to suggest that site/ plant coordination performance has improved since 2000, not least due to the adoption of advanced technologies, which nowadays monitor the locations of truckmixers in real time throughout the day. Of great importance to the industry, however, and the most significant finding arising from this study, is that there is no support for the proposition that site/supplier resource coordination has improved over that 20-year interval. Truckmixer position tracking systems need to be capitalised upon with the introduction of data analysis simulation software and optimising scheduling applied in real time.