ABSTRACT
Construction organizations are oft en structured in functional silos such as planning and procurement. Traditionally, the planning department generates not only master schedules that provide an overall view of how the project should be executed, but also bills of materials that defi ne type and quantity of products. Buyers then use schedules and bill of materials to initiate the process of acquiring materials for the project in coordination with site teams. With a commercial agreement in place, suppliers proceed to fabricate or collect from existing stocks for delivery to site. When site teams receive materials, a typical action is to fi nd a place to store them until needed for installation. Aft er suppliers have delivered (typically in large batches), materials usually sit on-site for long periods of time until they are completely consumed (assuming that there is no surplus-a rare occurrence in construction!). Th is simplifi ed and generic description of how construction manages materials is nothing but a purchasing process rather than
a materials management process. Although the deployment of control processes for issuing and using materials has become widespread in some sectors of the construction industry, such as industrial construction, pulling materials to site installation is hardly adopted. In traditional construction, the management of materials is typically limited to telephone conversations with suppliers to confi rm fi nal delivery dates. Figure 7.1 illustrates the generic process described above in a cross-functional format.
