Supply chain management for materials in the construction industry

There has been considerable progress in the application of supply chain management in the industry, especially in the manufacturing sector. Building materials play an important role in the construction industry, and also demands complete attention when designing a project plan. Materials account for a significant part of overall building project costs. Supply chain management is a very promising approach to successfully achieve integration between the several disciplines of the chain (i.e. internal and external suppliers, designers, vendors, contractors, subcontractors and internal and external clients). While supply chain management has been widely researched and developed in the manufacturing sector, the application of the same principles to the construction industry demonstrates that problems are extensively present and persistent in construction supply chains. In order to experiment with the recent supply chain management principles, major multinational construction companies have carried out extensive research and developed computer-based platforms.