Waste assessment and application of improvement techniques in UK private housebuilding supply chains

• Main Author: Barker, Ralph
• Published: Cardiff University 2006
• Subjects: 658.7
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.583859

The UK housebuilding industry has been subject for the past decade or more, to many government initiatives and pressures to improve output, quality and innovation specifically in supply chain management. However the industry is still failing to meet customer and market demands and is in need of improvement. This work studies the UK private housebuilding industry and assesses its current practice regarding supply chain management. It identifies best practice in UK private housebuilding supply chain management, and current levels of competence. It goes on to determine major causes of waste and successfully applies improvement techniques. In order to achieve this, the work first locates and appraises secondary data to understand supply chain management, value and waste within the industry and determine best practice. The thesis then adopts a multi-methodology approach using three distinct stages of empirical research consisting of a government funded case study research project, a national survey of UK housebuilders and finally, collaborative fieldwork involving semi-structured interviews and an improvement workshop with a major UK private housebuilder/developer. The work establishes that there is considerable room for improvement in many areas of the housebuilding supply chain and that material availability and final product quality are key problems. Using a number of improvement techniques, including cause and effect and failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), the causes of major waste areas are identified and evaluated and corrective actions proposed. The work demonstrates that a majority of UK private housebuilding can be treated in the same way as other manufacturing industries for process and supply chain improvement and can successfully adopt techniques prevalent in other industries.