These eight RFID subsystems do have a wide variety of important features for both sub- and main contractor. In each of the previous paragraphs, an explanation is given about the characteristics of these RFID subsystems, with use of the variables fromTable 19 on page 36. The keywords of these variables across the systems are listed in the following table:
Table 28 Comparison variables of the RFID systems
As one might noticed, not every RFID subsystem looks equally desirable to implement in the non- residential construction industry. So, the following table judge which RFID subsystem should be implement, elaborated afterwards. These findings are based on the assumptions of the author.
Table 29 Validation RFID systems author
In this table, a ‘5’ means a very good performance and a ‘1’ means a very bad performance. For the sake of this study, each column and each value has been counted as equally important. The column ‘priority ’ is determined with the use of the priorities of the corresponding added values assigned by the experts, see Table 15 on page 27. The other values are determined by the estimation of the author. The ‘total score’ determines which subsystems looks worthwhile to implement by taking all variables (priority, applicability, impact, costs and benefits) into consideration. The four highest scores are considered to be worthwhile to implement in the non-residential construction industry.
1. System D. Building Management: subsystem ‘Information’ (22)
2. System C. Control: subsystem ‘Arrival’ (20)
3. System C. Control: subsystem ‘Storage’ (18)
4. System A. Sustainability: subsystem ‘Reduce kilometres’ (17) 5. System A. Sustainability: subsystem ‘Re-use products’ (15)
6. System B. Productivity: subsystem ‘Off-site’ (14)
7. System D. Building Management: subsystem ‘Sensors’ (11)
8. System B. Productivity: subsystem ‘On-site’ (8)
‘Information’: This subsystem has the highest priority assigned by the experts due to the simplicity of the system. Since the intended RFID tags (passive) are cheap, the attachment of tags can take place on a mass-scale basis. The information is welcome and simple to obtain during the maintenance phase, so, the author does see a great advantages in this added value. However, the orientation of the tags inside buildings must be well managed due to the presence of steel (which blocks the radio waves). ‘Arrival’ : More control and efficiency in the arrival process of products is desirable in many projects. However, special attention is needed due to the presence of steel (used in trucks for example). The
Variables
‘Sustainability’ ‘Productivity’ Control’ ‘Building Management’ Re-use Reduce Off-site On-site Arrival Storage Information Sensors
Location of products Flexible Flexible Flexible Flexible Flexible Flexible Fixed Fixed
Type of Information Static Dynamic Dynamic Dynamic Dynamic Dynamic Static +Dynamic Dynamic
Read Range Short Long Long Long Long orshort Long orshort Short Long
Number of tags A Lot A Lot A Few A lot A lot A lot A lot A lot
Implementation in Material Supply Chain
Early Late Early Late Late Late Early Late
Implementation in Construction Value Chain Many sub contractor s Many sub contractors Many sub contractors Many sub contractors Many sub contractors Many sub contractors Many sub contractors Few sub contractors
Focus RFID System Quality Quality Time Time Time +Money Time Time Quality
RFID System Sub system Priority experts Applicability Impact Costs Benefits Total
Subsystem A. ‘Sustainability’ Re-use products 3 1 5 2 4 15 Reduce kilometres 2 5 4 3 3 17 Subsystem B. ‘Productivity’ Off-site 2 4 2 3 3 14 On-site 1 2 1 1 3 8 Subsystem C. ‘Control’ Arrival 4 3 5 3 5 20 Storage 5 4 4 1 4 18 Subsystem D. ‘Building Management’ Information 5 3 5 5 4 22 Sensors 2 2 2 2 3 11 Worthwhile to implement
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impact can be great since it becomes known what is delivered, when and by who. Subsequent processes can benefit from this system (an automatic billing system, a management-by-exception control and a proof of delivery). The costs consist mainly of the data interchange between suppliers and (main) contractor and the standard costs as explained in Paragraph 2.4.4 Associated Costs. ‘Storage’ : More control over the storage of products on site will have great benefits too. However, the storage area have to be well-organized. With the use of ‘localization tags’ (explained earlier) costs will drop but the information will not be in real-time. The impact can be great since the searching and walking time for products reduces once it is visible where (certain) products (and how many) are stored on site. Overall, this RFID subsystem is worthwhile to implement due to the contemplated benefits. ‘Reduce kilometres’: The priority is scored not that high due to only one case study has a BREEAM responsibility. However, the applicability of such a system has found to be high due to the minimal adjustments needed for logistic companies (logistic companies do know the exact location of their trucks in real-time via a GPS sensor on trucks). The impact could be relative high since the information from this system can be used for benchmark values in order to reduce the kilometres driven in upcoming projects. This will reduce noise and emission pollution, traffic jams and unsafe situations on the streets. The costs of the system can mainly be attributed to the changes in the enterprise systems and data interchange between logistic service provider and the main contractor. The benefits should be find in a quality improvement of the environment rather than a reduction of the gasoline cost. ‘Re-use products’ : The applicability of this system is low due to the needed collaboration with all relevant material supply chain-actors around the world. Due to the diversity of this material supply chain, it is very complicated to achieve collaboration from all actors. Besides, the diversity in products (raw materials, semi- and finished products which also will be cut, sawn and chop into pieces) blocks the wide implementation of such a system. However, the system can have an huge effect on the world’ sustainability since it can boost the reuse of products and it lowers the use of new raw materials. Unfortunately, due to the amount of suspected coordination and changes in current business processes, the costs of such a system is expected to be high. The benefits of such a system should be find in the prove a corporate social responsibility rather than a reduction of the costs.
‘Off-site’ : The applicability of this system is found high since subcontractors have already much of the needed infrastructure in place (e.g. GPS sensors on trucks). Extra RFID readers at choke points in static indoor environment like factories would not result in many problems about the readability of the tags. The impact on the construction sector is not that high since many orders do have a time-buffer incorporated and suppliers are bound to the deliveries dates. Meanwhile, the costs are not that high due to the minimal hardware devices needed. The benefits remain questionable due to the time-buffers. ‘Sensors’ : Although the quality of the utilization phase can boost for building users, current Building Management Systems can control already the needed environmental values in-side buildings. It is expected that this quality level will not increase in the nearby future. In combination with the presence of steel in buildings (blocking signals), makes this system not that worthwhile to implement.
‘On-site’ : Calculating the labour productivity only on the time difference between arrival – storage and storage – processing of products, is find not that beneficial. The productivity depends on many more factors than just the processing time of products. So, the applicability and the impact are expected to be low. Besides, the storage area have to be well controlled, otherwise, it is impossible to calculate these time differences. It is impractical to calculate the productivity with only the processing of products on site, making it not worthwhile to implement this system.