Material Tracking & Tagging: What You Need to Know

An upstream materials tracking and tracing capability allows vendors and suppliers to share materials and production status and information seamlessly with key project stakeholders. Tracking materials and production progress and transferring updates to owners, contractors, and subcontractors promises to greatly improve supply chain visibility and construction efficiency, and thus to positively affect craft labor productivity, budgets, and schedules. Despite the promise of upstream materials tracking, however – and since industry efforts have mostly been limited to tracking materials on project sites – owners and contractors need planning and implementation guidance to increase the visibility of materials within their supply chains.  To address this need, CII chartered Research Team 384 (RT-384) to investigate upstream materials tracking and tracing. While materials tracking aims at gathering the location and status of an item by means of auto-ID technologies (e.g., barcode, RFID, QR codes, Bluetooth), tracing aims at collecting and sharing the digital thread of information on the item spanning back to its production and inclusive of certifications, test reports, transaction history, or vendor and supplier records.  

During its research, RT-384 determined that adding onsite materials to the scope of its research would result in more comprehensive research deliverables and enhance their impact on project team performance. Thus, the research team explored strategies and documented resources for upstream and onsite tracking and tracing of materials (including parts, components, and equipment) by surveying and interviewing subject matter experts and practitioners.  

RT-384 documented four construction functions that directly benefit from materials tracking and tracking: automated material transactions, onsite material searches, craft labor productivity, and construction operations. The possible benefits of improved tracking and tracing include discouraging legal actions among key stakeholders and improving the chances of future business agreements.