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The Integration/Automation Implementation Index

Event Date
Jul 31, 2000
Type
Conference Presentation - Plenary
Research Team
RT-150
Slides
42
Topic
Fully Integrated and Automated Project Processes
DOCUMENT DETAILS
Abstract
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Abstract
The Center for Construction Industry Studies (CCIS) at The University of Texas at Austin leveraged funding from CII and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to conduct research across all sectors with a longer-term focus than traditional CII projects. For the FIAPP Steering Team (RT-150), CCIS studied Fully Integrated and Automated Project Processes (FIAPP) in collaboration with CII and the then-emerging FIATECH Consortium, which investigated construction technologies for well over a decade before merging with CII in 2017, creating the CII Technology Committee.  RT-150 encouraged the implementation of technology in construction by assessing projects for automation and/or task-to-task integration. The result was the Project I/A Index, which rated projects on a score between 0 and 10, where zero represented only common e-tools and verbal or paper communications, five indicated stand-alone e-tools and machine-assisted operations, and 10 meant that the project had integrated e-tools and some of its processes were conducted by machine.  RT-150 collected data on 210 projects (180 of which contributed complete data) located in 30 metro areas across 24 U.S. states. The team determined that industry in 1998-99 had reached an average point of 3.8 on the 10-point Project I/A Index. Results were comparable for projects in the Buildings, Industrial, and Infrastructure sectors, with Infrastructure projects being most variable. Small projects lagged behind medium-sized and large projects due to a sense of their general neglect and the high fixed costs of technologies.  RT-150 contrasted the performance of typical and technologically advanced projects but found their performance on the Project I/A Index to be roughly comparable because there was little experimentation in either venue. The team looked at typical project phases and found that most advances were concentrated early in a project. Field activities were rated relatively low on the index, probably because construction management was slow to adopt and adapt promising technologies such as construction automation. RT-150 also examined project functions and found that the early project phases probably benefitted from their higher involvement of information-intensive activities, while field operations lagged due to their repetitive but complex activities, such as rebar.  The team's preliminary findings found specific instances where high tech was associated with project success (cost and schedule), which low tech was linked with project failure (also in terms of both cost and schedule). RT-150 concluded that the industry was still generally low-tech, but there were "reasons for excitement," such as the emergence of the World Wide Web, XML, and data technologies.
Filters & Tags
Knowledge Area
Construction Technology
Research Topic
Fully Integrated and Automated Project Processes
Keywords
Project I/A Index, CCIS, Fully Integrated and Automated Project Processes, FIAPP, FIATECH, rt150

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