Construction production systems: delivering value for money

Construction productivity is important for Australian infrastructure clients, including State and Commonwealth governments. This can be seen from the continuous and strident calls for construction industry improvement. The difficulty lies in the confusion of acceptable metrics. One solution is presented in this Position Paper: the case for adopting a systemic view of the construction management system to enhance value for money in infrastructure procurement. Previous research has examined productivity from the perspectives of industry, firm, project, and activity. A gap has been identified indicating that scant attention has been paid to any link between production systems and productivity in construction. This paper proposes that location-based management, an identified production system which uses the principle feature of location or physical space in construction projects, has the potential for productivity improvement. The convergence within a production system of the productivity efforts across activities, projects and firms, associates the expected value for money outcome for both infrastructure clients and providers. This is particularly true for transport authority capital works and maintenance projects. Systematic construction productivity driven by procurement processes embedded in location-based management provides an alternative way forward.