Barriers to the implementation of concurrent engineering practices within the UK construction industry

Abstract

Concurrent Engineering (CE) is considered as one of the emerging methods in the UK construction industry. The product and process optimisation through ‘integration’ is a key concern of CE. The integrative aspect is tri-fold, which comprises an integration of product(s), integration of process and most importantly the integration of supply chain. A correct adoption of the concepts and principles of CE into construction practice provides significant benefits to project stakeholders, such as reduced time and costs while improving the quality of products and process efficiency. However, its implementation is not optimised to its full potential within the construction industry. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the key factors that hinder the implementation of CE practices within the UK construction industry. Data were collected from an extensive literature review, observations and semistructured interviews and thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data. The findings indicate that the inability of parties within the construction project settings to communicate effectively is the most significant high level barrier for achieving a wider application of CE practices within the UK construction industry. In total 4 high level barriers, 13 medium level barriers and 38 low level barriers to the implementation of CE with the UK construction practices were identified. The findings of this study will benefit construction organisations, who wish to implement CE practices within their practice.