DEVELOPMENT OF A MECHANISATION INDEX FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Productivity has been an issue in the construction industry for many decades. Efforts have been made to improve the productivity of the industry, but the productivity growth has been relatively slow. Mechanisation, defined as the act of implementing the control and operation of equipment with technology to carry out construction activities, is closely knitted to Productivity in the construction industry context. Research has found that productivity indicators present in the Singapore market are lacking, and a more holistic approach should be taken. This dissertation seeks to develop an assessment tool that can measure construction project’s mechanisation level through assessing the tools and equipment utilised in completing a project, and give higher mechanisation options for the building professionals to consider for their current and future projects. The area of study for this dissertation is limited to the Singapore Construction Industry. Due to too wide of a research scope, interviews were done to decide on the work types that are suitable to be included into the assessment tool. Research on the process of the work types and the tools and equipment involve in completing each task was then done to prepare for the development of the assessment tool. After the development of the tool, it was sent out along with a survey that focuses on the views of mechanisation of the building professionals and also feedback on the assessment tool. After the collection of data, SPSS was used to analyse the relationship between the respondents’ background and their survey answers. Interviews were also held at the same time to understand the interviewee’ view and feedback on the findings of the statistical analysis. From the findings of the analysis, it can be concluded that the responses from the building professionals are similar despite their different backgrounds. Consensus were shared that mechanisation is important in improving productivity, but the level of mechanisation of the Singapore construction industry is not high. This was further supported by the results obtained from the assessment tool the respondents’ have done, where the mechanisation level of projects are low.