Development of a BIM and Barcode based Material Management System for Curtain Wall Industry

Abstract

The construction industry is slower to adopt new technologies than other industries. Traditional construction industry material management system involves tedious paperwork, frequent phone calls and challenging coordination, posing many difficulties for the project management. Recent development in the use of information and communication technologies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC), namely the building information modeling (BIM), promises to introduce major changes in visualization, coordination and planning processes of the engineering projects. The impact of the building’s curtain wall has become increasingly more important when determining the operational and economic performance of construction projects. And as a recognized discipline of the construction industry, curtain wall design, and fabrication and installation process involves numerous stakeholders including designers, contractors, purchasing staff, suppliers, distributors, and on-site installers. It is believed that the material tracking system, when integrated with BIM, can successfully address the major problems of the curtain wall industry. In this paper, the authors analyzed the current practice of material management in the curtain wall industry and proposed a BIM and barcode integrated material management system, which aims to provide a BIM based material management framework from the design phase to the construction phase, streamlining material management process and promoting collaborative working processes in the curtain wall industry.