Quality Management Programme in Construction Industry

(an excerpt from our Individual Assignment No.2)

Construction management or construction project management (CPM) is the overall planning, coordination, and control of a project from beginning to completion. CPM is aimed at meeting a client’s requirement in order to produce a functionally and financially viable project. CPM is project management that applies to the construction sector.

The Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) (a US construction management certification and advocacy body) says the 120 most common responsibilities of a Construction Manager fall into the following 7 categories: Project Management Planning, Cost Management, Time Management, Quality Management, Contract Administration, Safety Management, and CM Professional Practice. CM professional practice includes specific activities, such as defining the responsibilities and management structure of the project management team, organizing and leading by implementing project controls, defining roles and responsibilities, developing communication protocols, and identifying elements of project design and construction likely to give rise to disputes and claims.^[1]

In this Total Quality Management Programme, the Author wants to focus on these 7 Categories: (1) Project Management Planning, (2) Cost Management, (3) Time Management, (4) Quality Management, (5) Contract Administration, (6) Safety Management and (7) Construction Management Professional Practice in identifying Cost of Poor Quality before, during and after the Construction Process and to provide better solutions in delivering quality building structure at specific time frame at a lowest cost.

Given a project that requires to be constructed in one and half (1 ½) year with a budget of RM 62,500,000.00; here are some ways that the Author wants to propose in order to achieve the Proposed Total Quality Management Programme.

Project Management Planning – planning is very vital in construction. Proper scheduling requires time and cost. It is recommended to have two schedules in Construction. (1) External Schedule and (2) Internal Schedule.

ü  Internal Schedule – is usually the operation site schedule ‘Master Construction Programme’ where the Project Director/ Manager should have to follow. If the Contract Period (External Schedule) is 1 1/2 year (18) months, the proposed target operation schedule or MCP (Internal Schedule) should be at least 14 months (see Bar chart with S-curve).

ü  Meeting the target External Schedule ahead of time will prevent the Contractor to pay Liquidated Ascertain Damages (LAD).

Cost Management – in construction, labour and material cost should be managed properly. In this case, it is very essential to know how projected cash flow is properly handle and control. With the proposed schedule, cash flow are more accumulated in the first half year of the construction period thus, more cash or revolving fund coming in to finance and sustain the operations while the construction is in full swing for the month of January to June 2014.

 

Time Management – time equates money. With proper planning, project completion is easily accomplished and attained. Liquidated Ascertain Damages (LAD) is much avoided. This is what we consider as the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ). If the Project Schedule has no buffer time, delay is definitely possible. If LAD is equal to 1/10 of 1% of the Total Project Cost. The LAD or COPQ is equal to RM 62,500.00 per day (see tabulation below).

 

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Nota bene:

I would like to thank our professor in Quality Management Techniques for this kind of assignment where I can recall again what I remembered in my previous working experience and somehow those knowledge (theories) I've learned from him were easily applied because it has been in my system for many years. =)

Meg