A Blind Spot in Construction: An investigation into the prevalence and perception of construction logistics management

Abstract

Logistics is an integral part of any current day construction project, with a growing importance as a result of urbanization and sustainability efforts. However, it is still unclear as to how these logistical tasks are managed on construction sites on a daily basis. Combining data from a set of on-site observations with qualitative data from interviews with members of site management, logistics experts, and recruiters, we highlight the prevalence and perceptions regarding logistical management in construction. Following which we can conclude that logistics takes up a significant amount of supervisors’ time and effort, while not being met with requisite presence in recruitment and job specifications. Currently logistics is often seen as an activity to enable other work efforts, resulting it often being performed in a reactive fashion. Instead, allocating logistics to those specialised in it or building further knowledge on how to interact with logistics, can provide multiple benefits connected to quality, cost, and time by further planning and streamlining logistics flows ahead of time