Conceptual Design Process Improvement For Drainage Systemusing Project Management

Abstract

The major concern in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is time, cost, and quality. The design for industrial building project usually complex, particularly in a field of mechanical and piping process due to the large involvement of project stakeholders. The case company, which is the specialist supplier of industrial piping solution in Thailand, reported the issue of redesigns regarding to their poor project management of conceptual design process in construction project that effect to their work performance and customer satisfaction. Thus, the purpose of this study was to improve the process of conceptual design using project management concept to reduce the number of redesign in the conceptual design phase for storm drainage design projects. The new conceptual design process was introduced in 4 stages-Initialization, Identification, Translation, and Specification. These stages were clearly defined their input, process (with project management plans, tools and techniques such as checklist, tree diagram, 3D model system and expert judgment), and output.

This was validated with 30 pilot projects of storm drainage design in factories and warehouses. The results revealed that, the total number of redesign was reduced from 102 to 24 under the satisfied of company’s KPI. In addition, the total cost of redesign was decreased form THB 1,326,000 to THB 31,200. Furthermore, the total design time from the start to finish the specification output was reduced from 327 days to 212 days. Therefore, the proposed solution was proved to be practical and fully implemented by the company.