International Journal of Civil Engineering and (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OFTechnology CIVIL ENGINEERING AND

D (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME TECHNOLOGY (IJCIET) ISSN 0976 6308 (Print) ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), pp. 156-176 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijciet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.3277 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJCIET
IAEME

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL REQUIREMENTS IN THE INSTALLATION OF PREFABRICATED MEMBERS

Phatsaphan Charnwasununth 1, TanitTongthong 2, Nobuyoshi Yabuki 3 (Department of Civil Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand) 2 (Department of Civil Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand) 3 (Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka,Japan)
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ABSTRACT Nowadays, the competitive environment in construction industry increases the popularity of prefabricated construction in Thailand and many other countries. The prefabricated construction is expected for the advantages in terms of construction period, cost, quality, or consistency of result. However, these expectations cannot always be achieved. One of the reasons is the lack of personnel, especially knowledgeable and skilled personnel. This problem leads to prolonged construction, cost overrun, and lower quality of structure construction. Therefore, this study aims to explore the knowledge and skill requirements in the installation of prefabricated members.From the explorations and analysis, the installation of prefabricated members is performed by an installation group composed of workers (stockman and erectors), a mobile crane operator, and a foreman. The process is broken down into the three main steps, specifically, checking the available prefabricated members, making a decision for an installation process, and installing the prefabricated members. Each of which requires the different knowledge and skills based on the persons roles and responsibilities. In addition, the level of knowledge and skill requirements is elevated by the changes and errors in the installation. Keywords: Installation, Knowledge, Prefabrication, Skill

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME 1. INTRODUCTION

Today, the business environment of the construction industry has become increasingly competitive due to the increasing number of local and foreign construction firms, higher resource costs, and demand for speedier construction and lower prices from the owner. All of these tendencies have influenced the construction firms in terms of contract awarding, project delivery, profit generation, and survival tactics. Therefore, almost all construction firms must improve their competitiveness by, for example, inventing new construction methods, creating new materials, adapting better tools and equipment, improving productivity, and raising collaboration efficiency. Prefabricated construction is a new construction method, which is expected for the advantages in terms of construction period, cost, quality, or consistency of result. However, these expectations cannot always be achieved because human resources still plays a major role in the construction process and significantly affects the construction outcome in terms of personnel availability and lack of knowledgeable and skilled personnel. 1.1 Prefabricated construction Prefabricated construction has been widely used in residential construction because of its advantages in terms of productivity and quality improvement as well as cost reduction [1]. In addition, several prefabricated constructions gain more benefits from just-in-time concept [2]. However, the prefabrication needs the experts in design, manufacturing, and erection to achieve the expectations. The following prefabrications characteristics increase the importance of knowledge and skills: up-front design and production, high complexity, high precision requirements, fragmentation, manually intensive, special technique usage, sequential construction, and skilled labour requirement. In addition, the personnel have to cope with some limitations such as traffic regulations of deliver trucks, lack of material, lack of stocking area, and lack space for installation, which affect the installation process [3 8]. 1.2 Personnel availability Construction is a labour-intensive industry [9], in other words, an industry that requires a large number of workers, mainly depending on the economic conditions. Generally, in good economic times, the demand for the construction of buildings and facilities is high. Therefore, a considerable number of people working in construction activities are required [10]. In contrast, during the recession period, the need of construction structures is decreased and the construction activities are restrained. Thus, the required number of human resource decreases. However, the construction sector is used for economic crisis recovery, particularly by allowing the circular flow of spending through construction activities. Both economic situations lead to the need of human resource in construction industry. Therefore, the lack of human resource always occurs in the construction industry and the labour availability is a critical issue for builders and the construction industry as a whole [11]. The fluctuation of the required human resource does not depend only on the changing economic condition. In Thailand, the change in workforce depends also on the agricultural industry, i.e., some labours work in the agricultural sector during the certain time, and temporarily work in the construction industry for other periods. Thus, the supply of human resource especially labour drops in seedtime and harvest season.
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME 1.3 Lack of knowledgeable and skilled personnel Construction is considered as a human-driven process. Thus, quality of human resource directly affects the effectiveness and efficiency of the construction processes, which reflect on construction duration, cost, and quality. According to the embedded knowledge and intellectual ability in personnel, the personnel are referred as the greatest asset of any organisation [12]. The quality of human resources is raising its importance since the industry is considered as a knowledge-based industry and fall between the manufacturing industry and service industry [13]. Therefore, activities of the construction industry demand an increased level of knowledge, skills, and learning [14]. The lack of skilled personnel is of considerable concern to industry stakeholders [15]. A shortage of skilled labour is stated in several countries, such as the United States [11, 16], Singapore [10], and South Africa [17]. The shortage of skilled labour in the North American industry was predicted in the early 1980s and was confirmed by a survey conducted by the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) in 1996, which found that 60% of the respondents faced skilled labour shortages and 75% of the respondents indicated that the shortage was worse than the last five years [18]. In Singapore, the inefficient manpower deployment is caused by a shortage of skilled workers and supervisors, a large unskilled foreign workforce, and a weakening local workforce base. The most three concerned issues are (1) difficulty in the recruitment of supervisors, (2) difficulty in the recruitment of workers, and (3) a high rate of labour turnover [10]. Many reasons lead the construction industry facing a shortage of skilled workers, namely low wages, the transient nature of work, poor industry image, lack of training, and lack of a worker-oriented career path [15]. Makhene and Thwala studied the reasons for the skilled labour shortage in South Africa. The reasons include the retirement of personnel in the 1950s and 1960s and the fact that young people are not interested in working in the construction industry because of the work conditions, the hours of work, and the flexibility to travel. In addition, the workers do not get enough training and continual development because they are hired as temporary employees [17]. The lack of training and development for personnel often leads to difficulty in closing the barrier between unskilled labour to skilled labour and between inexperienced labour to experienced labour [19]. The shortage of skilled workers tends to cause five categories of impact: (1) lower productivity, (2) higher project costs, (3) lower safety, (4) lower quality, and (5) higher supervision requirement [16]. All of which could greatly affect the overall project performance. The previous studies indicated the importance of personnel in the construction industry, especially the knowledgeable and skilled personnel in the prefabricated construction. For the prefabricated construction, the installation of prefabricated members is important because it is a major critical path for construction [20]. A prolonged construction schedule and improper installation of components can be caused by inexperienced labour [19].However, the details of knowledge and skill requirementshave not been explored.Therefore, this research aims to explore the knowledge and skill requirements in the installation of prefabricated members.These requirements can be used for training and supply the personnel to the industry or even to develop the automation system which reduces the knowledge and skill requirements.

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2. CURRENT PRACTICES

In order to investigate the current practices, site observations, document reviews, and interviews were employed in six construction projects. All of them are the residential construction projects located in the Bangkok Metropolitan and nearby areas. The projects consist of single houses or row houses with area from 150 to 250 square meters. The current practices focused in four perspectives as follows: (1) the personnel in the installation process, (2) the installation process, (3) the changes in the prefabricated member installation, and (4) the errors in the prefabricated member installation. 2.1 The personnel in the installation process From the observations and interviews, the installation processes of prefabricated members are performed by a group consists of workers, a mobile crane operator, and a foreman. The number of workers in a group varies from two to five workers. The organisation chart of an installation group is shown in Fig. 1. The inspector and supervisor involve in the installation although both of them do not supervise or perform the installation directly. They may perform their works with more than one group during the installation. Each position is assigned the roles and responsibilities to perform the work, which are summarised in Table 1.

Figure 1 Organisation chart of an installation group Table 1 Roles and responsibilities of personnel
Position Worker (stockman) Workers (erectors) Foreman Roles and responsibilities The person works at the stock location or on the delivery truck to find and hook a prefabricated member. The persons handle a prefabricated member, which is being lifted and moved by machine, and install at the desired location. The person supervises the installation, manages the related resources, and provides the technical knowledge. The person must recognise the current condition, perceive the change, and select the proper countermeasures in a timely manner. The person operates the mobile crane to support the installation and related processes. The person inspects, records, and provides the guidance for the quality of the prefabricated member installation. The person plans and manages the construction schedule and the production line to meet the expectations of prefabricated construction.

Mobile crane operator Inspector Supervisor

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2.2 The installation process The installation process was investigated using site observations and interviews. The overview of installation is as follows: After the prefabricated members arrive at the construction site, the members are transferred to the stock rack or left on the truck. These alternatives are selected based on the policy and management principle of the supervisor. If the just-in-time concept is applied, the members are left on the truck and directly installed without transferring to the rack. Or else, the members are transferred and stocked at the rack. Foreman begins the installation by checking the available prefabricated members. The related resources, i.e., materials, tools, and equipment, may be checked for the availability and compared to the resource requirements. Hence, the list of unavailable resources is perceived including the unavailable prefabricated members. Next, a decision is made based on the current condition of the installation process on whether to postpone or continue the operation. In the case of continuing the installation, the sequence is generated. Then, the work location of the mobile crane is considered and the machine is set up at the desired location. Next, the prefabricated members are installed by an installation group based on the selected sequence. Finally, the installed members are inspected. The process, as described above, was analysed and broken down to the work breakdown structure. This structure was further categorised into three main steps and four supplementary steps as shown in Fig. 2. The main steps are always performed in the installation of prefabricated members while the supplementary steps may or may not be performed based on the practice of the particular foreman and the installation group. However, the changes and errors are always found in the installation process. The installation group has to perform the additional works or adapt the process for coping with these changes and errors using the additional knowledge and skills.

Figure 2 Work breakdown structure of the installation process

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2.3 Changes in the prefabricated member installation From the site observations and interviews, many changes occur in the installation process. Any such changes mean that the current condition at the construction site varies from the planned condition or documents indicated by the designer or planner before the installation begins. The personnel, especially foremen, have the responsibility to detect the changes and select the proper countermeasure in a timely manner. The changes are described as follows: Unavailability of prefabricated members; the unavailable prefabricated members affect the installation significantly. Foreman has to decide whether to postpone or continue the installation. The process is postponed to prevent the double moves of resources and to operate at the structure, which has complete resources. If the installation process is allowed to continue, the new installation sequence is considered to avoid the line-of-sight blocking and the difficulty to install a prefabricated member between the installed members. Shuffled location of prefabricated members in the rack; the location of each prefabricated member in the stock rack is always shuffled because of the difficulty to fix the stock location of each prefabricated member in the rack. The location depends on the delivery schedule, the order of delivery trucks, the loading prefabricated members on the delivery trucks, the overlap of prefabricated members on the truck, and the stability of the stock rack. This shuffled location increases the difficulty for the foreman to check the availability of prefabricated members and for the stockman to find the desired prefabricated member. Irrelevant prefabricated members in the rack; various prefabricated members of the different structures or houses are usually contained in a stock rack for a moment. Therefore, some of members in a rack are irrelevant for the current installation. The foreman has to perceive the irrelevant members to prevent the errors of the process. Unavailability of installation resources; the installation requires the sufficient resources for the operation. The unavailability of materials or tools always arises in the installation because of the material shortage or the improper management by an installation group. The installation cannot be operated or is cut off due to the unavailability of resources. Therefore, foreman has to detect the unavailability of resources and select the right countermeasures. Otherwise, the installation is stopped before the process is complete, which results in precious time, money, and effort wasted. Relative location between house, mobile crane, and stock; this relative location affects the installation sequence of prefabricated members significantly. The sequence mustbe considered to avoid the line-of-sight blocking and the difficulty to install a prefabricated member between the installed members. Moreover, the stock location always varies due to the space limitation and accessibility at that moment. Thus, the installations are performed in the different sequence based on this relative location although the installations are performed for the same type of house as shown in Fig. 3.

Figure 3 Different installation sequences

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME 2.4 Errors in the prefabricated member installation From the site observations and interviews, the errors in prefabricated member installation are revealed as follows: Errors in prefabricated member marking; these errors include damaged markings, missing markings, and incorrect markings. The prefabricated member identification using only the marking tends to be incorrect. With incorrect identification, the chance of error installation increases. Errors in the prefabricated member installation; the errors cause from the manufacturing, transportation, or installation processes. The knowledge and skills are required to perceive and correct these errors. However, the errors from the manufacturing cannot be prevented and corrected immediately because the prefabricated members are produced in advance. The errors are still found continuously and the correction has to be done later until the backlog of prefabricated members are installed or corrected. In addition, the installation errors are occurred because of the large quantity and similar appearance of prefabricated members. Therefore, the foreman and an installation group need the knowledge and skills to point out and correct the errors. 3. KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL REQUIREMENTS

For the analysis of knowledge and skill requirements, the installation process was broken down to work breakdown structure. Next, the structure was further broken down for activities and actions respectively as shown in Fig. 4. The knowledge and skill requirements were analysed for each action from two parts: (1) the physical work or movements, and (2) the related data and information. In addition, the requirements were revealed from the interviews of personnel, who involved in each action. The changes and errors in the installation were also considered for the analysis of knowledge and skill requirements as shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 4 Breaking down of the installation process

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Figure 5 Analysis of knowledge and skill requirements

The details of each main step are as follows: Step 1: Checking the available prefabricated members The foreman considers the available prefabricated members by selecting the building component to be installed and considering the list of prefabricated members in the selected building component. At the rack or on the delivery truck as shown in Fig. 6, the foreman identifies each prefabricated member by the prefabricated members appearance or marking. In situations of uncertainty or doubt, construction drawings as shown in Fig. 7or measurement tools are used for the identification of prefabricated members based on knowledge and skills. After the identification, the available prefabricated member is recorded and the list of available prefabricated members is compiled. Then, the foreman makes the decision to stop this checking process in the case that all the prefabricated members have been verified or cannot be found. The work breakdown structure of Step 1 is summarised and shown in Fig. 8. According to the work breakdown structure, activities, and actions, the requirements of knowledge and skills are analysed and shown in Table 2.

Figure 6 Prefabricated members at the rack and on the delivery truck

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Figure 7 Construction drawing

Figure 8 Work breakdown structure and actions of foreman in step 1

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME Table 2 Knowledge and skill requirements for checking the available prefabricated members
Activities / Actions 1.1 Consider the prefabricated members 1.1.1 Select the building component to be installed Knowledge and skill requirements - Interpretation of construction drawings - Prefabricated member identification - Perception of prefabricated members in each building component - Consideration of building components for the installation process - Perception of prefabricated members in each building component - Interpretation of construction drawings - Prefabricated member identification - Interpretation of construction drawings - Usage of measurement tools - Interpretation of construction drawings

1.1.2 Consider the list of prefabricated members in a selected building component to scope the prefabricated member checking 1.2 Identify a prefabricated member 1.2.1 Identify a prefabricated member by its appearance or marking 1.2.2 In situation of uncertainty or doubt, identify a prefabricated member by other methods 1.3 Compile the list of available prefabricated members 1.3.1 Record an available prefabricated member 1.3.2 Compile the list of available prefabricated members 1.4 Decide to stop checking 1.4.1 If the members in the selected building component are not complete, find another prefabricated member by repeating activity 1.2 or try to search at other possible locations. 1.4.2 Decide to stop checking

- Data collection - Data collection

- Perception of prefabricated members in the selected building component - All knowledge and skill requirements, which are required in activity 1.2 and 1.3 - Decision to stop checking

Step 2: Making a decision for an installation process After discerning the list of unavailable resources and considering the lack of critical resources, the foreman makes a decision about the installation process, namely, whether to postpone or continue the process. The process is postponed if the unavailable resources significantly affect the installation process or if the resources can be moved for use in another building component with complete resources. The installation cannot be performed without the complete of some critical resources such as mobile crane or driller.If the installation process continues, the foreman considers other related factors that can affect the installation sequence, i.e., the location of the mobile crane, house, and stock; the effect of unavailable prefabricated members; and the effect of unavailable resources. Finally, the installation sequence is generated by the foreman as shown in Fig.9. The work breakdown structure and the knowledge and skill requirements of this step are shown in Fig. 10 and Table 3 respectively.

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Figure 9 Installation sequences generated by foreman

Figure 10 Work breakdown structure and actions of the foreman in Step 2 Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members In step 3, the foreman recalls the installation sequence, which is generated from the previous step. Next, the foreman provides the information to an installation group and supervises the process while the prefabricated members are being installed based on the selected sequence. The process in this step is a repetitive loop along with the cooperation of
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME the mobile crane operator, stockman, and erectors. The stockman finds and hooks a prefabricated member in the rack or on the truck and then the member is lifted and moved to the desired location to be installed as shown in Fig. 11. The mobile crane operator operates the machine to hook, lift, move, install, and unhook the prefabricated members. Next, the prefabricated member is handled, installed, shored, and adjusted by erectors as shown in Fig. 12 and 13. Finally, erectors unhook the prefabricated member. These activities are repeated until the last sequence member is installed. All the personnel in this step communicate and cooperate with each other throughout the work being performed. The activities and actions of foreman, mobile crane operator, stockman, and erectors are shown in Fig. 14 to 17 respectively. The knowledge and skill requirements of this step are summarised in Table 4. Table 3 Knowledge and skill requirements for making a decision for an installation process Activities / Actions Knowledge and skill requirements

2.1 Perceive the list of unavailable resources - Perception of unavailable resources 2.1.1 Recall the list of unavailable resources 2.1.2 Consider the lack of resources - Consideration of the effects of resource especially the resources that affect the unavailability on the installation process installation significantly. 2.2 Make a decision 2.2.1 Make a decision whether to - Decision to postpone or continue the postpone or continue the installation installation 2.3 Consider the related factors 2.3.1 Consider the location of house, - Consideration of the effects of the mobile crane, and stock house, mobile crane, and stock locations on the installation sequence 2.3.2 Consider the effect of unavailable - Consideration of the effects of the prefabricated members unavailability of prefabricated members on the installation sequence 2.3.3 Consider the effect of unavailable - Consideration of the effects of the resources unavailability of resource on the installation sequence 2.4 Generate the installation sequence 2.4.1 Generate the installation sequence

- Generation of installation sequence

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Figure 11 Stockman finds and hooks a prefabricated member

Figure 12 Erectors handle and install a prefabricated member

Figure 13 Erectors shore and adjust a prefabricated member

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Figure 14 Work breakdown structure and actions of the foreman in Step 3

Figure 15 Work breakdown structure and actions of the mobile crane operator in Step 3

Figure 16 Work breakdown structure and actions of a worker (Stockman) in Step 3

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Figure 17 Work breakdown structure and action flow of workers (Erectors) in Step 3

Table 4 Knowledge and skill requirements for installing the prefabricated members Activities / Actions 3.1 Recall the installation sequence by foreman 3.1.1 Recall the selected installation sequence from the previous step 3.2 Supervise the installation process by foreman 3.2.1 Perform the work based on an installation sequence 3.2.2 Inform the stockman to hook a prefabricated member Knowledge and skill requirements

- Perception of the selected installation sequence

- Perception of details of the selected installation sequence - Perception of a prefabricated member to be lifted and installed

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME Table 4 Knowledge and skill requirements for installing the prefabricated members
Activities / Actions 3.2.3 Inform the erector to install the prefabricated member 3.2.4 Supervise and cooperate with the personnel in an installation group Knowledge and skill requirements - Perception of the location where the prefabricated member is to be installed - Perception of the installation procedure - Perception of the installation specifications - Interpretation of construction drawings - Identification of the prefabricated members - Identification the resources - Usage of materials - Usage of tools - Usage of measurement tools - Usage of lifting tools, i.e., cable, shackles, and hooks - Communication using hand signals

3.3 Operate the machine by mobile crane operator 3.3.1 Control the machine to move between stock and house 3.3.2 Control the machine to hook, lift, install, and unhook the prefabricated member 3.3.3 Cooperate with the personnel in an installation group 3.4 Hook the prefabricated member by stockman 3.4.1 Find a prefabricated member

- Operation of the mobile crane to swing between the stock rack or truck and house - Operation of the mobile crane to hook, lift, install, and unhook the prefabricated member - Communication using hand signals

3.4.2 Hook the prefabricated member

3.4.3 Cooperate with the personnel in an installation group 3.5 Install the prefabricated member by erectors 3.5.1 Handle the prefabricated member to the location

- Identification of the prefabricated members - Perception of the prefabricated member location - Working at height - Usage of lifting tools, i.e., cable, shackles, and hooks - Communication using hand signals

3.5.2 Install the prefabricated member

3.5.3 Cooperate with the personnel in an installation group 3.6 Shore the prefabricated member by erectors 3.6.1 Shore the prefabricated member

- Perception of the location where the prefabricated member is to be installed - Handling of the prefabricated member - Perception of the installation procedure - Perception of the installation specifications - Usage of materials - Usage of tools - Usage of measurement tools - Communication using hand signals

3.6.2 Adjust the prefabricated member

- Usage of materials - Usage of tools - Shoring of the prefabricated member - Usage of materials - Usage of measurement tools - Adjustment of the prefabricated member for inclination, levelling, and alignment using material, tools, and physical strength

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME Table 4 Knowledge and skill requirements for installing the prefabricated members Activities / Actions 3.7 Unhook the prefabricated member by erectors 3.7.1 Unhook the prefabricated member Knowledge and skill requirements

3.7.2 Cooperate with an installation group 4. EVALUATION

- Working at height - Usage of lifting tools, i.e., cable, shackles, and hooks - Communication using hand signals

After getting the knowledge and skill requirements for the installation of prefabricated members, the requirements were evaluated by experts with more than three years of experience in prefabricated construction. The evaluation contained four parts as follows: the suitability of the work breakdown structure, the importance of each step in the installation, the completeness of knowledge and skill requirements in each step, and the importance of each knowledge and skill. The five Likert scale was employed for the evaluations as the meaning shown in Table 5. Table 5 Meanings of each Likert scale Scale 1 2 3 4 5 Suitable Totally disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Importance Very unimportant Unimportant Neither important or unimportant Important Very important Completeness Very incomplete Incomplete Neither complete or incomplete Complete Very complete

4.1 The suitability of the work breakdown structure The experts evaluated the suitability of the work breakdown structure. From the results in Table 6, the average evaluation score was 4.5, which means the experts totally agreed with the proposed work breakdown structure of the installation process. Table 6 The suitability of the work breakdown structure Evaluation Suitability of the work breakdown structure 1 5 2 4 Expert 3 4 4 4 Average 4.5

5 5

6 5

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4.2 The importance of each step in the installation In this part, the experts evaluated each step in the installation in terms of the importance for installation duration and errors. The results are shown in Table 7 and 8, respectively. From the results, the importance rankings of each step for both installation duration and errors are corresponding. 4.3 The completeness of knowledge and skill requirements in each step In this section, the experts evaluated the completeness of knowledge and skills in each step of installation. The results are shown in Table 9. From the evaluations, all of the main installation steps were evaluated above complete scale. The experts did not recommend for additional knowledge and skills for each person in each installation step.

Table 7 The importance in terms of installation duration

Average 4.83 4.33 4.67 Average 4.83 4.17 4.33 6 4 4 3 Rank 1 3 2 Average 4.50 4.17 4.17 Rank 1 3 2 Importance of each step in the installation process for installation duration Step 1: Checking the available prefabricated members Step 2: Making a decision for an installation process Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members Expert 1 5 5 5 2 5 5 4 3 5 3 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 6 5 4 4

Table 8 The importance in terms of installation errors

Importance of each step in the installation process for installation errors Step 1: Checking the available prefabricated members Step 2: Making a decision for an installation process Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members Expert 1 5 5 5 2 5 3 3 3 5 3 5 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 5 5 4

Table 9 The completeness of knowledge and skill requirements in each step

Completeness of knowledge and skill requirements in each step of installation process (1) Checking the available prefabricated members (2) Making a decision for an installation process (3) Installing the prefabricated members 1 2 Expert 3 4 5

5 5 5

4 3 4

4 4 4

5 4 4

5 5 5

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME 4.4 The importance of each knowledge and skill The experts also evaluated the importance of a knowledge and skill of each person in each step. From the results, the knowledge and skill requirements were ranked. The most three important knowledge and skills can be summarised as shown in Table 10. Table 10 The most important knowledge and skill requirements in each step
Installation steps Step 1: Checking the available prefabricated members by foreman Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members by stockman The most important knowledge and skills Interpretation of construction drawings Prefabricated member identification Perception of prefabricated members in each building component Decision to postpone or continue the installation Generation of installation sequence Consideration of the effects of resource unavailability on the installation process Interpretation of construction drawings Perception of the location where the prefabricated member is to be installed Perception of the installation procedure Communication using hand signals Communication using hand signals Operation of the mobile crane to hook, lift, install, and unhook the prefabricated member Operation of the mobile crane to swing between the stock rack or truck and house Communication using hand signals Usage of lifting tools, i.e., cable, shackles, and hooks Working at height Perception of the installation procedure Perception of the installation specification

Step 2: Making a decision for an installation process by foreman

Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members by foreman

Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members by mobile crane operator

Step 3: Installing the prefabricated members by erectors

5.

CONCLUSION

Although the prefabrication seems simple and easy to install, its advantages cannot always be archived. One of the reasons is the lack of personnel, especially knowledgeable and skilled personnel. The prefabrication requires knowledge and skills for some special features such as the sequential work, the usage of special materials and tools. In addition, the requirements are increasingly important in the changed situation because the provided information may not appropriate for the personnel in order to perceive the actual condition, make a decision, and select the countermeasure in a timely manner. This issue is of considerable concern to industry stakeholders and leads to low productivity and errors. Therefore, the knowledge and skill requirements have to be revealed in order to train the personnel, increase productivity, increase the number of qualified personnel, and supply personnel to the industry.
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME From the study, the installation of prefabricated members is performed by a group of installation which consists of workers, a mobile crane operator, and a foreman. The installation is broken down into three main steps, i.e., (1) checking the available prefabricated members, (2) making a decision for an installation process, and (3) installing the prefabricated members. The work breakdown structure is further broken down into activities and actions. Thus, the knowledge and skill requirements are analysed individually for each person in each action. In addition, the changes and errors increase the knowledge and skill requirements in the installation. Therefore, the knowledge and skill requirements are different among the personnel and the installation steps based on the persons roles and responsibilities. The knowledge and skill requirements were evaluated by the experts in terms of importance and completeness. For the importance, the most important step in terms of installation duration and errors were ranked as follows: checking the available prefabricated members, installing the prefabricated members, and making a decision for an installation process. This ranking for both installation duration and errors are corresponding. For the completeness, all experts evaluated that the lists of knowledge and skill requirements in each installation step are complete. The experts also evaluated the importance of each knowledge and skill for each person in each step. However, all knowledge and skills are crucial and required to complete the installation effectively. The results of this research will be used as the fundamental in order to train and supply the personnel for prefabricated construction and develop the automation approach, which reduces the dependency of the personnels knowledge and skills and increases the automation degree in the construction process in the future. REFERENCES [1] N.N.Dawood, A Framework for Integrating Design and Production System for the Offsite Building Product Industry, Proceedings of ARCOM 98, University of Reading, 1998 [2] E. Ergen, B. Akinci, and R. Sacks, Tracking and Locating Components in a Precast Storage Yard Utilizing Radio Frequency Identification Technology and GPS, Automation in Construction, 16, 2007, 354-367. [3] D. Gann, and P.Senker, International Trends in Construction Technologies and The Future of Housebuilding, Futures, January/February, 1993, 53-65. [4] N.N. Dawood, An Integrated Intelligent Planning Approach for Modular Construction, Proceedings of the 3rdCongress on Computing in Civil Engineering, California, 1996, 410-416 [5] M. Tobarameekul, A Study of Prefabrication Systems for Building Construction in Bangkok Metropolitan Area, Masters Thesis, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 1997. [6] N. Rattanachai, A Study on Construction of Residential Buildings Using Precast Concrete Load Bearing Wall System, Masters Thesis, King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, 2000. [7] J. Neelamkavil, Automation in the Prefab and Modular Construction Industry, Proceedings of the 26thInternational Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC 2009), 2009, 299-306
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