Information Technologies (IT) Applications for Construction: (Case Study: The Tallest Silo of the World in Zurich)

摘要

Computing and communication technology, also commonly known as information technology (IT) which is expanding fast becomes to be an important assistant tool to assign priorities in all aspects of project planning of systems. While the use of IT systems have received great attention during the last decades, there have been few studies with focus on the relationship between information technology and using of such systems in organization of construction projects. Construction projects are specific, unique, and many are complex with varied time constraints and budgets. Often the discussion of IT technologies of interest to construction is centered on the most recent tools that general developments in commercial IT or in Computer science research have to offer. The correct and relevant management of information resources within construction impacts both the success of projects and overall performance of the individual project participants which can make sure that all participants execute and control project plans in appropriate time. This is significantly influenced by how project managers acquire, use, store, re-use and integrate relevant information to assist in the production of project estimates. The present paper describes literature related to IT implementation and its services in the construction industry with the purpose of highlighting the suitable conceptual IT model in the context of the construction of the world tallest silo in Zurich. It also presents some of the structured methods such as computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) that have significant importance in the management of the construction processes. The focus of this research was to gather the experiences of the Swissmill project management team in the use and application of IT programs to assess the benefits realized by all project participants. Finally, the study reveals that using the decision-tree-plan would be a more sustainable way of selecting the best alternative which can help executives manage issues faced in large-scale, complex projects more effectively. Results obtained by implementing IT methods, demonstrate great capabilities of this approach for complicated challenging problems in the Silo construction project.