Safety is of prime importance in oil and gas industry, and one of the most important factors that contribute to Petrovietnam success in the past years. The effective application of the Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSEMS) in all Divisions has been applied in almost oil and gas construction companies operating in Viet Nam. This is a modern approach in domestic oil and gas industry where safety requirements are very strictly controlled with tight supervision mechanism.
However, there are some occupational accidents, which happen, kill and injure many people every year. Therefore, preventing accidents and providing safe working environment to protect employees are very important issues in oil and gas operations in Petrovietnam’s subsidiaries and a safety improvement program can be compulsorily necessary to prevent people from any harm, minimize any damage to property and to the environment during production and business processes.
The purposes of the safety improvement programs are to identify strong and weak issues of the safety management system, and then to give the best solutions for control of all risks to achieve goals “All activities are completed with zero injuries to people and zero damage to equipment, property and environment”.
Although the oil and gas construction companies in Vietnam have already established the health, safety and environment management systems to provide the flexible and integrated approach to manage HSE, risks, and develop HSE programs to meet the requirements of Vietnamese and international standards and laws, but there have been some problems about the safety such as:
a) High rate of accidents occurs at the offshore platforms.
b) Problems with workers participation when working on offshore platform
Mr. Pham Van Tuan made a case study to (1) identify safety improvement programs used in the oil and gas construction company; and (2) discuss and review the effectiveness of the safety improvement programs.
He found out that many oil and gas companies in Vietnam have been applied the successful safety improvement programs for several years now. They considered these useful tools to avoid and mitigate accidents and to improve safety performances that resulting in achieving effective cost control and quality control. They recognize the importance of the safety improvement programs and have responsibilities to identify, assess, prevent and manage all risks and injury to people, damage to property and working environment.
These safety improvement programs establish actions for achieving the objectives and targets, in line with the policy commitment of continuous improvement. When establishing targets, take into considerations of the following:
a) Current legal (comply with the national and international regulations and standards related to health, safety and environment) and regulation requirements.
b) The HSE performances (includes: Site and office).
Mr. Tuan also found out that after implementations the safety improvement programs, there are some achieved results about the safety management such as:
1) All accidents have been reduced.
2) The HSE management system objective is to conduct every trade and service activity with all risks identified and well controlled to achieve its goals.
3) The HSE and risk management roles and responsibilities are allocated, and that accountability for the maintenance and continuous improvement of HSE performance is established in all operations.
4) Eliminating injuries by providing rigorous risk mitigation process including safe systems of work, rectifying, and reporting all actions and conditions, which could lead to an incident.
5) Responsibilities for HSE performance will be visible throughout the organization, with clarity on line management accountability.
6) The HSE management system have provided its units and offices with HSE framework that can be used to manage risk that may arise from the existing projects and future projects.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Occupational health and safety is related to a good working environment, which covers terms of employment. The main purposes of the safety performance are to foster and develop safety management programs and promote the working abilities of the employees to prevent any risks, accidents and hazards.
Most companies can give many good reasons why they want to improve their management safety system. A well-designed safety management system can help to reduce injuries and illnesses and prevent risks and hazards. In addition, a good management system can increase efficiency, improve productivity and quality of services.
The occupational health and safety improvement programs are very crucial for any oil and gas construction companies in Vietnam. The programs provide the basis for managing and controlling the occupational health and safety performance and identify the safety problems and methods to improve the occupational health and safety performance in the future.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Project Time and Cost Management in Water Supply Pipeline Construction in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam: A System Dynamics Approach
The primary objectives of any construction projects are to complete the project within the limited period of time, to meet the determined quality based on the standard and specifications, and to keep the project cost under the estimated budget. The concept and practice of project time and cost management in construction industry have been used in recent years in Viet Nam, since at that time, the country had the open-door policy to lure the investment from FDI projects.
It has been proven that, in construction industry especially in water supply pipeline construction, time and cost management played an important role among several construction project management activities. The efficiency of time and cost management can result in the success or failure of construction projects. Hence, it is considered that there is the necessity to develop the model for effective project time and costs management in water supply pipeline construction in Dong Nai province.
Mr. Tran Minh Tung made a case study which objectives are to (1) find out critical factors affecting the project time and cost in water supply pipeline construction project and analyzing the relationship of these factors and thereby enhance understanding of construction delays and cost overruns; (2) develop a generic model based on the factors identified using system dynamic approach; and (3) formulate implementable policies that may aims to reducing project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction project in Dongnai Province, Viet Nam.
He found out that the problem of time delays and cost overrun in the construction industry is a global phenomenon. Project delay and cost overrun have frequently happened in most of construction project and water supply pipeline construction project is not exception. Below are his conclusions and discussions:
1. The critical factors and their interrelationship
By using exploratory research, he found out that there are several critical factors affecting the project cost and time in implementing a water supply pipeline construction project. Project cost and project time completion are significantly influenced by factors in six aspects such as:
a. Labor - by hiring the seasonal laborers, the labor cost can be reduced but the quality and labor productivity will also be affected. However, ‘training’ can enhance the workforce’s productivity; reduce rework and supervisor on site. Besides, ‘Financial difficulties of contractor’ along with ‘late monthly payment’ can negatively influence the ratio of labor turnover which causes laborers shortage.
b. Quality – from this point of view, project cost and time completion rate have related with rework that causing by ‘errors in construction pipeline’. The higher schedule pressure increases, the more ‘errors in construction’ happen. Conversely, the increase of ‘tighter in control and monitoring’ results in ‘error in construction pipeline’ reduction and therefore ‘fault in testing pipeline’ will be increased.
c. Schedule pressure - project cost and time can be influenced by the variance of ‘schedule pressure’, ‘speed up work’ and ‘work remaining’. The increase of ‘speed up’ helps reducing ‘work remaining’ which decreases the project time completion. Also, ‘coordination closely among other Department’ in Dongnai province also helps decreasing ‘the necessary time to consult among these departments’, which can reduce project delay and cost overrun.
d & e. Material and equipment - ‘accuracy material planning design’ helps delivering material on time, saving material and increasing ‘purchasing coordination’ which reduces ‘late delivery of material’. The effectiveness in ‘accuracy material planning’ has positively affected to project time completion. However, ‘late delivery of material’ can happen by the consequence of ‘late payment to suppliers’, ‘financial difficulties of contractors’. In another aspect, the result from simulator shows that ‘qualified subcontractor’ can increase quality of equipment, which reduces rework, leading to accelerate project time completion rate.
f. Safety - project cost and time have the relation with ‘labor productivity’, ‘the rate of labor turnover’, and ‘unsafe act and condition on site’. The higher schedule pressure increases, the more ‘unsafe act and condition’ happen. Conversely ‘safely construction method’ and ‘supervisory effort and monitoring’ help reducing ‘unsafe act and condition’ on site.
2. The system dynamics modeling
It is not difficult for the practitioners to capture the behavior of construction project. The dynamics model will facilitate practitioners to identify the problems related to performance gap by adjusting inputs of exogenous variables with their real scenario. It also makes possible for practitioners to find out the reasonable strategy to implement project in an effective way. Beside, in order to reach the usefulness of system dynamics model, the managers should develop the ability to understand construction project as a whole rather than simply concentrating on the detail of specific issues.
With the aim of setting up the model, the critical factors that have a potential to affect project cost and time in water supply pipeline construction project were identified and analyzed in term of their probable impact on construction process. Then, adopting by system dynamics approach, the generic system dynamics model has been formulated in this study by integrating a number of endogenous and exogenous factors to make dynamic interactions visible.
The generic performance model, when calibrated and tested with data from Nhon Trach water supply project in Dongnai Province, Vietnam, the simulated behavior (base run) of the adopted model has been replicated with the historic behavior (reference mode). This implied that the generic model dynamics performance model can be able to simulate the dynamic of project cost and time during implementing project.
3. Policies for improving
In order to considerably improve project time and cost performance in water supply pipeline construction project, five policies having the most potential were evaluated. The result showed that delay and cost overrun can be reduced by carrying out several important policies during the construction phase, including accuracy design, quality improvement; qualify subcontractors, multi-skilled training and material management.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Normally, achieving the project within predetermined time, budget, and quality is the basic purpose of construction project control. Unfortunately, most water supply projects can not be completed within specified time and budget. Most projects showed massive cost and time overruns.
In general, the problem involved with project delays and cost overruns are avoidable. In an attempt to solve these problems, there are various strategies have been applied. Among them, many factors were found as the main source lead to manage time and cost in project efficiently.
This thesis analyzes factors affecting project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction in Dongnai Province, Viet Nam. The qualitative research is conducted to fulfill the objective of the research. Data collection is based on case study in water supply pipeline construction in Dongnai Province. It will be found out from this study that there are a lot of factors affecting project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction. Research objectives is the development of the model involved with the factors affecting project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction project.
In analysis, the model including the factors for reducing project time and cost in water supply pipeline construction projects will be built by using system dynamics modeling. Finally, some strategies deal with project delays and cost overruns are proposed.
It has been proven that, in construction industry especially in water supply pipeline construction, time and cost management played an important role among several construction project management activities. The efficiency of time and cost management can result in the success or failure of construction projects. Hence, it is considered that there is the necessity to develop the model for effective project time and costs management in water supply pipeline construction in Dong Nai province.
Mr. Tran Minh Tung made a case study which objectives are to (1) find out critical factors affecting the project time and cost in water supply pipeline construction project and analyzing the relationship of these factors and thereby enhance understanding of construction delays and cost overruns; (2) develop a generic model based on the factors identified using system dynamic approach; and (3) formulate implementable policies that may aims to reducing project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction project in Dongnai Province, Viet Nam.
He found out that the problem of time delays and cost overrun in the construction industry is a global phenomenon. Project delay and cost overrun have frequently happened in most of construction project and water supply pipeline construction project is not exception. Below are his conclusions and discussions:
1. The critical factors and their interrelationship
By using exploratory research, he found out that there are several critical factors affecting the project cost and time in implementing a water supply pipeline construction project. Project cost and project time completion are significantly influenced by factors in six aspects such as:
a. Labor - by hiring the seasonal laborers, the labor cost can be reduced but the quality and labor productivity will also be affected. However, ‘training’ can enhance the workforce’s productivity; reduce rework and supervisor on site. Besides, ‘Financial difficulties of contractor’ along with ‘late monthly payment’ can negatively influence the ratio of labor turnover which causes laborers shortage.
b. Quality – from this point of view, project cost and time completion rate have related with rework that causing by ‘errors in construction pipeline’. The higher schedule pressure increases, the more ‘errors in construction’ happen. Conversely, the increase of ‘tighter in control and monitoring’ results in ‘error in construction pipeline’ reduction and therefore ‘fault in testing pipeline’ will be increased.
c. Schedule pressure - project cost and time can be influenced by the variance of ‘schedule pressure’, ‘speed up work’ and ‘work remaining’. The increase of ‘speed up’ helps reducing ‘work remaining’ which decreases the project time completion. Also, ‘coordination closely among other Department’ in Dongnai province also helps decreasing ‘the necessary time to consult among these departments’, which can reduce project delay and cost overrun.
d & e. Material and equipment - ‘accuracy material planning design’ helps delivering material on time, saving material and increasing ‘purchasing coordination’ which reduces ‘late delivery of material’. The effectiveness in ‘accuracy material planning’ has positively affected to project time completion. However, ‘late delivery of material’ can happen by the consequence of ‘late payment to suppliers’, ‘financial difficulties of contractors’. In another aspect, the result from simulator shows that ‘qualified subcontractor’ can increase quality of equipment, which reduces rework, leading to accelerate project time completion rate.
f. Safety - project cost and time have the relation with ‘labor productivity’, ‘the rate of labor turnover’, and ‘unsafe act and condition on site’. The higher schedule pressure increases, the more ‘unsafe act and condition’ happen. Conversely ‘safely construction method’ and ‘supervisory effort and monitoring’ help reducing ‘unsafe act and condition’ on site.
2. The system dynamics modeling
It is not difficult for the practitioners to capture the behavior of construction project. The dynamics model will facilitate practitioners to identify the problems related to performance gap by adjusting inputs of exogenous variables with their real scenario. It also makes possible for practitioners to find out the reasonable strategy to implement project in an effective way. Beside, in order to reach the usefulness of system dynamics model, the managers should develop the ability to understand construction project as a whole rather than simply concentrating on the detail of specific issues.
With the aim of setting up the model, the critical factors that have a potential to affect project cost and time in water supply pipeline construction project were identified and analyzed in term of their probable impact on construction process. Then, adopting by system dynamics approach, the generic system dynamics model has been formulated in this study by integrating a number of endogenous and exogenous factors to make dynamic interactions visible.
The generic performance model, when calibrated and tested with data from Nhon Trach water supply project in Dongnai Province, Vietnam, the simulated behavior (base run) of the adopted model has been replicated with the historic behavior (reference mode). This implied that the generic model dynamics performance model can be able to simulate the dynamic of project cost and time during implementing project.
3. Policies for improving
In order to considerably improve project time and cost performance in water supply pipeline construction project, five policies having the most potential were evaluated. The result showed that delay and cost overrun can be reduced by carrying out several important policies during the construction phase, including accuracy design, quality improvement; qualify subcontractors, multi-skilled training and material management.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Normally, achieving the project within predetermined time, budget, and quality is the basic purpose of construction project control. Unfortunately, most water supply projects can not be completed within specified time and budget. Most projects showed massive cost and time overruns.
In general, the problem involved with project delays and cost overruns are avoidable. In an attempt to solve these problems, there are various strategies have been applied. Among them, many factors were found as the main source lead to manage time and cost in project efficiently.
This thesis analyzes factors affecting project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction in Dongnai Province, Viet Nam. The qualitative research is conducted to fulfill the objective of the research. Data collection is based on case study in water supply pipeline construction in Dongnai Province. It will be found out from this study that there are a lot of factors affecting project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction. Research objectives is the development of the model involved with the factors affecting project time and costs in water supply pipeline construction project.
In analysis, the model including the factors for reducing project time and cost in water supply pipeline construction projects will be built by using system dynamics modeling. Finally, some strategies deal with project delays and cost overruns are proposed.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Sustainable Construction Development Framework Tourism Industry In Phu Quoc Island In Kien Giang Province Viet Nam
Kien Giang, a province at the Southwest end of Vietnam, is one of the biggest provinces in the Mekong Delta, lies next to the Gulf of Thailand, Although it is located relatively far away from the Economic Centers of Viet Nam, compared to the other provinces, it is close to ASEAN countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippine and Cambodia.
Kien Giang is a province with a large tourism potential with its location and islands compared to other provinces in the Mekong Delta. Kien Giang also has flat lands, islands, sea, mountains, forests, caves, rivers, streams, beaches, primeval forests and many other famous landscapes. Kien Giang has many places of historical interest such as Mui Nai beach, Hang Pagoda, Father and Son islet, Thach Dong (Cavern), Mac Cuu Royal Tomb, Hon Dat, U Minh Forest and especially Phu Quoc Island which are attracting to visitors from inland and abroad.
There are flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc and from Phu Quoc to Rach Gia. These good conditions has enable Phu Quoc develop Trade and Tourism in the short term as well as in the long term.
Ms. Pham Thi Cam Tien made a research study regarding the issues affecting construction development in Phu Quoc Island in order to propose a strategy for the future growth of tourism on the island. Her study objectives are (1) to study the current situation of Phu Quoc Island of Kien Giang Province related with sustainable development in tourism; and (2) to study sustainable construction development factors and framework which are applicable in tourism project, in particularly in Phu Quoc Island.
After conducting her survey and interview, the result of the data analyses revealed several issues related with tourism in Phu Quoc Island that affect on sustainable development. In general, Phu Quoc Island is the potential Tourism Island with many long beach as well as waterfalls along the Island. The number of tourists travelling to Phu Quoc is getting bigger and bigger, thus achieving the sustainable development in tourism. But Phu Quoc Island must follow the ecological development standard. The government as well as the investors should have policy to protect environment and nature on the Island. They should have rules and rewards for protecting the nature and environment in the sustainable development construction project.
The sustainable construction development factors and frame work which are applicable in Bai Sao and Bai Truong tourism project in Phu Quoc Island showed that Bai Truong project, is rather big project which is more concentrated on the specific environment investigation and have orientation sustainable development for the island which is divided and developed in small project following the ecological standard. The construction planning is designed into short term and long term stage and has planned to preserve the forest and coach resources.
On the other hand, Bai Sao Project also follows the sustainable development process such as investigating the environment using local material and protecting the natural atmosphere. Bai Sao is concentrated on architecture development. It tried to design ecological architecture with is familiar with nature and coach. Besides, Bai Sao project is attached special importance to the customers – tourist – with hi-end ecological leisure center.
Ms. Cam proposed some measures for improvements of Local Area Tourism Project and the Roles of the Public and Private Sectors. She suggested that a local area tourism project should be accompanied by a concept or urban design drawing which shows diagrammatically the form, layout and disposition of buildings and their relationship to open spaces and other areas. It is very important that these plans will also form the basis for a set of development control procedures relating to land use and urban design guidelines which also cover urban planning policies and measures. Nevertheless they can contain smaller action plans devoted to tourism, such as the upgrading of the waterfronts of both towns, the preservation of the historical core and creation of activity nodes in Duong Dong. As for the roles of the Public and Private Sectors, both should therefore assume collective responsibilities in realizing a quality environment for tourism on the island.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This thesis was conducted to respond the current situation of the tourism development in Phu Quoc Island – Kien Giang province where tourism is recognize as one major income generator for local people. Many interesting activities have been conducted a long to the beaches of Phu Quoc Island in order to attract tourists. The thesis was studied to identify the environmental impacts of current touris m and to provide recommendations for sustainable tourism development in Phu Quoc Island.
This thesis began with site investigation, interview with key informants. This studies issues affecting construction development in Phu Quoc Island and proposes a str ategy for the future growth of tourism on the island which followed the main objective – to study sustainable development and construction factors and framework which are applicable in tourism project, in particularly in Phu Quoc Island. In order to develop study area, the current issue of environment and developed orientation of Phu Quoc Island were conducted. Finally, the results of the analysis and collected data were include and combined to become basis system of sustainable tourism development in Phu Q uoc Island – Kien Giang province.
Kien Giang is a province with a large tourism potential with its location and islands compared to other provinces in the Mekong Delta. Kien Giang also has flat lands, islands, sea, mountains, forests, caves, rivers, streams, beaches, primeval forests and many other famous landscapes. Kien Giang has many places of historical interest such as Mui Nai beach, Hang Pagoda, Father and Son islet, Thach Dong (Cavern), Mac Cuu Royal Tomb, Hon Dat, U Minh Forest and especially Phu Quoc Island which are attracting to visitors from inland and abroad.
There are flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc and from Phu Quoc to Rach Gia. These good conditions has enable Phu Quoc develop Trade and Tourism in the short term as well as in the long term.
Ms. Pham Thi Cam Tien made a research study regarding the issues affecting construction development in Phu Quoc Island in order to propose a strategy for the future growth of tourism on the island. Her study objectives are (1) to study the current situation of Phu Quoc Island of Kien Giang Province related with sustainable development in tourism; and (2) to study sustainable construction development factors and framework which are applicable in tourism project, in particularly in Phu Quoc Island.
After conducting her survey and interview, the result of the data analyses revealed several issues related with tourism in Phu Quoc Island that affect on sustainable development. In general, Phu Quoc Island is the potential Tourism Island with many long beach as well as waterfalls along the Island. The number of tourists travelling to Phu Quoc is getting bigger and bigger, thus achieving the sustainable development in tourism. But Phu Quoc Island must follow the ecological development standard. The government as well as the investors should have policy to protect environment and nature on the Island. They should have rules and rewards for protecting the nature and environment in the sustainable development construction project.
The sustainable construction development factors and frame work which are applicable in Bai Sao and Bai Truong tourism project in Phu Quoc Island showed that Bai Truong project, is rather big project which is more concentrated on the specific environment investigation and have orientation sustainable development for the island which is divided and developed in small project following the ecological standard. The construction planning is designed into short term and long term stage and has planned to preserve the forest and coach resources.
On the other hand, Bai Sao Project also follows the sustainable development process such as investigating the environment using local material and protecting the natural atmosphere. Bai Sao is concentrated on architecture development. It tried to design ecological architecture with is familiar with nature and coach. Besides, Bai Sao project is attached special importance to the customers – tourist – with hi-end ecological leisure center.
Ms. Cam proposed some measures for improvements of Local Area Tourism Project and the Roles of the Public and Private Sectors. She suggested that a local area tourism project should be accompanied by a concept or urban design drawing which shows diagrammatically the form, layout and disposition of buildings and their relationship to open spaces and other areas. It is very important that these plans will also form the basis for a set of development control procedures relating to land use and urban design guidelines which also cover urban planning policies and measures. Nevertheless they can contain smaller action plans devoted to tourism, such as the upgrading of the waterfronts of both towns, the preservation of the historical core and creation of activity nodes in Duong Dong. As for the roles of the Public and Private Sectors, both should therefore assume collective responsibilities in realizing a quality environment for tourism on the island.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This thesis was conducted to respond the current situation of the tourism development in Phu Quoc Island – Kien Giang province where tourism is recognize as one major income generator for local people. Many interesting activities have been conducted a long to the beaches of Phu Quoc Island in order to attract tourists. The thesis was studied to identify the environmental impacts of current touris m and to provide recommendations for sustainable tourism development in Phu Quoc Island.
This thesis began with site investigation, interview with key informants. This studies issues affecting construction development in Phu Quoc Island and proposes a str ategy for the future growth of tourism on the island which followed the main objective – to study sustainable development and construction factors and framework which are applicable in tourism project, in particularly in Phu Quoc Island. In order to develop study area, the current issue of environment and developed orientation of Phu Quoc Island were conducted. Finally, the results of the analysis and collected data were include and combined to become basis system of sustainable tourism development in Phu Q uoc Island – Kien Giang province.
Monday, 28 September 2009
Delay Causations in Construction: A Case Study of Pipeline Projects
Delays are perhaps the most common form of construction claims or even disputes. The problem is that, the parties involved in the process could hardly identify the reason and responsibility of each one in the specific task. Delays and claims resulted from the works are not carried out precisely as the contract required. Accordingly, avoiding delays is crucially concerned not only with good practice during the planning and execution of the works but also with the proper operation of the contract machinery.
In the pipeline project, delays also occur. This delay is a serious concern for the owner and the contractor too because the owner needs the exact start-up date and the contractor looks for the effectiveness of the resources and avoiding the punishment. The preparation for the claims, if any, is appreciated.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Dao made a research study with these objectives (1) to identify delay causations in the construction of the pipeline project; (2) to explore the impact of delays on time extension and cost; and (3) to investigate the appropriate strategy to control delays and develop a guideline of information management for delays prevention and control.
Mr. Dao’s conclusions are the following:
1. The delays caused in the construction of pipeline project is the actual delays causation occur in all kind of activities, but mostly in technical and management mistakes. The most important part comes from information, documentation and staff management. The impact from details engineering and purchasing materials are mainly related from the mismanagement of this process.
2 Construction mismanagement resulted in multiple problems that can cascade throughout the work force chain, affecting the schedule and leading to damages to multiple parties, and have direct impact in the delays on time extension and cost.
3. Construction delay analysis represents a very complex task. Thus, construction schedule updating and forecasting can handle the uncertainty associated with quantifying activity delays and their impacts. In these conditions, they could be able to react and take the appropriate corrective measures to avoid and minimize delays.
Mr. Dao’s made several recommendations and guideline for delays prevention and control. These are:
1. The General Contractor (GC) needs calculate careful every parameter, every single work, schedule and estimates the total budget.
2. In EPC contract, details engineering take the key position to the success of the project from the quality, schedule to the total budget. Thus the following recommendations help: choose the excellent engineering company instead of cheapest qualified one, and review or give comments before giving the approval in the details engineering office to make sure that there’s no thing to block the engineering process.
3. The purchasing materials and equipments process is always important, but it’s the main weak point of almost Vietnamese contractor since Vietnamese law defines that the time for an international bid preparation is at least 30 days. And the schedule performance, profit or lost are mostly depend on this process.
4. In large and sophisticate project, the experience of GC is the most important reason for the success of project implementation. The strong finance, technical ability and numerous resources are all needed to well perform project.
5. The project’s success resulted from the finance ability of VSP. Using own money to buy all materials, equipment, to hide subcontractors… and will get back from oils production in future.
6. Main contractor should consider effective strategy in order to manage subcontractors effectively and efficiently. The strategies including procurement scheduling, quality control, cost, and safety will be discussed in this study.
7. The need to choose ways (or channel) to communicate between the service of subcontractors and the site management or inside contractors can help the flow of works run smoothly. And the communication process becomes easier and faster.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Construction mismanagement results in multiple problems that can cascade throughout the work force chain, affecting the schedule and leading to damages to multiple parties. Although the problem may start with a single subcontractor, it can result in all contractors feeling some impact to their work.
The actual delays causation occur in all kind of activities, but mostly in technical and management mistakes. The most important part comes from information, documentation and staff management. The impact from details engineering and purchasing materials are mainly related from the mismanagement of this process.
The construction schedule updating and forecasting can handle the uncertainty associated with quantifying activity delays and their impacts. The conditions in the schedule, that they are able to react and take the appropriate corrective measures to avoid and minimize delays.
The construction firms and the contractors need to feel in the same rhythm of their project. Especially in large and sophisticate project, our desire to complete the works on time and within budget is hard to fulfill. We can only achieve this goal if we have the experience, competence staff and numerous resources, strong financial aspects, and most of all we use it reasonable.
In the pipeline project, delays also occur. This delay is a serious concern for the owner and the contractor too because the owner needs the exact start-up date and the contractor looks for the effectiveness of the resources and avoiding the punishment. The preparation for the claims, if any, is appreciated.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Dao made a research study with these objectives (1) to identify delay causations in the construction of the pipeline project; (2) to explore the impact of delays on time extension and cost; and (3) to investigate the appropriate strategy to control delays and develop a guideline of information management for delays prevention and control.
Mr. Dao’s conclusions are the following:
1. The delays caused in the construction of pipeline project is the actual delays causation occur in all kind of activities, but mostly in technical and management mistakes. The most important part comes from information, documentation and staff management. The impact from details engineering and purchasing materials are mainly related from the mismanagement of this process.
2 Construction mismanagement resulted in multiple problems that can cascade throughout the work force chain, affecting the schedule and leading to damages to multiple parties, and have direct impact in the delays on time extension and cost.
3. Construction delay analysis represents a very complex task. Thus, construction schedule updating and forecasting can handle the uncertainty associated with quantifying activity delays and their impacts. In these conditions, they could be able to react and take the appropriate corrective measures to avoid and minimize delays.
Mr. Dao’s made several recommendations and guideline for delays prevention and control. These are:
1. The General Contractor (GC) needs calculate careful every parameter, every single work, schedule and estimates the total budget.
2. In EPC contract, details engineering take the key position to the success of the project from the quality, schedule to the total budget. Thus the following recommendations help: choose the excellent engineering company instead of cheapest qualified one, and review or give comments before giving the approval in the details engineering office to make sure that there’s no thing to block the engineering process.
3. The purchasing materials and equipments process is always important, but it’s the main weak point of almost Vietnamese contractor since Vietnamese law defines that the time for an international bid preparation is at least 30 days. And the schedule performance, profit or lost are mostly depend on this process.
4. In large and sophisticate project, the experience of GC is the most important reason for the success of project implementation. The strong finance, technical ability and numerous resources are all needed to well perform project.
5. The project’s success resulted from the finance ability of VSP. Using own money to buy all materials, equipment, to hide subcontractors… and will get back from oils production in future.
6. Main contractor should consider effective strategy in order to manage subcontractors effectively and efficiently. The strategies including procurement scheduling, quality control, cost, and safety will be discussed in this study.
7. The need to choose ways (or channel) to communicate between the service of subcontractors and the site management or inside contractors can help the flow of works run smoothly. And the communication process becomes easier and faster.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Construction mismanagement results in multiple problems that can cascade throughout the work force chain, affecting the schedule and leading to damages to multiple parties. Although the problem may start with a single subcontractor, it can result in all contractors feeling some impact to their work.
The actual delays causation occur in all kind of activities, but mostly in technical and management mistakes. The most important part comes from information, documentation and staff management. The impact from details engineering and purchasing materials are mainly related from the mismanagement of this process.
The construction schedule updating and forecasting can handle the uncertainty associated with quantifying activity delays and their impacts. The conditions in the schedule, that they are able to react and take the appropriate corrective measures to avoid and minimize delays.
The construction firms and the contractors need to feel in the same rhythm of their project. Especially in large and sophisticate project, our desire to complete the works on time and within budget is hard to fulfill. We can only achieve this goal if we have the experience, competence staff and numerous resources, strong financial aspects, and most of all we use it reasonable.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
A Study of the Hotel Renovation Project Management Process in Thailand
Tourism and hotel industry is the one of the major sectors that plays an important role in the economic development of every country. The tourism and hotel industry also supports the growth of other industries, provided that when the tourism and hotel industry area is developed, the business activities will increase as a whole. Thus, the satisfying performance of the tourism and hotel sector is vital key for the prosper beginning of several other parts of the economy. In Thailand, the tourism and hotel industry is a crucial component which greatly influences the economic growth. Tourism is increasing each year which is the reason why, most hotels in Thailand always renovated their hotel to keep up with the competition, to maintain or increase market share by satisfying the current or potential customers, to upgrade the hotel to a higher category, to comply with the new trends and technology and to maintain image and standard.
But hotel renovation projects are very complicated. The process consists of four fundamental interrelated factors involved therein, which are driver analyses, planning and controlling, implementation, and evaluation (Ahmed Hassanien, 2007).
Ms. Atcharaporn Suwan made a research with these set objectives (1) to investigate major problem and specific obstacles occurring in hotel renovation projects; (2) to investigate the existing practice of hotel renovation project management process from the viewpoints of hotelier, consultant and contractor; and (3) to propose the recommendation to improve the hotel renovation project management process.
According to her data analysis, most of external parties that comprise of consultant and contractors have agreed that the two main obstacles of hotel renovation project are lack of money from the owner. This is because some case studies had to set the unrealistic budget and already the budget is fixed from the owner at the first tendering process. Moreover the budget was limited since over budget from the mock up room at the first stage.
Another result of her data analysis is that most of internal party has agrees that the two main obstacles of hotel renovation project is time limitation. The hotelier would like to finish renovation work before high season period in order to gain more revenue during that time and doesn’t want to disturbed their customer. Therefore the period of renovation work was limited base on the traveling season.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Tourism and hotel industry is one major earning of Thailand’s economy, as well as, tourism satisfactions of hotel play the important role among hotel market. Increasing of tourism in each year will affected hotel industry. Therefore most of hotels in Thailand always renovated their hotel for various reasons. However, according to the nature of renovation project will often be subject to a number of diverse constraints. Some may be of a physical and dimensional nature; others are imposed by design considerations. There are various considerations that arise from the original construction. Moreover renovating the hotel and maintaining hotel activities, problems in managing the scope of renovation project and complicated hotel renovation process have been considered as well. These aspects of the hotel renovation process are not well understood and there are a small number of papers that analyze renovation behavior in Thailand.
In order to understand the hotel renovation process, therefore the objectives of this research are established to 1) investigate major problem and specific obstacles occurring in hotel renovation projects, 2) investigate the existing practice of hotel renovation project management process from the viewpoints of hotelier, consultant and contractor and 3) propose the recommendation to improve the hotel renovation project management process.
The data was collected from interview survey in three large scale hotel renovation project of the major destination of Thailand such as Bangkok and Chiangmai. The interviewee has been separated in to two group of each project. First group is internal party that comprise of hotelier, general manager and chief engineer. Second group is external party that comprise of consultant and contractor. The findings were already explained in detail and recommendations for improvement were propose in this study.
But hotel renovation projects are very complicated. The process consists of four fundamental interrelated factors involved therein, which are driver analyses, planning and controlling, implementation, and evaluation (Ahmed Hassanien, 2007).
Ms. Atcharaporn Suwan made a research with these set objectives (1) to investigate major problem and specific obstacles occurring in hotel renovation projects; (2) to investigate the existing practice of hotel renovation project management process from the viewpoints of hotelier, consultant and contractor; and (3) to propose the recommendation to improve the hotel renovation project management process.
According to her data analysis, most of external parties that comprise of consultant and contractors have agreed that the two main obstacles of hotel renovation project are lack of money from the owner. This is because some case studies had to set the unrealistic budget and already the budget is fixed from the owner at the first tendering process. Moreover the budget was limited since over budget from the mock up room at the first stage.
Another result of her data analysis is that most of internal party has agrees that the two main obstacles of hotel renovation project is time limitation. The hotelier would like to finish renovation work before high season period in order to gain more revenue during that time and doesn’t want to disturbed their customer. Therefore the period of renovation work was limited base on the traveling season.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Tourism and hotel industry is one major earning of Thailand’s economy, as well as, tourism satisfactions of hotel play the important role among hotel market. Increasing of tourism in each year will affected hotel industry. Therefore most of hotels in Thailand always renovated their hotel for various reasons. However, according to the nature of renovation project will often be subject to a number of diverse constraints. Some may be of a physical and dimensional nature; others are imposed by design considerations. There are various considerations that arise from the original construction. Moreover renovating the hotel and maintaining hotel activities, problems in managing the scope of renovation project and complicated hotel renovation process have been considered as well. These aspects of the hotel renovation process are not well understood and there are a small number of papers that analyze renovation behavior in Thailand.
In order to understand the hotel renovation process, therefore the objectives of this research are established to 1) investigate major problem and specific obstacles occurring in hotel renovation projects, 2) investigate the existing practice of hotel renovation project management process from the viewpoints of hotelier, consultant and contractor and 3) propose the recommendation to improve the hotel renovation project management process.
The data was collected from interview survey in three large scale hotel renovation project of the major destination of Thailand such as Bangkok and Chiangmai. The interviewee has been separated in to two group of each project. First group is internal party that comprise of hotelier, general manager and chief engineer. Second group is external party that comprise of consultant and contractor. The findings were already explained in detail and recommendations for improvement were propose in this study.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Owner’s Project Scope Development for Seaport Project – A Case Study of Sao Mai Ben Dinh Project in Vietnam
Project planning as a back bone of the project management places an important role in any project, especially for Seaport building area. A project is considered successful if it is finished in time, within budget and satisfied owner’s requirements. There are merely two phases of any project such as project plan and project control. The project plan plays the most important role and affect to whole project, planning require a deep study from owner, managers, specialist and many outside professors.
An owner’s inadequate project planning may cause project delay and cost over-budget as well as unpredicted risks. But what is the adequate project planning and how does the owner know on what is the right ways to make plan? Specially, Seaport building which affects very large area: economic, social, politic, etc. Project planning before building is very important.
Mr. Tran Duc Hanh made a research to develop a guideline for project owner to build up project scope to ensure the completion of projects. And to investigate owner’s project scope development to construct Sao Mai Ben Dinh port building project. His specific objectives were to (1) determine the critical project scope development that the owner should attempt in planning of whole project; and (2) investigate a case study that includes an owner’s project scope development plan to construct Sao Mai Ben Dinh port building project.
Based on his research, he proposed four general scopes of planning from owner’s point of view and applied to real case of Sao Mai Ben Dinh project. These are:
1. A general schedule for planning project from owner’s point of view is established.
2. Applying the ideal for real case of Sao Mai Ben Dinh project, at this stage a project charter is defined to determine the purposes and objectives of the owners.
3. A feasibility study is performed and then the risk plan and economic analyses are established. Based on these, a master plan of project is made.
4. An analysis on the result of the plan show that the project is well planning and project bring high advantage to owner.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This research proposed a general scope for planning of seaport project, at this point of view we developed a general requirement for plan and some special characteristics of seaport development which owner should pay more attention to. A real case of seaport project, Sao Mai Ben Dinh Project, is established to present the applying of study in real. Most of the important area of seaport project scope is figured out in this research. Base on these, owner has a general view about his project and which part he should pay more attention to in order to make the project success.
An owner’s inadequate project planning may cause project delay and cost over-budget as well as unpredicted risks. But what is the adequate project planning and how does the owner know on what is the right ways to make plan? Specially, Seaport building which affects very large area: economic, social, politic, etc. Project planning before building is very important.
Mr. Tran Duc Hanh made a research to develop a guideline for project owner to build up project scope to ensure the completion of projects. And to investigate owner’s project scope development to construct Sao Mai Ben Dinh port building project. His specific objectives were to (1) determine the critical project scope development that the owner should attempt in planning of whole project; and (2) investigate a case study that includes an owner’s project scope development plan to construct Sao Mai Ben Dinh port building project.
Based on his research, he proposed four general scopes of planning from owner’s point of view and applied to real case of Sao Mai Ben Dinh project. These are:
1. A general schedule for planning project from owner’s point of view is established.
2. Applying the ideal for real case of Sao Mai Ben Dinh project, at this stage a project charter is defined to determine the purposes and objectives of the owners.
3. A feasibility study is performed and then the risk plan and economic analyses are established. Based on these, a master plan of project is made.
4. An analysis on the result of the plan show that the project is well planning and project bring high advantage to owner.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This research proposed a general scope for planning of seaport project, at this point of view we developed a general requirement for plan and some special characteristics of seaport development which owner should pay more attention to. A real case of seaport project, Sao Mai Ben Dinh Project, is established to present the applying of study in real. Most of the important area of seaport project scope is figured out in this research. Base on these, owner has a general view about his project and which part he should pay more attention to in order to make the project success.
Monday, 21 September 2009
Quality Management System For Supervising Consultants For Managing Performance Of Highway Contractors In Vietnam
Construction quality is a critical factor in determining project acceptance and resultant contractual payment levels. Participants in the construction industry have become notably conscious of the role of quality as an essential means to achieve client satisfaction and gain a competitive advantage. Acceptable quality levels in construction have long been a problem to attain on time and within budget in a highly dynamic, complex, and competitive environment. With inefficient or nonexistent quality management procedures, significant expenditures of time, money, and resources are wasted on construction projects (Rounds and Chi, 1985).
Over the past several years, the construction industry has expanded very fast in Vietnam. The construction industry mainly focuses on profit. Due to intensive competition, customer’s requirements are overlooked. It is crucial to the industry to attend to quality and service ability. An example is the 2007 Can Tho bridge disaster. It is not only the responsibility of the participants but of the industry as a whole. No matter what the scope of projects, they have to take people into account because construction is for utilization by people.
Mr. Lu Dinh Vu made a case study which main objective is to develop a QMS framework for supervising consultants that can be effectively used to manage the performance of highway contractors in vietnam. In his study, he investigated the construction methods associated with quality control. The quality control framework was prepared based on the vietnamese standard and regulation. This contributes to compiling important standards and regulations directly affecting quality control in construction. In addition, his case study also analyzed the communication process of managing quality which showed the relationship and duties of the participants in the construction project. Each participant in the project has different roles, but the same objective towards construction quality.
Mr. Vu’s findings regarding the problems on implementing quality on project and its solution can be seen on the table below.
Over the past several years, the construction industry has expanded very fast in Vietnam. The construction industry mainly focuses on profit. Due to intensive competition, customer’s requirements are overlooked. It is crucial to the industry to attend to quality and service ability. An example is the 2007 Can Tho bridge disaster. It is not only the responsibility of the participants but of the industry as a whole. No matter what the scope of projects, they have to take people into account because construction is for utilization by people.
Mr. Lu Dinh Vu made a case study which main objective is to develop a QMS framework for supervising consultants that can be effectively used to manage the performance of highway contractors in vietnam. In his study, he investigated the construction methods associated with quality control. The quality control framework was prepared based on the vietnamese standard and regulation. This contributes to compiling important standards and regulations directly affecting quality control in construction. In addition, his case study also analyzed the communication process of managing quality which showed the relationship and duties of the participants in the construction project. Each participant in the project has different roles, but the same objective towards construction quality.
Mr. Vu’s findings regarding the problems on implementing quality on project and its solution can be seen on the table below.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
The study discusses the quality management system of the consultant supervision function as implemented in highway construction projects. This function is shown as an interconnected system that recognizes the main quality system management activities. Documents and records used in these activities are also reviewed. A model for high quality system management is defined, including supervising consultants and contractors.
The model depicts the quality management system responsibilities and roles in a scheme relating construction quality control, quality assurance, and the interface between them. The scheme can be applied to any construction domain and quality management organizational structure. The study advances the understanding of how quality management is performed and engages participants at several management levels.
The main objective of this study is to develop a quality management system framework for supervising consultants that can be effectively used to manage the performance of highway contractors in vietnam.
An exploratory approach by reviewing the available literature to develop a QMS framework for supervising consultants and test the applicability and effectiveness of this QMS framework in a real case study project. The case study project aims to answer following questions:
- Is the QMS framework applicable?
- Is the QMS framework effective?
- What are the problems and obstacles in implementing the QMS framework?
For the QMS framework to work effectively the role of the supervising consultant is very important, QMS framework must be implemented on a step by step basis, including inputàprocessàoutput.
- In case study, the major highway construction works have been presented. They are guidelines for contractors who implemented them to achieve construction quality.
- A case study has been conducted to investigate the building methods associated with quality control. The quality control framework as presented in the report was prepared based on the vietnamese standards and regulations. This contributes to compiling important standards and regulations directly affecting quality control in construction.
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