Editorial

Citation

(2003), "Editorial", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ecam.2003.28610aaa.001

Editorial

This issue sees ECAM begin its tenth year, but not only is ECAM starting a new year, it has a new publisher. Emerald has taken over as publisher of ECAM and we are all looking forward to serving our readers and authors. ECAM has now a well-established place in the academic community, with occasional but significant papers from our industrial colleagues. The academic community is international, and so too is ECAM, as this issue illustrates with authors from the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and the UK. This issue has six papers, prepared by 15 authors, the pattern of multi-authorship spanning more than one country continues with Thailand and Japan combining and Australia and Hong Kong combining.

The papers in this issue are as follows.

Ballard, Harper and Zabelle invite us to consider the benefits of reduced lead time for engineered-to-order products. They claim the benefits are more time for exploring and testing design alternatives; and the reduction of project durations. It is the integration of engineering and detailing that offers the greatest reduction in lead times. The authors claim that lean production concepts, which learn to utilise work flow as opposed to just keeping the workforce busy, are the key to lead time reduction, increased throughput and improved productivity. They use precast concrete as an example.

Kaka, Lewis and Petros examine the effects of project planning on cost commitment curves. The authors observe that different projects have different patterns of cost and set out to explore why. They express, in particular, the effect of planning and programming. One "real" project was "planned" by four different planners and the differences in these plans and the effect of these differences on cost-flow curves are examined.

Rowlinson, Sherif Mohamed and Sum-Wah Lam study the safety responsibilities of Hong Kong construction foremen. They studied the responsibilities of 69 foremen from 13 construction companies. The survey and follow-up interviews sought information on 27 safety supervisory tasks. Two-thirds of the foremen claimed responsibility for certain tasks but only half had authority to exercise control. The authors identify the key role of foreman but question whether it is being performed properly. This is an interesting area but this study needs to be expanded to include the workforce's understanding of the foremen's responsibility and the understanding of the safety officer and other senior managers. What it will reveal, I am sure, is that each group see the others as carrying more responsibility than they do. Safety procedures, protocols and responsibilities need to be clear and explicit.

Skitmore and Drew analyse pre-tender price forecasting performance. The authors analyse the building price forecast (i.e. the estimate) for 89 projects between 1995 and 1997 made by one consultancy organisation in Hong Kong. Using analysis of variance and regression to identify underlying systematic causes of errors, the authors conclude that the significant effect in bias and consistency was the forecasting method used.

Santoso, Ogunlana and Minato assess the risks in high rise buildings in Jakarta. The authors surveyed and interviewed engineers from contracting firms in Jakarta and attempted to identify, rank and categorise risk. The areas of risk they identify are managerial, design, client interference and equipment maintenance.

Faraj claims that current geometric modellers in product modelling are inadequate when it comes to verifying design. The paper goes on to propose an alternative to current practice involving geometry, topology of design and other engineering information.