Developing construction logistics management: the French experience

Abstract

To recover from the construction crisis, major French construction firms started developing ‘;package building’ strategies at the beginning of the 1990s. Today, their desire to open up continues, but they have also shown renewed interest in the management of construction site activities and production engineering, as witnessed by the practices of ‘logistics management’. How can we justify this inward-looking attitude to construction? What place is there for innovation? Along what lines must this new approach to production management develop? These questions are addressed with reference to the analysis recently produced by a panel of experts led by the authors. The study of various experimental construction sites shows that although it may not yet be well established, this approach has resulted in significant changes in the way construction projects are organized. It places the emergence of new forms of coordination both within and between firms right at the heart of the quest for production efficiency.

Keywords:

• Logistics French Construction Industry Inter-ACTIVITY Coordination Construction Site Coordination