Enhancing construction quality inspection and management using RFID technology

Existing methods for tracking and managing the inspection in material test labs utilize manual recording by paper-based documents. However, information collected using such labor-intensive methods is unreliable and ineffective when managing inspection results. Moreover, inputting, retrieving, analyzing and disseminating the result data instantaneously require a significant amount of time and effort. Therefore, an automated and user-friendly quality management system is necessary. This study proposes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based quality management system, which functions as a platform for gathering, filtering, managing, monitoring and sharing quality data. The integration of promising information technologies such as RFID technology, mobile devices (PDAs) and web portals can help enhance the effectiveness and flexibility of information flow in material test management. Radio frequency identification is suited to various construction applications and generates cost savings via increased speed and accuracy of data entry. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of an RFID-based quality management application called the RFID-based Quality Inspection and Management (RFID-QIM) System for concrete specimen inspection and management to enhance automated data collection and information management in a quality test lab. This study focuses mainly on evaluating the potential for utilizing RFID-based techniques to accumulate, manage, monitor and distribute data related to quality. Additionally, the RFID-QIM system is then applied to a case study in a test lab (construction division) in Taiwan to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in information management for concrete specimen quality testing. A generic system architecture is also proposed, and its implementation is described. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.