An application of bar-code system for reducing construction wastes

This paper presents a group-based incentive reward program (IRP) to encourage workers to minimize avoidable wastes of construction materials by rewarding them according to the amounts and values of materials they saved. Bar-code technique is used to facilitate effective management of construction materials. An IRP-integrated construction management system is also introduced to avoid jerrybuilding and solve reschedule problem due to rework of quality failure. An experiment is conducted on a residential project in Hong Kong and results from the experiment demonstrate the effectiveness of the IRP in motivating workers to reduce construction wastes. Discussions on the relationship between construction waste reduction and time and cost performances are also presented. Difficulties and challenges of applying IRP are also discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.