588

An implementation model for automated

construction materials tracking and locating

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Hassan Nasir, Carl T. Haas, Duncan A. Young, Saiedeh Nawabzadi Razavi,

Carlos Caldas, and Paul Goodrum

Abstract: Good materials management on large construction projects is critical for maximizing productivity and project
performance. When key materials are temporarily lost, whole crews may be left idle and the project may be delayed.
When key materials are completely lost, the impact can be enormous. In fact, one of the major problems in managing construction materials and equipment is tracking them in the supply chain and knowing their location on large job sites. Fortunately, location can now be automatically estimated within metres using emerging technologies. This paper proposes a
general implementation model for automated construction materials tracking and locating on large industrial projects, such
as refineries and power plants. It includes a methodology for determining what type of technology should be used for different types of projects and construction materials. It is based on an analysis of the capabilities of emerging technologies
and on experience gained from implementing automated materials tracking prototypes on two large industrial projects. It is
concluded that these technologies can produce substantial net benefits, if implemented properly on the right projects using
the model described here.
Key words: materials management, materials identification, automated tracking, implementation model, RFID, GPS, automation in construction.
Resume : Il est important de bien gerer les materiaux des grands projets de construction est importante afin de maximiser
la productivite et le rendement du projet. Lorsque des materiaux cles sont egares temporairement, des equipes au complet
peuvent etre inoccupees, retardant le projet. Lorsque des materiaux cles sont perdus en permanence, limpact peut etre
enorme. En effet, lun des principaux proble`mes en gestion des materiaux et des equipements de construction est de les
suivre dans la chane dapprovisionnement et de connatre leur emplacement sur les grands sites de travail. Heureusement,
les nouvelles technologies permettent maintenant de determiner automatiquement leur emplacement, a` quelques me`tres
pre`s. Le present article presente un mode`le dimplantation generale pour le suivi automatise des materiaux de construction
et de les situer sur les grands projets industriels, tels que des raffineries et des centrales electriques. Ce mode`le comprend
une methode permettant de determiner le type de technologie qui devrait etre utilisee pour divers types de projets et de
materiaux de construction. Il est base sur lanalyse des capacites des nouvelles technologies et sur lexperience acquise
lors de limplantation de prototypes de suivi automatises des materiaux dans deux grands projets industriels. Il sest revele
que ces technologies peuvent presenter des avantages nets substantiels si elles sont implantees adequatement sur les bons
projets en utilisant le mode`le decrit dans le present article.
Mots-cles : gestion des materiaux, identification des materiaux, suivi automatique, mode`le dimplantation, RFID ,
GPS , automatisation en construction.
[Traduit par la Redaction]

Introduction
Effective materials management on construction projects
has the potential to improve site productivity and reduce
wasted supervisory time, crew idle time, and disruptions to
short interval planning. However, several recent studies
have concluded that effective materials management is still

a challenge on construction projects today (Formoso and

Revelo 1999; Thomas and Sanvido 2000; Saidi et al. 2003;
Thomas et al. 2005; Song et al. 2006a; Caldas et al. 2006;
Navon and Berkovich 2006; Ergen et al. 2007). Contributing
to the challenge of effective materials management is the
present approach to materials tracking and locating on constructions sites, which mainly consists of manually intensive

Received 17 April 2009. Revision accepted 9 December 2009. Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at cjce.nrc.ca on 15 April
2010.
H. Nasir,1 C.T. Haas, D.A. Young, and S.N. Razavi. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
C. Caldas. Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station
C1752, Austin, TX 78712-0273, USA.
P. Goodrum. Department of Civil Engineering, 151C Raymond Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0281, USA.
Written discussion of this article is welcomed and will be received by the Editor until 31 August 2010.
1Corresponding

author (e-mail: hnasir@engmail.uwaterloo.ca).

Can. J. Civ. Eng. 37: 588599 (2010)

doi:10.1139/L09-178

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Nasir et al.

and semi-automated processes. The effects of the present

manual approach to site materials tracking and locating can
be felt most significantly when the required material is cannot be located in a timely manner, resulting in idle waiting
time of craft workers. This situation affects the project not
only in terms of delayed construction schedules but also in
terms of extra material and labour costs incurred.
An effective strategy to improve tracking and locating
process of the site materials involves automation. Research
projects conducted during the last decade to automate the
identification and tracking of materials have concluded that
such automation can increase productivity and cost efficiency as well as improve schedule performance, reduce the
number of lost items, improve route and site optimization,
and improve data entry (Song et al. 2006a, 2006b; Caldas
et al. 2006; Navon and Berkovich 2006; Ergen et al. 2007).
However, because these technologies have been rapidly
evolving, knowledge concerning to the proper implementation of automation at a project level is sparse.
One new technology enables locating of components
within a few meters at a cost at least one order of magnitude
lower than preceding technologies. It works by combining
global positioning systems (GPS) located reads of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags (acquired at a rate of several thousand Hertz) to estimate the location of the tags
attached to key construction materials. This technology was
rapidly prototyped and deployed on two large industrial construction projects in 2007 and 2008 (CII 2008). This paper
analyzes and synthesizes the data and experiences from
these unique and large-scale field trials and other field experiences as well as the literature to develop a general implementation model for automated tracking and locating of
construction materials. The developed model focuses on
large and complex projects such as industrial, infrastructure,
and large-scale commercial sites. Moreover, the scope of the
research focuses further on the system architecture and management elements of the automated materials tracking system instead of the underlying aspects of the technology that
are described in related publications such as Song et al.
2005, 2007 and Caron et al. 2006, 2007.

Background and related research

Materials management
In a seminal paper, Bell and Stukhart (1986) identified
that the attributes of materials management systems on large
and complex industrial construction projects should include
the functions of quantity takeoff, vendor evaluation, purchasing, expediting, receiving, warehousing, and distribution. Bell and Stukhart (1987) also quantified the costs and
benefits of materials management systems and concluded
that an effective materials management system could reduce
typical surpluses of bulk materials from 5%10% to about
1%3% of the bulk materials purchased. Their research
showed that on projects where there was a lack or absence
of a materials management system, craft foremen spent up
to 20% of their time searching for materials and another
10% for tracking purchase orders (POs) and expediting.
Thomas et al. (1989) studied the impact of materials management on labor productivity. Their case study on medium
sized commercial construction projects showed a benefit /

589

cost ratio of 5.7/1.0 for effective materials management. Adverse conditions for materials management were identified,
which include extensive multiple handling of materials, materials improperly sorted or marked, running out of materials, and crew slowdowns in anticipation of material
shortages. Thomas and Smith (1992) again concluded that
generally, for all types of materials management deficiencies, there was a reduction of about 40% in daily productivity. Akintoye (1995) estimated that an efficient materials
management and control system could potentially increase
productivity by 8%. This increase in productivity was
mainly attributed to the availability of the right materials
prior to the commencement of work and the ability to effectively plan the work activities because of the availability of
materials. Choo et al. (1999) found that the biggest problem
faced by the field workers was dealing with discrepancies
between the anticipated, actually needed, and available resources, which include materials. Thomas and Sanvido
(2000) examined three case studies of subcontractor
fabricator relations. Their research concluded that inefficient
materials management could increase the field labor hours
by 50% or more. Recent analysis of the Benchmarking and
Metrics program data of the Construction Industry Institute
corroborates these results (CII 2009).
In summary, an efficient materials management system
can increase productivity, avoid delays, reduce man hours
needed for materials management, and reduce the cost of
materials due to decrease in wastage. Implementation of
conventional materials management practices continues to
vary widely, however, and this variability and the inability
to handle exceptional circumstances, such as snow cover
and congested delivery patterns, limits their potential to improve project performance, thus attention is increasingly becoming more focused on the automation of at least some
aspects of materials management.
Automated data collection (ADC) technologies in
construction
The main aim of using ADC technologies in construction
is to increase efficiency, reduce data entry errors caused by
human transcription, reduce bottlenecks, and reduce labor
costs. These technologies include bar codes, smart cards,
voice recognition, optical character recognition (OCR), ultra
wide band (UWB) locating, RFID, and GPS. While some
technologies have been implemented in their most basic
form, they are rapidly evolving and being combined in innovative new forms.
Two decades ago, Bell and McCullouch (1988) suggested
bar code applications in the construction industry. Their research confirmed that the use of bar codes could improve
the speed and accuracy of computer data entry and produce
the same cost savings in the construction industry as seen in
other industries. Bernold (1990) also reported that the accuracy and timeliness of tracking data could be improved using a bar coded prototype system for tracking of
construction equipment and materials.
Global positioning system (GPS) technology has drawn
much attention from researchers, who have attempted to
find effective ways to track automatically the location of
construction labor and equipment in outdoor environments
and on construction sites (Peyret and Tasky 2002; Oloufa et
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590

al. 2003; Navon and Goldschmidt 2003; Sacks et al. 2003;

Navon and Shpatnisky 2005). In particular, Caldas et al.
(2006) found that the potential benefits of using manually
operated GPS technology for the materials locating processes on industrial projects were significant. NRC (2009)
presented an interesting variation on this approach, using
GPS enabled digital cameras.
Jaselskis et al. (1995) provided early information on RFID
and its potential applications in the construction industry.
They concluded that construction firms could potentially
save time, money, and effort with the effective use of then
current RFID technology for several operational procedures.
However, RFID technology had not matured enough at the
time of the study to be used in the field. Song et al. (2006a)
presented an approach to identify and track automatically the
location of materials on construction sites within meters
without adding extra site operations. Their approach leveraged the automatic reading of RFID tagged materials by
field supervisors or materials handling equipment that were
equipped with an RFID reader and a GPS receiver. Song et
al. (2006b) also demonstrated the use of RFID technology to
track uniquely identified materials through the supply chain.
Through their field tests, they determined that the RFID
technology had reached the point where it could function effectively on construction sites that involved large metal objects and that required a considerably long read range.
Ergen et al. (2007) proposed an automated system using
RFID technology combined with the GPS technology for
tracking but not locating of precast concrete components in
a manufacturers storage yard. It was distinct from the Song
approach in that the combination of technologies was not
used to estimate accurately RFID location using multiple
reads, instead it was used as a discrete gate location recorder.
Another technology that has been studied for automated
tracking is UWB locating. Teizer et al. (2007; 2008) experimented with UWB technology for data collection in the context of materials location tracking and active work zone
safety. Giretti et al. (2008) discussed the problems related
to the use of UWB technologies for accurate and real-time
position location of workers and construction equipment.
Although UWB technology can potentially provide much
better positional accuracy than the RFID / GPS approach, it
requires considerable time for infrastructure set up in typical
construction environments; that is, at least three receivers
for two-dimensional (2-D) estimation of location per unit
area of coverage, and each tag must be in line of sight of
the receivers (Teizer et al. 2007; Giretti et al. 2008). For
the UWB technology to perform effectively in an industrial
construction environment where mostly metallic items are
being tracked and located, it is necessary that tags should
be mounted on devices that offset the tags from the metallic
items and that remain vertically offset from the materials
field to obtain line of sight.
In this paper, the ADC approach that was developed by
Song et al. (Song et al. 2006a) was further developed, combined with an improved related technology from a vendor,
and then implemented on large projects in Canada and the US.

Prototype implementations and field trials

The purposes of the field trials were to (1) assess the fea-

Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 37, 2010

sibility and prototype the automated materials tracking system in a construction environment; (2) develop an
implementation model for automated construction materials
tracking and locating; and (3) assess the impact of materials
locating and tracking technology on labor and construction
productivity. These implementations are described in the
following sections.
Portlands energy centre field trials
The Portlands Energy Centre (PEC) project in Toronto
delivered a new state-of-the-art, natural gas fired, combined
cycle generation facility. The project involved the construction of two identical units consisting of turbines, boilers,
pipelines, and other components used to operate the facility.
Tens of thousands of prefabricated and engineered components were required. These included pipe spools, safety
valves, globe valves, control valves, steel members and pipe
supports. The field trials were conducted from July 2007 to
August 2008 and involved a continuous site presence of a
team of undergraduate and graduate students.
The original field-materials management process was well
defined by the contractors. Warehouse personnel were responsible for receiving, storing, tracking, and releasing requested materials to subcontractors. Several areas were used
to store construction materials, including a nearby port area
warehouse, lay down yards, and staging areas. The subcontractors would submit material requests to the warehouse
staff who would check the project database and determine
whether the stored location was inside the warehouse or in
the lay down areas. The staff searched for the materials in
the lay down areas and identified each piece by its physical
appearance and codes. Once the materials were identified
and located, they were loaded onto trucks and issued to the
subcontractors. When the materials were issued to the subcontractors, they were moved to the staging areas before final installation. This is a typical process. It is also time
consuming, vulnerable to noncompliant behavior, and prone
to errors.
Rockdale field trials
The other field trials were held at the Sandow Steam
Electric Station Unit 5 project in Rockdale, Texas, USA.
The project involved was a 565 megawatt circulating fluidized bed, lignite-fired power plant, which consisted of 2
boilers, 2 bag houses, 1 stack, and 1 turbine. The project involved two almost identical steel structures to support the
steam generation processes. Both structures were composed
of steel components and were divided into very similar sequences of installation. Each boiler structure had its own assigned cranes, equipment, foreman, and installation crews
working roughly in parallel. The field trials were conducted
from 1 August 2007 to 19 October 2007. There was a continuous presence of a total of two graduate students at the
site over this period. For the purpose of this study, the job
site was divided into two main areas, the lay down yard and
the installation area. The lay down yard was used to store
the structural steel components in an area of 25 acres, and
the installation area held the components retrieved from the
lay down yard before their installation.
In the original materials management process, when the
components needed for installation were identified, a list
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containing these components was submitted by installation

foremen. Next, workers located and flagged these items
based on their grid records and written notes. Once flagged,
craft workers hauled the components to the installation area.
The components were unloaded in the installation area and
were not tracked or marked for identification. When required for installation, the components were retrieved by
workers recalling their location information.
Automated field-materials tracking and locating process
The RFID tags were attached to the selected construction
components, and each tag had a unique identification code
uniquely related to its tagged component. For data collection, an individual carried a kit consisting of an integrated
GPS unit, an RFID reader, and a handheld computer. As he
or she moved around the site, the GPS receiver determined
its own position while the RFID reader identified the presence of the tagged components around that position at a
rate of up to 2000 tag reads per second. Then, localization
algorithms processed the collected data to more accurately
estimate the location of each tagged component using constraint, signal strength, and centre of gravity based algorithms (Song et al. 2006a; Caron et al. 2006, 2007; Torrent
and Caldas 2009). This improved the tag location estimates
from a radius of 2050 m centered on the reader to a radius
of a few meters centered on the tags. Maps showing these
locations were printed and given to workers, so they could
easily search for tagged components. This approach was developed by the researchers in close consultation with the site
personnel and the equipment vendor.
Upon receipt, the selected construction components were
tagged at both locations. Clearly, tagging materials at the
fabricators and vendors is most appropriate in a full-scale
implementation, and this was demonstrated to be feasible
with one of the pipe spool fabricators at Portlands. For the
field trials at Portlands, it was decided that only critical
components would be tagged for identification and tracking.
The critical components have high cost, long procurement
lead time, and (or) are used in the critical path in the construction process. For unit 2 generator, 224 pipe spools, 22
safety valves, and 100 globe valves were initially tagged.
These materials had caused crew delays and negatively affected project schedules on past projects. In the case of
Rockdale, Texas, 400 structural steel components were
tagged for one boiler. On both sites, GPS and RFID data
were collected on a daily basis to update and generate the
positions of the tagged components. Whenever, a request
from a crew was received, maps showing the location of
the required components were generated by the research
team and given to the workers. Figure 1 shows the sample
maps generated at the PEC and Rockdale sites. The workers
would identify and locate the materials through these maps,
load the components onto trucks, and haul them to the staging areas.
Results of the field trials
On the Rockdale site, the average time to locate a component using an automated tracking system was reduced to
4.6 min from 36.8 min, and the number of components not
immediately found were 0.54% compared with 9.52%. It
was observed that 19% of the tagged components were

591

moved to a different location in the lay down yard more

than one time during the two and a half month trial at Rockdale. There was also an increase in craft productivity of
4.2% for steel workers working on the boiler unit for which
the components were attached with RFID tags (CII 2008). At
the Portlands site, one of the general foremen was able to reduce the crew size from 18 to 12 workers. This increase in
craft labor productivity, reduction in temporarily lost materials, and reduction in crew size was possible because of the
confidence that the foremen had that they would not have to
allocate additional craft resources for materials tracking and
locating even if materials were moved multiple times on site.
In essence, there was an increased confidence in a predictable flow of work with reduced risk of exceptions.
Over time, the feedback received from the managers and
the workers was very positive; however, initial resistance
was not uncommon. By the end of the field trials, on both
sites several workers suggested that all the components in
the lay down yard should be tagged, so that they could
quickly locate the materials. The construction firms in
charge of both projects are planning full-scale implementations of the automated tracking and locating technology on
several projects and along with the members of the Construction Industry Institute (CII) expressed a desire for implementation guidelines.

Proposed implementation model for

automated materials tracking
Based on the research and experience described in the
preceding sections, an implementation model for automated
materials tracking is developed here. The basic structure is
adapted from The Discipline of Design a seminal text by
Roe et al. (1969) and from the widely accepted continuous
improvement cycle of total quality management. The model
suggests a methodology, principles, and criteria for determining what type of technology combination and architecture should be used in different types of projects for
different construction materials and equipment. Several steps
are included in a cyclical process, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
Typically, a company will specify and implement an automated materials tracking system for each major project or
for each major industrial facility maintenance contract, thus
the process described here focuses on project level implementation. For a few of the largest and most sophisticated
constructors, corporate level information system integration
will also be necessary. For example, in consultations with
decision makers outside of the research team, the general
structure of the model described below has withstood scrutiny, and it has been adopted with modifications by at least
one major petro-chemical company. Each step in the process
is explained in detail in the following sections.
Identifying the needs for automated materials tracking
The input from 24 industry experts has been used to identify the needs for automated materials tracking. These experts are associated with the CII Research Team-240
(Leveraging Technology to Improve Construction Productivity), which conducted this study, with the project site personnel, and with participants in presentations and seminars
to date. The projects that exhibit significant needs for an auPublished by NRC Research Press

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Fig. 1. (a) Sample map for PEC, Toronto, Ontario. (b) Sample map for Rockdale, Texas.

Fig. 2. Implementation process for automated materials tracking

and locating.

tomated materials tracking system for their successful management are those that
 involve a large number of high value, engineered materials items (typically, more than 5 000);
 require unique materials;
 have a complex materials supply chain;
 have materials that are difficult to track or locate because
of environmental conditions such as snow, vegetation, or
sand that might cover the materials during the implementation of the project;
 have large and scattered warehouse facilities, lay down
yards, and staging areas; and
 anticipate frequent movements of materials in the lay
down yards or construction site, despite the fact that repeat handling is avoided if at all possible.
Naturally, these types of needs are mostly associated with
large industrial and mining projects. Some combination of
these needs will typically justify consideration of implementation of an automated system.

Project definition and materials management plan

A materials management plan should fit within the framework of the overall project plan and take into consideration
the limitations, constraints, and overall project strategies. Information is required about site access planning and location, extent of preassembly and modularization, mode of
transport, method of storage and disposal of materials, and
local environment and climate conditions. A site layout and
transportation plan will often be developed based on the preceding information, and these plans are crucial for the design of the automated materials tracking system. Additional
information required includes quantity of items to be located
or tracked; number of types of materials; number of items
expected to be located per day; frequency of locating required; supply network morphology; and project governance
boundaries and conditions. Project governance refers to contract conditions, scope of authority, lines of communication,
and approval.
The role of subcontractors in the procurement of materials
should be clearly defined. Subcontractors may be significantly involved in procurement or be responsible directly
for fabrication of engineered components such as pipe
spools. In such cases, appropriate contract language needs
to be drafted requiring subcontractors to tag and track items
through their chain of responsibility, and specifications for
components of automated materials tracking system have to
be transmitted to them with appropriate lead time.
Deciding what general level of automation is appropriate
for tracking each type of material depends on their strategic
importance to the project as well as the cost and lead times
involved in their procurement. Table 1 provides some recommendations in this regard. It is partially based on information obtained from 16 industry experts in a survey of CII
RT 240 research team members. The experts were questioned on, how much they would be willing to pay for information about the location, of a sample of project
materials. Subsequent cost benefit analyses tend to reinforce
these judgment based recommendations.
Implementation evaluation criteria
After gathering the previously described information
about the project for which the automated materials tracking
will be applied, the next step in the process is selection of
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593

Table 1. Materials types and recommended technologies for automated tracking.

Types of materials
Strategic assets

Examples
Tanks, heat exchangers,
pumps, turbines, major
instrumentation systems
Minor instrumentation items,
transmitters, specialty items

Cost range
High

Common but
valuable items

Structural steel, pipe spools,

valves, ladders / platforms

Low / Medium

Bulk materials

Pipes lengths, fittings,

conduits, cables

Low

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Critical items

Medium

Technology recommended
Global positioning system
(GPS) and sensor
enabled tags
Active radio frequency
identification (RFID)
tags with GPS enabled
readers
Active / Passive RFID
tags with GPS enabled
readers
Bar codes (direct and (or)
GPS mapping)

2008 Cost (approx.)

CDN$1 000 per tag

CDN$20 per tag

CDN$220 per tag

CDN$0.10 per label

the criteria for evaluating the system design. A recommended list based on analysis of the literature and the field
trials is as follows:

quick reports on the status of the materials received, issued, and installed)

1. Accuracy of location estimate (ideally +/ 5 m or better)

2. Anticipated reduction in lost items, shrinkage, and wastage (for early implementers this will be based on estimates from other projects and studies)
3. Anticipated reduced time to locate assets (less time required for locating materials and equipment than manual
searching; again, based on estimates from preceding studies and projects)
4. Improved assets visibility and automation (the ability of
the system to collect information automatically, identify
and track the materials with minimum human input, and
make this information readily and easily available)
5. Increased service levels with lower inventory carrying
costs (the ability of the system to keep a minimum variable inventory of tags by reusing them, without compromising the service level and performance of the system)
6. Robustness with respect to dynamic transmission space
(e.g., fixed ultra-wide band (UWB) systems must be recalibrated and (or) relocated as objects are constructed
in the receiver grid space, whereas the technology prototyped at Portlands and Rockdale is not constrained in this
way)
7. Ease of integration (with other materials and project
management systems)
8. Set-up time and cost (should take minimal time for initial
set-up and must have reasonable set-up cost)
9. Cost of the tracking system (fixed infrastructure cost
such as gates / portals, readers, and variable inventory
costs because of tags.)
10. Ability to phase implementation (the flexibility of the
system to be implemented in different phases based on
future circumstances)
11. Ruggedness (ability to work in snow, dirt, sand, and vegetation; ability to work in the presence of metals; ability to work in extreme temperatures, corrosive
environments, and moisture)
12. Interfaces (should include integration with IT systems
of materials management, internet, and communications
of the company; should have user friendly and easy interfaces for system operations)
13. Fast invoicing (the ability of the system to generate

Implementation options
In this step, alternative design configurations are generated. Any of the automated data collection and identification
technologies previously described can be considered. Field
deployment can use combinations of primary subsystem architectural elements, including (1) mobile reader kits, (2)
fixed arrays of readers, and (or) (3) portals or gates. These
are explained in the following sub-sections. The development of options depends on the specific requirements of the
projects, the materials to be tracked and managed, the cost
of the automated tracking system, the morphology of the
materials supply network, and the expected performance of
the automated system.
Mobile reader kits
Mobile reader kits provide a very flexible deployment option. This option was used on the Portlands and Rockdale
sites. Figure 3 is a schematic representation of this architecture. The mobile reader can also move away from or outside
of the boundary of areas being logged, as shown in the figure. This system is flexible and is most suitable for dynamic
construction environments, with less well-defined boundaries and multiple satellite sites, and where the materials are
frequently being moved around and between sites.
Figure 4 is a schematic representation and extension of
the mobile reader field architecture for tracking the materials throughout satellite site areas. It is adapted from the
Portlands project. It represents a localized and less structured supply chain than a typical manufacturing supply
chain. In the first step, materials are identified and their information is recorded when the materials are received at the
port or at the manufacturers yard. When materials are sent
to the warehouse or lay down yards at the construction site,
the same mobile reader system can track their location and
movement. Similarly when materials are moved onward to
the staging areas, the mobile reader system tracks their location in the same manner. This option was developed for and
proved useful for the Rockdale and Portlands projects where
there were instances of key materials found in unusual places.
The primary fixed costs of this system include the costs
of mobile reader kits and the system software. A mobile
reader kit consists of an RFID reader, antenna, GPS unit,
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Fig. 3. Schematic plan view representation of mobile reader system

field architecture.

Permeable
area boundary

Tagged materials

Typical mobile GPS

Equipped RFID reader path

Fig. 4. Schematic plan view representation of automated materials

tracking by mobile reader throughout satellite site areas.

Port area /
Manufacturers site

Warehouse

Lay down area

Staging area

Materials location

Materials movement

Typical mobile GPS equipped

RFID reader path

handheld PC, and wireless connectivity. The variable cost of

the system consists primarily of the cost of RFID tags attached to the materials.
Fixed arrays of readers
This approach is characterized by a fixed infrastructure
and is dominated by UWB technologies. The readers are
fixed at certain known locations within the lay down yards
and (or) warehouses in the form of a grid layout. The readers are attached to the antennas and also to a host computer
through a wired or a wireless network system. The position
of these readers is known and recorded. When the tagged
materials come into the reading range of multiple fixed
readers, they are identified and their information and estimated locations are recorded. The approach is based on
UWB communications technology and generally uses signal

strength to multiple readers and scene analysis, or time of

flight methods, for location estimation (based on the IEEE
802.11x series of standards). Time of flight requires line of
sight. Using signal strength requires that the signal transmission and attenuation be mapped from every location to every
reader. Obviously, this will work best in a fixed built environment such as an already erected building or warehouse
but is not normally feasible where the transmission characteristics change as in a steel structure being constructed, or
where large amounts of fabricated steel and piping are
present. Figure 5 shows a schematic representation of the
deployment of a fixed readers system.
One advantage of a fixed reader array system is that as
the RFID tagged materials come into the fixed boundaries
of the lay down yard or warehouse for which these readers
are programmed; they identify and locate the materials automatically, and transfer the materials position information to
the host computer or database. It is most appropriate for
bulk items warehouses and some types of fabricator yards
as well as existing plants where maintenance and outage
work is being done.
However, a drawback of a fixed reader array system for
field construction sites is that it cannot identify and locate
materials outside the read range of the array. In other words,
it means that the system can only track and locate materials
if they are present in the predefined boundaries of the lay
down yard or where the fixed readers system is installed. If
the materials move away from these fixed boundaries, they
cannot be located or tracked using this system.
The fixed cost of this system depends on the number of
readers installed, which is governed by the area to be covered. The fixed cost also depends on the number of antennas
used, the host computer, and the wired or wireless network
system. The variable cost of this system is similar in structure to that of the mobile reader system, which is the cost
associated with the RFID tags; however, the tags are typically several times more expensive than the tags used in the
mobile reader system described in the previous section,
since mobile reader systems can work with low power active
tags and ultimately even with very low cost passive tags.
Recalibrations will also be a variable cost.
Gates or portal structures
In this configuration of the field deployment of an automated materials tracking system, readers connected with antennas are attached and installed on the gates or portals
erected on the in-gates and out-gates of the construction
site, lay down yards, or warehouse. The schematic representation of this field deployment is shown in Fig. 6. When the
materials with RFID tags attached pass through these gates
or portals, the reader records, and identifies the materials.
These readers then transfer the information to a computer
through cables or wireless network, and the project database
is updated with the materials status.
This method of field deployment is most suitable for
those construction projects or parts of projects where the
materials identification is only required automatically at the
time of their arrival and departure on site. When the materials are issued to the contractors from the warehouse, manufacturers lay down yards or paint shops, this information is
automatically recorded when they pass through the out-gate.
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Fig. 5. Schematic plan view representation of fixed readers system

field architecture.

Tagged materials

Fixed readers

Fig. 6. Schematic plan view representation of gate or portal system

field architecture.

In gate

Reader

Construction site
Or
Manufacturer's yard
Or
Painting shop

Supply chain configurations

It is clear from the preceding discussion that one or all the
fundamental field architecture elements described in the previous three sections can be combined in a more comprehensive system architecture depending on the needs of the
project and the level of sophistication of the supply chain.
For example, portals may make most sense at small fabrication shops, while a large fabricator may wish to install a
fixed grid system in its yard, and the site may wish to install
portals for receiving in addition to mobile readers deployed
throughout its lay down and staging areas.
Evaluation of options
When different implementation options of the automated
materials tracking system are identified, the next step in the
implementation process is the evaluation of these options.
The evaluation may occur based on several perspectives. In
the remainder of this section, three evauation options are developed. These include (1) analysis based on implementation
evaluation criteria, (2) benefit / cost ratio analysis, and (3)
risk analysis.
In an analysis based on implementation evaluation criteria, the advantages and disadvantages of each system option
can be characterized or scored for each criterion listed earlier in this paper. The criteria may also be weighted using a
rigorous method such as the analytical hierarchy process
(AHP), and final option scores can be calculated based on
totals of weighted criteria scores for each option. This is a
standard approach, but the effort involved should be considered when weighing whether a tabulation of characteristics
of each option with respect to each criteria would be more
appropriate. A benefit / cost ratio analysis should also be
carried out.

Out gate

Reader

One advantage of this approach is that it can process in minutes what might take days for a human crew. For example,
it is not uncommon for many trucks to arrive as the site
opens and for a conventional crew to take days to identify,
receive, and shake down the materials. The portal based
readers essentially eliminate all but the shake down time.
However, the major disadvantage of this architecture is
that it does not identify, locate, or track the materials beyond the gate or portal, nor does it estimate their location
within the property. This makes it less suitable for some
construction site environments, or large fabrication yards,
where the materials are frequently being moved around before their final installation, and where knowledge of location
within a few meters, rather than mere presence in the yard
or a grid area, is important.

Benefit cost analysis

The fixed and variable cost of the system should be compared with the benefits that are expected to be provided by
the system. These benefits can be direct benefits such as the
number of man hours reduced for locating materials and reduction in lost labor hours due to otherwise delayed materials locating. Indirect benefits such as increase in
productivity should also be considered. The elements of a
benefit / cost ratio analysis include
 Estimating the savings per standard locate of reduced
duration,
 Estimating the savings per temporary loss avoided,
 Estimating the savings per total loss and reprocurement
avoided,
 Estimating benefits of expected improved productivity,
 Estimating cost for the system, and
 Calculating the benefit / cost ratio.
An example of an analysis based on the preceding principles is presented for a typical industrial project, such as the
Portlands or Rockdale projects described earlier. A benefit
cost analysis for such a project using mobile reader kits is
presented in Table 2. This table provides the costs of active
RFID tags, antennas, readers, GPS units, handheld PCs, and
software required for the system. The costs are based on
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596

Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 37, 2010

typical prices in Canadian dollars in 2008. It is assumed that

the duration of the project is 500 d and the project is an industrial type involving thousands of high-value engineered
materials items such as spools, valves, steel members, turbines, and pumps. It is also assumed that the project has
lay down yards and staging areas, within and between
which the materials are moved, sometimes more than once,
before their final installation. Majority of the tags will be
used on two or more projects, so a conservative estimate of
their cost per project is made that includes an attachment
labour cost component associated with the materials fabricators or vendors. Three different scenarios are considered.
Scenario 1 is the least favourable situation, where the least
number of critical items are tagged, and the least expected
number of locates of materials are made per day. Scenario
3 represents the most favourable situation, where the highest
number of critical items are attached with tags and the expected number of locates per day is highest. Scenario 2 is
the most likely situation. The time saved per locate of items
is based on the experience gained in the field trials at Portlands Energy Centre, Toronto, Ontario and Rockdale, Texas.
The calculated benefit cost ratios (Table 2) do not consider the benefits of improved productivity and avoidance
costs due to reduced risk of lost and re-procured items. The
savings or benefits are high compared to the total cost of the
system; therefore, the estimated benefit / cost ratios are also
very high from worst to best case scenarios. Even in scenario 1, which is considered the least favourable situation,
the B / C ratio suggests implementing the system on the typical project described.
The above analyses do not consider the risks and cost
avoidance associated with reducing the number of permanently lost materials if a project is constructed with the automated system. It is also possible that this technology will
require reduced materials management staff on the project.
A risk analysis is presented next.
To estimate cost avoidance because of reduced risk of lost
materials from using the technology, a worst case scenario is
considered. Suppose that six valves, which required re-procurement on an urgent basis, were lost because they were
critical path items. This is typical on a large project. Each
valve costs CDN$5 000 plus CDN$10 000 of transportation
charges to re-procure. The project is delayed by two weeks
because of missing critical path items. The contractor has to
pay $50 000 per day as liquidated damages because of project delay. The estimated risk and savings in this case are as
follows:
Risk Probability  Impact
Impact 6  5 000 10 000 50 000  14
790 000
From experience and consultation with an industry expert2
we assume that the probability of one of these situations on
a project without the automated materials tracking system is
50%, and the probability of loosing the critical items with
the automated system is 5%. This is conservative, according
to the industry experts.
2 Murray,

RiskWithout system 50%  790 000 395 000

RiskWithout system 5%  790 000 39 500
Estimated Savings 395 00039 500 355 500
These estimated savings of CDN$355 500 in the form of
costs avoided are in addition to the savings made in locating
the materials in everyday operations of the project, as shown
in Table 2. If this cost saving is added to the benefits of Table 2, the B / C ratio and the total savings estimated will increase further. Therefore, the automated materials tracking
system based on the integration of RFID and GPS is recommended for use on the typical industrial project specified in
this hypothetical estimate.
The cost of the automated materials tracking system, its
flexibility and scalability, accuracy, asset identification and
automation ability, time to locate and track assets, and integration with other materials management systems are some
of the important factors to be considered in evaluating the
design option for automated materials tracking. The final selection of the design option will be made considering the (1)
implementation evaluation criteria, (2) benefit / cost analysis, and (3) risk analysis.
Deployment of the automated materials tracking system
This step of the implementation process involves the actual deployment of the automated materials tracking system
in a construction environment. The deployment process consists of the procurement process and the mobilization process.
Procurement process
The procurement process starts with identifying the purchasing responsibility for the automated materials tracking
system. Usually the home office of the owner, or in some
cases the main contractor, should be made responsible. The
field site office role should be clearly defined in the procurement process. The next step is the development of an
approved suppliers list (APL). Potential suppliers / vendors
of the automated materials tracking technologies and related
components should be identified. The suppliers should be
selected on the basis of their past experience, technical expertise, financial position, and market reputation. However,
the most important factor in selecting the supplier should be
the performance rating of their automated materials tracking
system in terms of lay down yard set-up, material receipt,
moving materials, lay down yard status (reports and snapshots), issuing materials, software, and hardware technology
effectiveness compared to other vendors.
Mobilization
In this step of the deployment process, the installation of
the automated materials tracking system components occurs.
The different automated materials tracking technologies and
their related fixed infrastructure setup required are installed
in the construction site. The automated tracking system
should be integrated with the IT systems of materials man-

P. 20 November 2007. Personal Communication (SNC-Lavalin).

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Table 2. Benefit cost model for radio frequency identification (RFID) / global positioning system (GPS) based automated materials tracking system, excluding productivity improvements, and total loss reductions.
Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

Variable cost
Number of items
Number of tags
Cost per tag per project (CDN$)
Costs of tags (CDN$)
Total variable cost (CDN$)

5 000
5 000
20
100 000
100 000

10 000
10 000
20
200 000
200 000

15 000
15 000
20
300 000
300 000

Fixed costs
Number of readers
Cost per reader (CDN$)
Total cost of readers (CDN$)
Number of antennas
Cost per antenna (CDN$)
Total cost of antennas (CDN$)
Number of GPS units
Cost per GPS unit (CDN$)
Total cost of GPS units (CDN$)
Number of handheld PCs
Cost per PC (CDN$)
Total cost of handheld PCs (CDN$)
Software and vendor profit (CDN$)
Total fixed cost (CDN$)
Total costs (CDN$)

2
1 500
3 000
2
1 500
3 000
2
2 000
4 000
2
1 500
3 000
100 000
113 000
213 000

4
1 500
6 000
4
1 500
6 000
4
2 000
8 000
4
1 500
6 000
100 000
126 000
326 000

6
1 500
9 000
6
1 500
9 000
6
2 000
12 000
6
1 500
9 000
100 000
139 000
439 000

Benefits
Number of locates per day
Time saved per locate (in hours)
Cost of labor per hour (CDN$)
Project duration (in days)
Total benefits (CDN$)
Benefit / cost ratio

50
0.5
100
500
1 250 000
5.9

100
0.5
100
500
2 500 000
7.7

150
0.5
100
500
3 750 000
8.5

agement. Similarly, the necessary training required for the

construction personnel to implement and run successfully
and efficiently the automated system should be provided. Periodic maintenance activities need to be planned so that there
is no disruption of the automated materials tracking process.
Measurement and evaluation for next project
implementation
The final step in the process is the measurement and evaluation of the automated materials tracking system for the
next project implementation. The performance should be
measured and evaluated against other projects that have implemented automated materials tracking systems. If no such
data exists, the performance should be compared with the traditional materials management systems. The actual performance should also be compared against the expected targets.
This measurement and evaluation should be a continuous
process and should point out if there are any shortcomings
in the expected results of the automated system implementation. If the system does not yield expected performance or it
does not produce optimum results, then the causes need to
be determined. Measurement and evaluation against the desired goals and expected results will motivate corrective
steps to be undertaken for the improvement of the automated tracking system.

Conclusions
A general implementation model for automated construction materials tracking and locating on large industrial projects such as refineries and power plants was presented. It
included a methodology for determining what type of technology should be used for different types of projects and
construction materials. It is based on an analysis of the capabilities of emerging technologies and on experience gained
from implementing automated materials locating and tracking prototypes on two large industrial projects, in Canada
and in the United States. Several fundamental subsystem architectures were defined. These field deployment options include fixed readers, mobile readers, and gate / portal
systems. This research has analyzed their respective advantages and disadvantages for various construction site environments. The evaluation criteria were identified, and
system evaluation was demonstrated using a typical project.
The evaluation was based on a three legged approach: (1)
analysis based on implementation evaluation criteria, (2)
benefit / cost ratio analysis, and (3) risk analysis. For the
typical project, the benefit cost ratio ranged from 6/1 to 10/
1, if risk avoidance benefits were included. The industrial
partners on this research did include the risk avoidance benefits. Overall, it is concluded that use of this model should
improve the probability of a successful implementation.
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Acknowledgments
The research project was jointly funded by an NSERC
CRD grant and through CII-FIATECH, Research Team 240.
It was also supported with significant in-kind contributions
by Ontario Power Generation Inc., SNC-Lavalin, Bechtel,
and Identec Solutions. The writers would like to acknowledge the efforts and cooperation of Paul Murray, the site
manager of SNC-Lavalin for Portlands Energy Centre
(PEC) project in Toronto, ON, Canada. The efforts of David
Grau, Jie Gong, Esteban Campion, and Victor Lam, the additional graduate and undergraduate students who worked on
these projects, are also appreciated.

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