Case Study to Analyse Problems and Issues in IBS Building Maintenance

The practices of conventional methods for maintenance management in Malaysian Industrialised Building System (IBS) building faced many issues due to IBS component aesthetic and structural defects which occurred repeatedly compared to building maintenance on conventional building, no integration between maintenance systems, lack of co-ordination between design and construction, less defect diagnosis in decision making process as well as lack the intelligent capabilities of linking defect diagnosis operations in maintenance affecting various building elements with IBS component defects knowledge. The purpose of this study is to develop a mechanism to improve IBS component defects knowledge transfer on IBS building maintenance projects through the integration of defect diagnosis and Building Information Modelling (BIM). The case studies were conducted with eight maintenance organisations from client/contractor. The selected maintenance organisation is based on conventional method practices and its major problems, attempt to implement computerised technology and the willingness of staff to share their experiences. The responses from semi-structured interview with engineer was recorded using video camera and transcribed verbatim. The overall findings of this research indicated; design defect, poor quality work by contractor and defect repetition. There is also need to overcome lack of knowledge between engineer and technician regarding with materials, method and design of structure repair which existed with all eight maintenance organisations. In addition, the study also found that several computerised system such as Building Automation System (BAS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) are used by client/maintenance contractor. BIM technology awareness was found to be limited, with no implementation in IBS building maintenance organisation yet. The proposed solutions are intended to be used for maintenance management practices at Malaysian IBS buildings in order to provide IBS component diagnosis integration with the BIM technology.