A Concurrent Engineering Environment in the Construction Industry

The construction industry has been moving towards concurrent engineering for many years. However, in practice, the degree of success achieved through the application of concurrent engineering varies considerably. Organizational factors, especially with respect to information management methods and techniques coupled with different levels of training and experience of personnel, place considerable limitations on the level of concurrency and collaborative work that can be achieved. In spite of these achievements, concurrent engineering issues, such as the management of the process, product documentation, and communication, are still being handled in a fragmented manner, as individual, mutually independent, or at best only partially interrelated systems. Interoperable environments have yet to be developed which can fully integrate into practice and increase the uptake of concurrent engineering.