Productivity improvement in Malaysian construction industry through NORMs method
List of Authors
  • S. Sivakumar

Keyword
  • Construction, Productivity, NORMs, Methodology

Abstract
  • This paper evaluates productivity improvement in the Malaysian Oil & Gas Industry through NORMs Method. The hypotheses are that applying this method helps improve productivity, reduce reworks, and improve standard works practices in the industry. The industry of Oil and Gas has been a major contributor to the Malaysian GDP in the decades. The industry can be divided into Upstream and Downstream segments in which Upstream segments are related to the exploration and production of Oil & Gas fields at offshore locations. In contrast, the Downstream segment is referenced to processing and refining the raw Oil & Gas from offshore into finished customer products such as petrol, diesel, and cooking gas. The industries’ ability to sustain a high-risk operation yet delivering high productivity output remains a topic not explored in scholarly studies. The fundamental productivity method to consider and adopt is NORMs, which has consistently helped offshore construction deliver safe, on-time, and within-budget projects. The working hypotheses adopting NORMs methodology improve productivity, reduces reworks, and improves standard work practices will be formulated and tested. The research employed a quantitative method and conducted an online survey, and the data were statistically analysed to validate that NORMs successfully adapted could improve construction industry productivity in general. This research outcome will improve the core deliverables' standards, modernize the Malaysian construction business in general, and align the construction industry towards driving the nation-building productivity towards Malaysia's Shared Prosperity Vision 2030. 40 out of 60 responded to an exploratory survey that this thesis identified and confirmed that the NORMs methodology improves productivity, reduces reworks, and improves standard work practices across business models.

Reference
  • 1. Azman, M. A., Hon, C. K. H., Skitmore, M., Lee, B. L., & Xia, B. (2019). A Meta-frontier method of decomposing long-term construction productivity components and technological gaps at the firm level: evidence from Malaysia. Construction Management and Economics, 37(2), 72–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2018.1506139

    2. Ali, A. S., & Rahmat, I. (2010). “The performance measurement of construction projects managed by ISO-certified contractors in Malaysia.” Journal of Retail and Leisure Property, 9(1), 25–35. https://doi.org/10.1057/rlp.2009.20

    3. (BPMB), B. P. M. B. (2011). “Report on Malaysia Oil and Gas Exploration and production.” Annual Report. 2011, 60–69.

    4. CIDB,(2016).“Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP) 2016-2020”.Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v78.4056

    5. Construction Industry Institute (CII). 1986."Constructability: A Primer," The University of Texas at Austin, Publication 3-1, July 1986.

    6. Dixit, S., Mandal, S. N., Thanikal, J. V., & Saurabh, K. (2019). Evolution of studies in construction productivity: A systematic literature review (2006–2017). Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 10(3), 555–564.

    7. DOSM (2012) . “ Annual Census of Crude Oil and Natural Gas Mining Industry”. Department of Statistics Malaysia

    8. DOSM (2019) . “ Press Release: Annual Economic Statistics. Mining of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Department of Statistics Malaysia

    9. Enshassi A, Mohamed S, Mustafa ZA, Mayer PE. Factors affecting labour productivity in building projects in the Gaza strip projects in the Gaza Strip 2007;13(4):245–54

    10. EPU (2021) . “ Transforming public service for productivity”. Economic Planning Unit.

    11. Fisher, R.A. (1971), “The Design of Experiments”, 9th Edition, Macmillan, New York.

    12. George E. P. Box, William G. Hunter, J. Stuart Hunter, Wiley, 1978 “Statistics for Experimenters”.

    13. Hafez SM, Aziz RF, Morgan ES, Abdullah MM, Ahmed EK. 2014. Critical factors affecting construction labour productivity in Egypt. Am J Chem Eng. 2(2):35–40. 103.

    14. United States National Bureau Of Standards. (1983) Journal of research of the National Bureau of Standards. Physics and chemistry. [Periodical] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://lccn.loc.gov/2014202289.

    15. Zwikael, O., & Globerson, S. (2004). Evaluating the quality of project planning: A model and field results. International Journal of Production Research, 42(8), 1545–1556. doi:10.1080/00207540310001639955