Improving Supply Chain Efficiency through Traceability Technology Adoption in Residential Construction: A Waste Process Approach

The construction industry has been increasingly adopting traceability technology to capitalize on various delivery benefits and improve production efficiency. Such benefits include enhanced supply chain management, improved project efficiency, improved sustainability and blockchain integration. Further, construction companies are investing in building product traceability to address growing consumer interest in transparency relating to material provenance and quality and to ensure materials are sourced sustainably and comply with regulations. Despite these benefits, analysis of how traceability technology can improve supply chain efficiency has been limited, particularly in the residential construction sector. Utilizing a case study, this research pilots a new approach in analyzing a residential building component supply chain through a waste process lens and proposes key stages where efficiency could be improved in existing processes. Findings support the benefits in adopting traceability technology to address fragmentation in the flow of information across the supply chain. Although this case research focuses on part of a specific supply chain i.e. timber component manufacturing to on-site construction/assembly, we demonstrate benefits in analyzing existing construction material/product supply chains via waste processes and highlight opportunities for future research to explore how the integration of traceability technology into supply chain processes can be improved.