Potential for synergetic integration of Building Information Modelling, Blockchain and Supply Chain Management in construction industry

Abstract

Construction industry nowadays is facing several key issues as the likes of cost and time overruns and unstable business environment which lead to suppressed profitability, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction. Studies have suggested, an improved Supply Chain Management (SCM) towards Sustainable Supply Chain (SSCM) could help in this regard, however there are barriers observed to its implementation in the construction industry. Building Information Modelling (BIM) too is considered a positive disrupter in the construction industry due to the potential in its applications, and one of such potential is improving the SCM. However, similar to SCM, adoption of BIM faces several barriers. Preliminary review suggests that some of its barriers could be resolved by integrating with Blockchain, another disruptor stemming from Industry 4.0. Hence, this paper attempts to assess how the synergy of BIM and blockchain would improve the SCM of the construction industry. For that purpose, through a systematic literature review, the paper structures the barriers of SCM, and barriers and benefits of BIM and blockchain in construction industry across the dimensions of Socio-technical, Industrial, Organizational, Financial, Legal and Institutional, and Sustainability, and conceptually maps the barriers and benefits to identify their collective impact on SCM. From this study it was found that with the help of Blockchain integration, there are a number of potential synergies that may solve critical inherent issues in both BIM and SCM, such as reluctance of information sharing and trust, sustainability concerns and safety, leading to positive cumulative impact on SCM. However, it was also recognized that there can be negative as well as neutral cumulative impacts on areas such as cost, and lack of personnel, knowledge and institutional support that can lead to an opposite impact.