The International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction
Publications / CSCE/CRC 2025 - Montreal, Canada
Impacts Identification of Supplier Reliability on Project Duration in Heavy Industrial Construction Supply Chain Using Discrete Event Simulation
Driven by provisional project requirements, the heavy industrial construction supply chain (HICSC) is complex, dynamic, and uncertain. Supplier behaviors further complicate the HICSC, posing additional challenges for general contractors in managing material inventories and project schedules. A limited understanding of supplier reliability and its consequences on HICSC can adversely impact project duration and cost. Existing research on construction supply chain has focused on logistic optimization, material storage and inventory, supplier selection, knowledge management and coordination. None, however, has centered on assessing the impact of supplier reliability on project duration and identifying the critical materials within the HICSC. To address this gap, this study aims to quantify the impact of supplier reliability on project duration in HICSC and identify critical materials for heavy industrial construction projects. A discrete event model was developed using Simphony.NET to simulate a typical material procurement process within HICSC from a general contractor's perspective. The simulation evaluated how variations in supplier reliability affect project duration and identified critical metrical materials by analyzing scenarios derived from both artificial and historical project datasets. The findings demonstrate that unreliable suppliers significantly delay project durations, with materials characterized by short lead time and long delay being the most critical in heavy industrial construction projects. This paper advanced the body of knowledge by (1) abstracting and simulating a typical HICSC into a discrete event model from a general contractor's perspective, (2) quantifying the impact of supplier reliability on project duration, and (3) identifying critical materials for heavy industrial construction projects.