Limitations and Perspectives on Use of E-Services in Engineering Consulting

Background

For decades the building industry has been characterised by increasing costs, low productivity, and often poor quality. This is in part due to labour intensive production processes in design, projection, and construction, which have proved to be hard to automate. Another problem is lack of coordination between the large numbers of partners involved in building projects. Knowledge that flows between partners from different companies is often limited by lack of common standards, lack of common understanding on how the building process is organised, and the varying division of labour and responsibilities between the partner companies. This results in unnecessary conflicts and errors. In addition the lack of knowledge flow within building projects reduces accumulated learning both across projects and across partners. These problems are reinforced by the temporary character of partnerships within the building industry, where each project in general presents a new partner constellation. Moreover, along with increased competition, the ongoing globalisation taking place in segments of the building industry will further complicate coordination between partners.