ارزیابی سریع و انتخاب تامین کنندگان تجهیزات مهندسی

This paper describes the development and implementation of a decision support system to aid the selection of engineered equipment suppliers in the early stages of capital projects. Procurement of equipment is a complex process, which requires the evaluation of multiple suppliers against project targets. Analysis is usually performed manually, is time consuming, and certain tradeoffs may be overlooked. A consistent and applicable tool to support procurement decisions has been missing. The results of this research take significant steps to fill this gap. The system integrates historical data, market assessment, and bid information to aid commercial assessment and recommendation of suppliers. The supplier selection module uses the Aspiration Interactive Method (AIM) to analyze the information. Results of two selection cases were compared against firms' recommendations. The system enables rapid evaluation and comparison of several supply alternatives, thereby improving the consistency and quality of commercial analysis in the early phases of projects.

Major equipment ties up a large proportion of construction costs, has long lead times, and is usually associated with the acquisition of complex or specialized technology, significantly different from bulk materials [1]. Major equipment is engineered and fabricated specifically for the project (e.g., tanks, heat exchangers, pumps). Engineering, manufacturing, and delivery of these items are very uncertain and may disrupt construction schedule [2]. As a consequence, procurement planning for engineered equipment is critical and needs to start during the early stages of capital projects, mainly front end planning and conceptual design [3]. Additional procurement issues have motivated this research such as: complex analysis of tradeoffs during procurement, supply chain constraints, and lack of data integration to support analysis. Procurement of long lead engineered equipment requires the evaluation of several suppliers and project targets (e.g. schedule, budget, quality, etc.). This analysis is usually performed manually, is time consuming, and certain tradeoffs may be overlooked. Therefore, there is a need to develop computer-based tools to support and speed up the work of procurement managers in better understanding the tradeoffs and risks involved in the selection of engineered equipment suppliers. Mounting global demand for oil and gas, energy, and infrastructure has stressed the supply chain over the last few years [4], and various constraints must be taken into account when planning the execution of projects. Substantial increases in lead times and price escalation were a direct consequence of this scenario [5]. Thus, procurement has clearly become a more strategic process and assessment/selection of appropriate suppliers needs to start much earlier in the capital project lifecycle [6]. Finally, market data is not electronically integrated to support procurement decision-making. To survive in such dynamic and constrained scenario, firms need to identify sourcing alternatives, reduce supply risks and improve scheduling and cost performance. Knowledge of market conditions is essential to supporting early planning and supplier selection decisions; however, obtaining, keeping, and analyzing updated market data are difficult tasks. In most cases, construction organizations are not proficient at identifying the capabilities of their suppliers. They usually rationalize supplier selection decisions based on convenience [7] or lowest cost. Other firms, for example, large and sophisticated contractors in the industrial sector have rich market forecasting and/or historical data on suppliers' performance. However, available data is commonly found in different paper files archived inside procurement managers' drawers or stored in firms' information systems. As a result, data is currently not integrated to support analysis and decision-making. This paper describes the development and implementation of a decision support system that enables rapid assessment and selection of engineered equipment suppliers in the early stages of capital projects. The system electronically integrates firms' available data with a decision aid method to support rapid evaluation of tradeoffs among cost, schedule, quality, shop load, and transportation variables. Users will easily retrieve suppliers' lead times, prices, past performance (e.g. quality, fabrication, delivery), and shop loads to perform their analysis. The primary users are procurement professionals of construction and owner firms in the industrial construction sector since most of their projects usually involve the acquisition of several pieces of equipment. Typically, their supplier base is global and these firms evaluate suppliers from multiple geographical regions because their projects are spread around the globe. The paper is organized as follows: first, a literature review on decision aid methods for supplier selection in construction which is then followed by a description of the Aspiration Interactive Method (AIM) used in the system. Next, the research method is detailed and the decision support system is presented. The paper concludes with the discussion of the implementation results, research findings, and contributions to the body of knowledge and construction practice.

The primary contribution of this research is aiding decision-making on engineered equipment during the early phases of capital projects. A consistent, useful, and applicable tool to support procurement decisions has been missing. In particular, tools that enable firms to select products, identify qualified suppliers, and procure the best products at the best prices with the ability to deliver on time and within budget. The results of this research take significant steps to fill this gap. The decision support system allows automatic integration of market data to support selection. This integration contributes to improve current issues regarding the selection process such as: manual and time-consuming analysis due to difficulties to retrieve data from paper based files or supplier evaluation systems. The tool also provides rapid evaluation and comparison of several supply alternatives, improving the quality of procurement plans, speeding up the time managers spend carrying out commercial analysis, and supporting recommendation of suppliers in the early phases of capital projects. The validation cases and interviews provided useful insights regarding the applicability of the tool in real case scenarios. The validation indicated that the target audience easily understood the approach and that the tool adds value to the overall supplier selection process. All firms that participated in this research do not have objective methods to carry out analysis and recommend their suppliers. AIM provides such capability and can play a significant role in providing intelligence to the traditional assessment and selection of engineered equipment suppliers. To our knowledge, this research provides a new method for evaluation and selection of suppliers in construction. This is the first time AIM was used and tested in this context. The entire system was developed and tested with the support of experienced procurement managers who contributed to the credibility and validity of our final product.