Benchcolombia, Benchmarking System for Construction
No. 25 (2007-05-01)Author(s)
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Luis Fernando BoteroArquitecto constructor, especialista en gerencia de empresas de ingeniería. Profesor titular, Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad EAFIT, Coordinador del grupo de investigación GESCÓN (Gestión de la construcción). Medellín, Colombia. lfbotero@eafit.edu.co
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Martha Eugenia ÁlvarezIngeniera industrial, especialista en sistemas de información. Profesora titular, Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad EAFIT. Co-investigadora del grupo de investigación GESCÓN (Gestión de la construcción). Medellín, Colombia. ealvarez@eafit.edu.co
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Carlos Augusto RamírezIngeniero civil, especialista en gestión de la construcción. Asistente de investigación del grupo de investigación GESCÓN (Gestión de la construcción). Medellín, Colombia. cramire5@eafit.edu.co
Abstract
Despite the efforts that some Colombian building companies have made in order to measure the performance of their projects, there is not at this moment a unified methodology to gather, analyze, and compare the results of such projects in the country. Consequently, a practical tool to do Benchmarking, may facilitate the continuous improvement of the construction industry, and generate opportunities for learning best management practices.
During the last three years, lean principles have been implemented in the cities of Medellín, Bogotá, and Manizales, introducing the new concepts of production management focused on construction and the generation of a measurement culture. Based on this implementation, a group of leading companies in Medellín, headed by CIDICO (Research Center and Technological Development for the Construction Industry) and with the initiative of GESCON (Research group for Management Construction, University EAFIT), set out to develop and implement a Benchmarking system for the construction industry (Bench – Colombia).
This system allows for the comparison of construction projects at local, national, and international levels since its principles and guidelines are shared by previously established systems in the USA, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Brazil.