The states in Malaysia consider the Industrialized Building System (IBS) one of the most efficient construction methods. In this regard, the government is trying to spread its practical application. However, the results obtained are far from expected and IBS is still used in an insignificant share of construction. In the Construction Procurement in Industrialised Building System article by Ahamad et al. (2020), in a number of interviews with experts, it was revealed that for more effective implementation of IBS, a revision and optimization of the procurement process is required.
At the very beginning, the authors of the article began with the definitions and background of the term procurement in the construction industry. The details of the existing definitions and types of construction procurement systems, such as traditional and Construction Management, which have emerged during evolution, are given (Ahamad et al., 2020). Additionally, Ahamad et al. (2020) pointed out that there are differences in these types, such as roles, responsibilities, strategy, and more. However, there is no specificity of what the differences are and what each type is in contrast, which makes it difficult for an unprepared reader to understand.
In addition to the study performed by the authors, the article studied and cited other scholarly literature. The references suggest that many construction specialists are unaware of the various existing methods. In this regard, they use only familiar methods (Ahamad et al., 2020). Yap, Kong, and Lee (2019) note that there are a number of other factors that influence a decision, such as a project complexity and price certainty. Thus, other factors are ignored, which, however, also influence the decision on the method used. In the introduction, the author provides a summary of the information that is perceived to be the focus of most articles on this topic, such as the advantages or difficulties of IBS and other criteria. However, the author does not indicate on the basis of which articles the generalization is given.
Further, the article Construction Procurement in Industrialized Building System provides a literature review that partly repeats the introduction. For example, the first paragraph starts again with definitions of procurement in the literature, which duplicates part of the introduction, but in different words. To avoid this, the author might not go into detail in the introduction. Also, the author cites statements such as “It is true that construction researchers have historically attempted to link their work to elements of general management theory” without citing relevant sources (Ahamad et al., 2020, p. 012072). Accordingly, personal judgments are broadcast as truth without confirmation of their source or rationale. Otherwise, the literature review is comprehensive and covers two main topics of the article the industrialized building system and the procedure process.
The authors of the article provide a section on the research methodology. The methodology used includes primary and secondary data. The methodology is fully consistent with the topic of the article and allows us to study and reveal it. However, while the used sections, such as data analysis, fully fulfill their function, others, such as the proper discussion of presence and choice of population and sample, method of selecting the sample, and the sample size, are completely missing.
Based on the results of the study, quantitative statistics are presented and visualized using graphs. Ahamad et al. (2020) found that three different procurement options are used among the companies represented by the respondents. The roles in each system are described in detail and a Figure, which shows the process, is drawn for the Design and Build procurement system. The basic demographics of the respondents were studied and are also presented, including their experience and positions (Ahamad et al., 2020). The research results are of high relevance to the topic, but there is no consideration of other parallel topics. For example, Montalban-Domingo et al. (2019) consider the challenges that arise in connection with the use of various procurements. Consideration of the complexities that are important for the research topic increases the possibility of the application of the results in real practice.
In their conclusion, the authors summarize the studied and collected data. Findings are drawn, such as the lack of standardized procurement methods in IBS and recommendations, such as ease of fabricating and installing the components (Ahamad et al., 2020). The provided conclusion is a full-fledged ending to the work. At the same time, in a non-standard way in relation to the basic principles, a section of acknowledgments is provided at the very end of the work. This section is an important part of expressing gratitude to everyone who has contributed or assisted in the creation of the work.
In conclusion, the research article is a compilation of information on a selected topic with additional personal interviewing. However, the topic of study, the materials selected, the interviewees and other aspects of the work are limited. As a supplement, a research objectives section could be added, indicating the set research objectives and assessing their achievement. Otherwise, the work is done and presented by the authors in a high-quality and structured manner.
Reference List
Ahamad, N.B., Mazlan, A.N.B., Zin, R.M. and Tukirin, S.A. (2020) ‘Construction procurement in industrialized building system’, IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, IOP Publishing, 849(1), p. 012072. doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/849/1/012072
Montalban-Domingo, L., GarcÃa-Segura, T., Amalia Sanz, M. and Pellicer, E. (2019) ‘Social sustainability in delivery and procurement of public construction contracts’, Journal of Management in Engineering, 35(2), pp. 04018065-1-04018065-11. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000674
Yap, Z.S., Kong, S.K. and Lee, H.C. (2019) ‘Factors affecting the selection of the procurement methods for construction projects in Malaysia’, Inti Journal, 2019(11).