Industrialised building system and employment in Malaysian construction industry
Chuan, Theong-May & Rosli Abd Rashid
Since 2003, the government of Malaysia together with its agency, the Construction Industry Development Board has been aggressively pushing the construction industry to use of the Industrialised Building System (IBS) method of construction. It is part of an integrated effort to further enhance the capacity, capability, efficiency and competitiveness of the industry and also to reduce the industryys reliance on foreign workers. It is also an effort to promote cleaner, safer, simpler and efficient method of construction. Many considered it as novel effort but some sections of the industry are very concern of its impact on hundreds of small and medium sized traditional contractors, trade sub-contractors and material and component suppliers. Their anxiety is well placed. As most of us already know, IBS is a construction system founded on the conception that construction is also manufacturingg where by most of construction components and parts are manufactured (fabricated) in the factory and transported to site for assembly. Such method of construction will most likely eliminate the role and function of the many of small and medium sized general contractors as well as the traditional trade sub-contractors. The use of large pre-finished factory made components or parts will most likely diminish the need for small traditional trade sub-contractors whose business are in the sub-contract works such as concreting, bar bending, bricklaying, plastering, tiling, carpentering, painting etc. The mass production of standard components or parts in factories may also affect the businesses of the small and medium sized material suppliers. On this note, it is important to ask ourselves some pertinent questions - Will the introduction of IBS reduce or create more businesses? What is the implication of the use of IBS on the small and medium sized general contractors, traditional trade sub-contractors and small and medium sized material suppliers? The paper will analyse and discusses these issues based on the supply chain concept and the theory of business creation and entrepreneurship. It is important for us to give much thought to these issues because they will have significant implication on the Malaysian construction industry in general and the small and medium size contractors and sub-contractors in particular.
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