SACM - Australia

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9648

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Investigating the durability and sustainability of materials used in Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC)
(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-11-13) Alyami, Ali; Thomas, Paul
Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) is one of the advanced engineering techniques that is gaining popularity worldwide, presenting advantageous benefits to the modern in terms of minimizing traffic disruption, increasing safety, reducing construction costs, and shortening construction duration. However, current concrete materials are falling behind in meeting the future expectations and demands for sustainability and durability advancement in bridge engineering. Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) is one of the promising concrete materials that present outstanding performance due to its superior mechanical and durability properties that will address various issues in bridge engineering, providing longer serviceability and enhanced durability in severe weather conditions. The high initial costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with the implementation of UHPC at the early construction stages present some concerns leading to limiting the widespread adoption of this product. This paper investigates the potential of UHPC versus other concrete materials, highlighting their durability and sustainability performance to seek its viability as cost-effective and green material option. The long-life cycle cost and environmental assessments show that UHPC has the potential to be one of the most durable and sustainable concrete materials due to the decreased costs associated with reduced concrete volume, maintenance frequency and CO2 footprint emissions over a long-time range.
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The Role of Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing in Integrated Supply Chain Management. An Empirical Study of Modelling Operational Costs at 4PLs
(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-06-20) Alahmari, Khalid; Everett, Sophia; Clark, Colin; Nassirnia, PariSima
Supply Chain Management (SCM) has been evolving remarkably since the 1980s as more businesses prefer to outsource their logistics activities to logistics companies. As a result, logistics companies have introduced more value-added services to satisfy their customers' needs. However, this service expansion is risky if logistics companies fail to accurately calculate costs. Previous researchers investigated the cost of logistics activities using different costing models, including the Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TD-ABC). However, most of these studies focus on traditional storage and transportation services and ignore the new services, such as Demand Planning and Procurement. There are three research aims for this research. First, to explore how the TD-ABC system can model the costs of integrated logistics activities in Fourth-Party Logistics (4PL) companies. Secondly, to find out how the TD-ABC system will differ from the traditional ABC system in modelling the logistics activities costs. Thirdly, to explore how the TD-ABC system can help logistics companies evaluate their customers' profitability in more depth than the profit and loss statement and the SC system report. A case-study design was used to conduct this research on a Saudi-based 4PL company. The researcher conducted six semi-structured interviews with the department managers at the case company to understand the business model, services, and customers in advance. Next, he observed the logistics operations for three months to estimate the steps and time needed to perform activities. Finally, he collected operational and financial records for Q1-2021 to develop a simulated TD-ABC system accordingly. This research shows that the TD- ABC system can accurately capture the cost of complicated and lengthy logistics activities. In addition, the TD-ABC model has been proven to be more accurate than the ABC model as it can distinguish between the costs of productive capacity and idle capacity. Finally, the TD-ABC system showed an excellent capability to be used as a tool for customer profitability analysis. In conclusion, this research should contribute to both knowledge and practice as it provides new insights on how to model the cost of new-era logistics services. A step-by-step guideline for designing a TD-ABC system in a 4PL company is presented in this research, and it can be used as a model by new researchers and practitioners. Moreover, by exploring the Open-Book Accounting (OBA) practice within the 4PL sector, this study unveils a novel perspective on cost transparency and cooperative financial relationships between logistics companies and their clients, enriching the discourse on financial management in modern logistics operations. Finally, this research introduces a new framework that synergies TD-ABC with the company’s vision. This study positions the proposed framework as a foundational idea for future studies that aim to bridge the gap between cost data and the company’s strategic goals, especially in the 4PL industry.
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