Construction process assessment or 'Black Box Opener'

The construction industry and related ones are considered the world’s largest industrial employer and natural resources consumer. 50% of all materials extracted from the earth are transformed into construction materials and products. When these materials enter the waste stream, they account for some up to 57% of all waste generated prior to recycling, recovery or final disposal. In spite of these alarming conditions, very little detailed knowledge currently exists about the origins, distributions and degrees of significance of construction wastes, although construction managers must by necessity always attempt to minimize waste (and thereby optimise the use or resources), construction materials and waste do not uniformly receive appropriate consideration in the construction industry. Those wastes and losses arise very often from inadequate design practices and management or poor housekeeping. The main goal of the study is to gain insights into the traditional and industrialised construction processes in order to analyse the performance of the production system and its relation with the environment. This paper presents some tools that have been prepared, in order to analyse amounts of waste, causes for its production, different factors and their significance degrees that influence the production of waste.