The quality management in precast concrete production and delivery processes supported by association analysis

In addition to cost and time management, quality management is one of the most important aspects that enable effective competition on the global construction market. Implementation of the quality management system should be carried out in a comprehensive approach, covering the manufacturing process, as well as cooperative processes. Among the cooperative processes that are highly important for the functioning of the production plant, the following ones are to be mentioned: orders and deliveries of aggregates, cement, steel, as well as the semi-finished products and components needed directly on the production line, such as the release and antiadhesive agent. A large selection of manufacturers and suppliers, as well as diversified physical and technical properties of the products offered, result in difficulties when implementing and maintaining effective ordering procedures. Numerous and difficult to predict correlations related to the use of different components in a given production series and resulting in obtaining products of potentially lower than expected quality are also not without significance. In order to improve the decision-making process by managers, the association analysis needs to be applied. It allows to find rules within the processes influenced by many factors. It helps to determine which factors appearing jointly make the process undesirably different from the expected one. The more the factors influence the quality of the process, the more difficult is the analysis made for searching the combination of factors disturbing the process. The advantages of applying association analysis are shown in the prepared case analysed hereby.