Quality in Construction

Code:

EC0067

Acronym:

QCON

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Building Construction

Instance: 2007/2008 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Building Division
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Civil Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIEC	58	Syllabus since 2006/2007	5	-	5	60	133

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

- To provide a wide comprehension of the specifics of the civil construction production environment;
- To test the established student's knowledge in different and less common situations;
- To demonstrate the importance of non-technical factors for the work of a Civil Engineer;
- To present the framework and application of TQM and other Quality issues in the civil construction environment;
- To define criteria for quality assessment depending on the position of the person involved;
- To be critic upon one's own work;
- To analyse and explore methodologies for increased efficiency in individual and collective work;
- To develop just good common sense.

Program

Introduction: Presentation of the Module and its procedures. Motivation of the students to assume a position of pre-professionals and not just graduating pupils. Emphasis for the open discussion planned for the classes.
Definition od Quality: Presentation of the Quality lexicon and explanation of its diverse frames. Explanation, in current words and with easy examples, of quality assurance procedures. Common questions and wrong ideas existing in current public opinion.
Civil Construction Industry: Detailed description of the activity sequence needed to achieve a building end the functions performed by each actor. Specific stressing for the relationships between these activities in order to obtain a complete and real image of the operating way for the industry. The building as "current good" perspective.
The Project Manager: Explanation of the difference between "Project" and the portuguese "Projecto" in the light of the references on this theme. Description of Functional and Projectized organisations. Demonstration of how the basic principles of Project Management, adequately adapted, can lead to the implementation of new professional attitudes and higher quality of the final product in civil construction.
Methods for defining the expected quality of a service or a product in civil construction: Establishment of a critical analysis position concerning the work of the diverse team members; how to transmit, accurately, what is required and how to assess the result. To understand the importance of the final user in defining the expected quality.
Methods for Design Quality Evaluation: Demonstration of the advantages of a logical analysis of the activities sequence and design options. Understanding the existence of a wide database of sucesses and failures and how to use it to increase the quality of the final product. Use of MC/FEUP Method for the establishment of a conscience upon the different influence of all factors contributing for the development of a specific design.
Evaluation and Quality Control of Execution: Detailed description of the two most common professional activities for newly graduated engineers – Site Supervision and Quality Control.
Quality Assurance for the user: Understanding the difference between "responsible" and "guilty". Description of the more effective procedures to obtain a quality assurance easily enforced.
Evaluation of Proposals and Bids: How to establish criteria and how to estimate its influence in the final result. How to develop evaluation reports for Owner analysis.
Personal relationships in the Civil Construction Industry: Conscience of the wide diversity of technical and cultural profiles existing in this environment. Importance of hierarqy and aspects to be looked after while dealing with the different levels of competence and action.
The Organisation of the Work of the Civil Construction Professional: To orientate the students in their first professional investments. How to mainatin a weel organised activity. How to develop documents adjusted to its technical purpose and recipients.
The Professional Perspectives for the Future Civil Engineer: To describe to the students the various professional areas and their contours – both technical and economic – in particular concerning new graduates. The effort for developing quality work and strains to be dealt with in this trend.

Teaching methods and learning activities

- Theoretical classes of subject presentation and discussion with slide projections and the participation of invited speakers.
- Theoretical-practical classes complementing these issues and supporting the development of group and individual courseworks.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Student-workers who express difficulty in developing the Group Coursework can present just the Individual Coursework and will have an exam with 2 extra questions and graded for 14.0/20.0 marks.

Observations

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Estimated working time out of classes: 4 hours