Radio Frequency Identification in Construction Operation and Maintenance: Contextual Analysis of User Needs

As early as in 1995 it was stated that automatic identification of objects using RFID was a promising technology for the construction industry. However, 13 years later the applications of RFID in the construction industry are rare and mostly used in prototype projects or used for theft prevention and access control. Recently maintenance applications have been proposed to hold the trigger needed to launch RFID more widely in the construction sector. Therefore the purpose of the research presented in this paper is to identify the actual user needs for automatic identification in construction operation and maintenance. Research results from a contextual design process are presented and supplemented with practical experiences from implementing an RFID-supported operation and maintenance system. The greatest obstacles for successful implementation of RFID-based O&M systems have been found in structuring working processes and information rather than in making the hardware work.