Quality management in the road construction industry

The paper addresses the significant changes in the management of the road construction industry through the introduction of quality management over recent years and explores the outcomes of this on the quality of the road construction product now and in the future. The paper is divided into the following main topics: Introduction; Background; Quality Management in the Road Construction Industry; Quality Assurance Systems - Application in Road Construction; Client Quality Assurance; Contractor Quality Assurance; Quality Outcomes in the Application of Quality Assurance Systems; and Future Directions in Quality Assurance Systems in Road Construction in Australia. The paper is based on four years of the author's experience in the field of introducing quality management and quality assurance into the road construction industry primarily in Victoria working both in the government sector and with private enterprise as Quality Manager for VicRoads until June 1993. A national viewpoint is incorporated into the paper based on the author's experience as AUSTROADS Quality Management Co-ordinator, and AUSTROADS Project Manager for preparation of National Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Contracts and as a consultant in quality management/quality assurance for both government and private enterprises in the eastern states.