Proactive scheduling of repetitive construction processes to reduce crews idle times and delays

Abstract

Duration of construction projects can be reduced by harmonizing construction processes: adjusting productivity rates of specialized crews and enabling the crews to work in parallel as in a production line. This is achievable in the case of projects whose scope can be divided into units where a similar type of work needs to be conducted in the same sequence. A number of repetitive project scheduling methods have been developed to assist the planner in minimizing the execution time and smoothing resource profiles. However, the workflow, especially in construction, is subject to disturbance, and the actual process durations are likely to vary from the as-scheduled ones. The inherent variability of process durations results not only in delays of a particular process in a particular unit but also in the propagation of disruptions throughout the initially well-harmonized schedule. To counteract the negative effects of process duration variability, a number of proactive scheduling methods have been developed. They consist in some form of predicting the conditions to occur in the course of the project and implementing a strategy to mitigate disturbance propagation. This paper puts forward a method of scheduling repetitive heterogeneous processes. The method aims to reduce idle time of crews. It is based on allocating time buffers in the form of breaks between processes conducted within units. The merits of the method are illustrated by an example and assessed in the course of a simulation experiment.

Keywords

• project scheduling
• repetitive construction processes
• proactive scheduling
• risk management inconstruction
• simulation method