Labour engagement optimization in planning the execution of river regulation works on the Jelašnička river

Abstract

A project is a task comprising a set of interrelated activities requiring time and resources for their execution. It is often the case that during the construction of longitudinal and cross section structures for the regulation of a torrential catchment the required resources (labour, materials, mechanization, and finances) are often limited and because of that we face the problem of their efficient use. This paper deals with the problem of planning the execution of river regulation works on the Jelašnička River with the aim to minimize the time extension due to limited resources. In the planning phase of project realization labour force is the limited resource. Heuristic techniques, i.e. the Gray-Kidd algorithm with the use of MS Project software were applied in the distribution of resources for the purposes of optimal labour engagement. This method uses the data acquired by the CPM method of network planning as input elements. Through more iterations, by moving noncritical and then critical project activities, the minimal extension of project duration was achieved by engaging more labour force. Therefore, the proposed heuristic and CPM method performed well in resolving the resource-constrained project scheduling problem. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007: Istraživanje klimatskih promena na životnu sredinu: praćenje uticaja, adaptacija i ublažavanje , podprojekat br. 16: Socio-ekonomski razvoj, ublažavanje i adaptacija na klimatske promene]

Keywords

• torrential stream
• optimization
• labour planning
• CPM method
• Gray-Kidd algorithm