Non-Unit Based Planning and Scheduling of Repetitive Construction Projects

Rong-yau Huang, Ph.D. Associate Professor Kuo-Shun Sun Doctoral Candidate

Institute of Const. Eng. and Mgmt. National Central University, Taiwan

Outlines
Introduction The Non-Unit Based Repetitive Projects Research Objectives Literature Reviews Development of the Non-unit Based

Scheduling Algorithm A Simple Case Study Conclusions

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Introduction
One of the major goals of lean construction is

for waste reduction.

Repetitive construction projects are good

candidate for applying the lean construction principles.

Almost all the repetitive scheduling methods

developed are based on the primitive that a repetitive project is the construction of many identical production units
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Introduction (cont.)
In practical, however, the production units in

many repetitive projects may not be identical.

In a piling project, the excavation depth and the encountered soil conditions for each pile; In a pipeline-laying project, the number of manholes and the number of pipe sections, also the durations for laying each pipe In a multi-housing project, the interior design for each house could be different, and therefore the required work load as well as the duration and cost will differ
Many repetitive projects contains, more or less,

portions of non-repetitive productions.

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 Unit based repetitive

Non-unit based

projects
Legend Relation between Activities Relation between Units Unit 1 A1 C1 E1
A1-1

repetitive projects
A 1A2

A2

A2-A4
A2 -A 5

A4

A 4-

A6

B1

D1 F1

A1

A1-A 3

A 5-

A6

A6

A3

A3-A5

A5

(a)Sequential of the activity group A2-1 A2-2 A2-3 A2-4 A2-5 A4-1 A4-2 A4-3 A4-4 A6-1 A4-5 A6-2 A4-6 A6-3 A3-1 A3-2 A3-3 A3-4 A3-5 A3-6 A3-7 A4-7 A6-4 A5-1 A5-2 A5-3 A5-4 A5-5 A5-6 A5-7 A6-5

Unit 2 A2

B2

D2 F2

A1-2 A1-3 A1-4 A1-5

C2 B A C E D Unit 3 F A3

E2 B3 D3 F3 C3 E3

A1-6 A1-7 A1-8 A1-9

A3-8

(a)Unit-Network

(b)Repetitive project that combined by several units

(b)The physical logical relations between each activity

Characteristics of a Non-unit Based Repetitive Project

The operations of activities in an activity group

are similar, but not the same. The work logical relationships are more generalized. There is no hard logic relationship between activities in the same activity group. Various working crews can be employed in each activity group. Cost and time for routing the various resource crews among production units are considered.
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Research Objectives
Develop a non-unit based scheduling algorithm:

to comply with the logical relationship of activity groups in a repetitive project, to allow for the usage of various resource crews in an activity group, to maintain the continuity for resource usage, and to consider the time and cost for change over of various resource crews in job.
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Literature Reviews
Author (s) (1) Carr and Meyer(1974) OBrien (1975) Selinger (1980) Johnston (1981) Stradal and Cacha (1982) Arditi and Albulak (1986) Chrzanowski and Johnston (1986) Reda (1990) El-Rays and Moselhi (1998) Harmelink and Rowings (1998) Harris and Ioannou (1998) Hegazy and Wassef (2001) LOB VPM Const. planning LSM Time space scheduling LOB LSM RPM Resource-driven scheduling Linear scheduling model RSM Repetitive nonserial activity scheduling Method (2) Unit-based (3) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Fixed work sequence (4) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Non-typical activity (5) N N Y Y Y N Y N Y N Y N Assign multiple resource types in a workgroup (6) N N N N N N N N N N N N Resource continuity (7) Y Y Y Suggested Suggested Y Y Y N Y N N

Steps of Algorithm
Identify Activity Groups as well as their

sequence relationships Develop the Resource Chains Place Resource Chains for Project Scheduling
Calculate the baseline schedule Calculate the earliest possible start time of each activity Determine the earliest possible start time of resource chain Calculate the project schedule of the resource chain
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Illustration of Resource Chain Development

R esource G roup 2 A ctivity G roup 2 A2-1 R 2-1 R 2-2 A2-2 A2-3 A2-4 D ecision R esource V ariables A ssignm ent A ctivitys Priority W at A ork 2-3 1 2 3 4 A ctivity Ordering (b)R esource Chains A2-1 A2-2 A2-3 A2-4 M fromA to A ove 2-1 2-3 W at A ork 2-1 M fromoutside to A ove 2-1 (1)R esource Chain for R 2-1 Legend: M fromA to A ove 2-2 2-4 W at A ork 2-2 M fromoutside to A ove 2-2 (2)R esource Chain for R 2-2 W at A ork 2-4 M fromA to outside ove 2-3 M fromA to outside ove 2-4

R 2-1

R 2-2

ove ctivity W A ork ctivity M A

(a)Input D and decision variables ata

(c)D form etail ulations for R esource Chains

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Placing of Resource Chains

Unit Out 5 14 4 9 3 5 2 2 1 In 0 A1-1 5 10 15 20 Time 4 A1-2 8 A1-3 13 A1-4 18 23 19 A1-5 22 Activity Group :1 A1-1 A2-1 A1-2 A2-2 A1-3 A2-3 A1-4 A2-4 A1-5 (b)Activity Logic Relation (c)Resource and priority assignment A2-4 4 R2-2 A2-3 3 R2-1 A2-2 2 A2-1 1 Activity Group :2 Resource Group :2 Activity Group :2 Activity priority

(a)Precedence Resource Chain on Project Schedule Unit Out 5 10 4 5 3 2 2 1 In 0 A2-1 5 10 A2-3 9 A2-4 13 15 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Activity Duration Start time Finish time Precedence activity

In-> A2-1 2 0 2

A2-1 2 2 4 A1-1,A1-4 Max(4,18) =18 18-2=16

A2-1-> A2-3 1 4 5

A2-3 4 5 9 A1-3,A1-5 Max(18,22) =22 22-5=17 (Max)

A2-3 ->A2-4 1 9 10

A2-4 3 10 13 A1-4 18 18-10=8

A2-4 ->Out 2 13 15

Baseline schedule

Last finish time for precedence activity Calculate the possible start time for the resource chain Start time Finish time 17 19

Total project (7) schedule Time

19 21

21 22

22 26

26 27

27 30

30 32

(d)R2-1 Resource Chain on Baseline Schedule

(e)Calculation Table for positioning R2-1 Resource Chain from B aseline Schedule to total project schedule

Legand
Out Move activity Start Time Finish Time 5

Unit 23 19 A1-5 14 4 9 3 5 8 A1-2 2 4 A1-1 17 0 5 10 15 20 25 Time (f)Positioning Current Resource Chain into total Project Schedule 19 21 A2-1 A1-3 13 A2-3 A1-4 26 18 27 A2-4 30 22 27 32

Work activity

Logic relationship

2 1 In

Controlling Logic relationship

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A Simple Case Study

Activity Group1 Activity Group2 (a)Sequential of the activity group A 1-1 A 2-1 A 1-2 A 2-2 A 1-3 A 2-3 A 1-4 A 2-4 A 1-5 A 3-5 A 3-4 A 3-3 A 3-2 A 3-1 Activity Group3

(b)The physical logical relations between each activity

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Activity Groups Data

Activity group A1 A2 A3 No. of Activity 5 4 5 Pre-group 1 2 Resource Types Used 1 2 1 Resource code R1-1 R2-1? R2-2 R3-1

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Activity Data
Activity Group 1 A1-1 A1-2 A1-3 A1-4 Precedence Activity Activity Group 2 A2-1 A2-2 A2-3 A2-4 Precedence Activity A1-1? A1-4 A1-2? A1-4 A1-3? A1-4 A1-4? A1-5 Activity Group 3 A3-1 A3-2 A3-3 A3-4 Precedence Activity A2-1 A2-2 A2-3 A2-1? A2-2? A2-3? A2-4 A2-4

A1-5

A3-5

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Duration Data For Routing Resource (R1-1)

To Activity -> From Activ ity In 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 Out 1 1 1 1 1 1-1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1-2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1-3 1 1 1 2 1 1 1-4 1 1 1 1 2 1
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1-5 1 1 1 1 1 2

Testing Scenarios
Scenario 1Only one resource type is used for

each work group. As a result, only R2-1 is used for activity group 2. Scenario 2The operating priority of activity A14 is moved to the highest, and that of activity A3-4 to the lowest. The rest of input data is the same as those in Scenario 1. Scenario 3One more resource, R2-2, is employed for the operation in activity group 2. The rest of input data is the same as those in Scenario 2.
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Scheduling Results

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Conclusions
Non-unit based scheduling provides a more

general form for planning and scheduling of repetitive projects,

activities in an activity group are similar, but not the same. no hard logic relationship between activities in the same activity group. working crews with same or different construction methods can be employed in each activity group.
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Conclusions (cont.)
Cost and time for routing the various

resource crews among activities are considered in the developed algorithm.

The non-unit based algorithm represents

more closely the real word practices of repetitive projects

Method for optimization of the non-unit

based scheduling can be further developed in the future

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References

Arditi, David, and Albulak, M. Zeki, Line-of-balance scheduling of pavement construction, J. of Constr. Engrg. and Mgmt., ASCE, 112(3) (1986) 411-424. Carr, Robert I., and Mayer, Walter L. (1974). "Planning construction of repetitive building units," ASCE, J. of the Construction Division, l00(CO3) 403-412. Chrzanowski, Edmund N., and Johnston, David W. (1986). "Application of linear scheduling, " ASCE, J. of Constr. Engrg. and Mgmt., 112(4) 476- 491. El-Rayes, Khaled, and Moselhi, Samma (1998). "Resource-driven scheduling of repetitive activities, " Construction Management and Economics, 16 433-446. Hamelink, David J., and Rowings, James E. (1998). "Linear scheduling model development of controlling activity path," ASCE, J. of Constr. Engrg. and Mgmt., 124(4) 263-268. Harris, Robert B., and Ioannou, Photios G. (1998). "Scheduling projects with repeating activities," ASCE, J. of Constr. Engrg . and Mgmt., 124(4) 269-278. Hegazy, Tarek, and Wassef, Nagib(2001), Cost optimization in projects with repetitive nonserial activities, J. of Constr. Engrg. and Mgmt., ASCE, 127(3), 183-191. Johnston, David W. (1981). "Linear scheduling method for highway construction," ASCE, J. of the Construction Division, 107(CO2) 247-261. OBrien James J. (1975). "VPM Scheduling for high-rise buildings," ASCE, J. of the Construction Division, 101(CO4) 895-905. Reda, Rehab M. (1990). "RPM: repetitive project modeling," ASCE, J. of Constr. Engrg. And Mgmt., 116(2) 316-330. Selinger, Shlomo (1980). "Construction planning for linear projects," ASCE, J. of the Construction Division, 106(CO2) 195-205. Stradal, Oldrich, and Cacha, Jisef (1982). "Time space scheduling method," ASCE, J. of the Construction Division, 108(CO3) 269-278.
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Thanks for Your Attention!!!

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