Production Planning in Industrialized Building System (IBS) 2.

1 Introduction Industrialized Building System (IBS) is a construction system that is built using prefabricated components. The manufacturing of the components is systematically done using machine, formworks and other forms of mechanical equipment. The components are manufactured off-site and once completed will be delivered to construction sites for assembly and erection (Rahman & Omar, 2006). However, due to the issue regarding the problems of standardization on the IBS components, it affects the result on the quality of the precast building components (Onyeizu. E.N, 2011). Standardization refer to the rules which imply similarity, uniformity and continuity of behavior, action or believes ( David & Rothwell, 1996). According to Rahman and Omar (2006), one of the challenges in the IBS construction industry is designing a feasible IBS system. In addition to that, proper planning and design consideration promise good IBS building component ( Rahman & Omar, 2006). Therefore, in order to achieve a feasible IBS system, the aspect of standardization should be incorporated in designing the system. The standardization can include the use of standard connection, standard beam and column size. Standardization of components may be incorporated to reduce the cost of manufacturing. By implementing standardization, many errors in production or erection due to variability can be reduced. Standardization may lead to improvement in quality, decrease variability and increase the ease of manufacturing ( Rahman & Omar, 2006). Therefore, in order to achieve standardization in IBS system, proper production planning is implemented. Production planning is an important managerial task for prefabrication of concrete elements ( Warszaeski, 1984). As in other manufacturing industry, it usually involves capacity or resource planning and master production schedule development for an intermediate planning horizon which is three (3) to eighteen (18) months ( Xiao F.Z, 2007). The production planning is a managerial task that function to achieve the highest efficiency in production by manufacturing the required quantity of product, of the required quality, at the required time by the best and cheapest method ( Eilon, 1962). However, there is no universal planning method which is applicable for all environments. Good methods are adopted according to the materials of the prefabrication components.

2.2 Production Planning Production planning is defined as the direction and coordination of the firms material and physical facilities toward the attainment of pre-specified production goal, in the most efficient and available way (Eilon, 1962). Book by Burbidge J.L (1971) shown that the definition of production planning is the function of management, concerned with planning the physical means to be used by an enterprise, to produce the goods or services, which it provides. Based on book by Burbidge J.L (1971), there is few level of production planning.

Factory Planning

Process Planning

Operation Planning

Levels in the Production Planning Factory Planning Factory planning is the first level of progressive Production Planning. At this level the choice of material form is concerned with the types of material which will be bought; the choice of facilities is planned in terms of site, buildings and types of processing plant. The layout of these facilities is planned in terms of the arrangement of buildings and department on the site. Routing in this case considers only the sequence of major processes involved. Process Planning Process Planning is the second level of progressive Production Planning. At this level each department and process found during factory planning is examined in turn, the provision of facilities is planned in units of particular machines and items of equipment and layout is concerned with the positioning of these items in the space allocated to the department. At the same level, the choice of raw material for each item produced is planned in detail and Routing considers the sequence of work operations necessary to complete each process. Operation Planning

Operation Planning is the third level of progressive Production Planning. At this level each work centre and operation found during process planning is studied in turn, the provision of facilities is mainly concerned with the choice of tooling, and layout deals with the spatial arrangement of the machines and equipment forming each work centre. At this level the choice of material form can only be varied by changing the stage of completion at which each operation start or by making special provision in earlier operations to provide features for production convenience in later operations and routing deals with the division of the operation into a series of planned work elements. 2.2.1 Production Planning of Precast Concrete The prefabrication of the precast concrete is carried out in a make-to-order manner. According to the research that has been done by Xiao F.Z (2007), the precast components are custom-built according to individual project requirements. The precast concrete is delivered to the construction site as required by their erection schedules, which usually overrides all other considerations in production planning (Warszawski, 1990). Apart from that, the other manufacturing processes have only single critical resource, while the precast production involves two (2) critical resources, mold and labor which dominate the production pace simultaneously or alternately. Thus, both of the critical resources are taken into account in planning work (Xiao F.Z, 2007). Works by Xiao F.Z (2007) shown that the basic planning steps used in practice are divided into three categories: i. ii. iii. Mold planning Precast allocation Labor planning

Mold Planning Mold types are determined at first based on shop drawings. Then for each mold type, a mold quantity is estimated based on the average demand rate of precast types that can be produced on the mold. The manufacturing of the precast concrete components are used the steel mould to form beams and column. Therefore, it has high degree of precision to produce accurate and consistent dimensions of width, breadth and length and other related dimensions. The mold is from a high quality with enough durability and strength and not easily becomes dented or buckled during compaction of the concrete (Rahman & Omar, 2006).

Precast Allocation Precast are allocated to every mold as early as possible to fully utilized mold and avoid any delay. Precast with early due dates or requiring small mold changeover are dispatched first. If there is any delay incurred, extra mold will be used and precast reallocated accordingly. Labor Planning Based on the master schedule, size of labor force in the plant is determined for every planning period with the thought of keeping sizes of labor force over periods as steady as possible. If in a period labor hours are not enough for production, overtime will be used as needed.