Dynamics of project-driven systems: A production model for repetitive processes in construction

Abstract

The building construction industry faces challenges, such as increasing project complexity and scope requirements, but shorter deadlines. Additionally, economic uncertainty and rising business competition with a subsequent decrease in profit margins for the industry demands the development of new approaches to construction management. However, the building construction sector relies on practices based on intuition and experience, overlooking the dynamics of its production system. These approaches underestimate the influence of process repetitiveness, the size of the production run, the transient state, the variation of learning curves, and the conservation of processes properties. At this time, construction adopts the manufacturing production model dismissing the application of mathematical approaches that accurately describe the characteristics of its production system. The current theory about fundamental mechanisms of production in repetitive processes in construction is at an embryonic stage and does not yet fully establish the foundations of a production model. The aim of this research is to provide a mathematical model to describe and understand the production mechanisms of repetitive processes in project-driven systems in construction, moreover, applying the model to project management. This study begins with an in-depth literature review to examine the existing knowledge about production models and their characteristics to establish a theoretical framework for controlling dynamic production systems management in construction. On this framework, this research builds an analytical and scalable method (Productivity Function) to represent the behavior of production systems. By considering the transient state, Productivity Function produced models that were more accurate in describing the processes dynamics than the steady state approaches. The Productivity Function provides a mathematical foundation to develop algebraic for the calculations of cycle times (average, best- and worst-cases), throughput at capacity, and the influence of the transient state time in the production variability. Productivity Function is applied in feedback loop control yielding a robust approach to plan, control, and optimize production in construction projects.