Work Structuring of Construction Crews: Installation of Light Fixtures Case Study
Naveen Nerwal1 & T.S. Abdelhamid2
1Graduate Research Assistant, 401H Human Ecology, Construction Management Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1323. Email: [email protected]2Associate Professor, 214 Human Ecology, Construction Management Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1323. Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The Lean Construction Institute defines Work Structuring as the fundamental level of production system design, which means developing a project‘s process design while trying to align engineering, design, supply chain, resource allocation, and assembly efforts. It‘s thinking construction during design - design of a production system before the start of construction operations. First run studies, computer simulation, and recently BIM have all been examples of techniques used to design production systems so that waste is minimized and system throughput improved. The design of crews has received less attention, and is typically considered adequate if the available resources are provisioned. This paper posits that crew design is an integral part in designing production systems. The purpose of this paper is to present lean rules to guide work structuring of construction crews. In this study, we focus on the crew design of a construction operation that has been well documented in prior research, namely, ―Installation of Light Fixtures‖. The lean rules attempt to reach better crew design for the process of executing the construction operation. Discrete Event Simulation technique using EZStrobe program was used as an analytical tool for validating this study. The paper provides a demonstration of how to apply the rules and along with results of preliminary investigation efforts and finally concluding with propositions for future research.
Keywords
Lean Construction, Production System Design, Work Crew Design, Lean Crew Design, People, Training and Development, Labor Issues
Files
Reference
Nerwal, N. & Abdelhamid, T. 2010. Work Structuring of Construction Crews: Installation of Light Fixtures Case Study, 18th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 316-325. doi.org/
Download: BibTeX | RIS Format
Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.
2015 © All Rights Reserved.