Investigating and Simulating Collaboration Among the LPS Phases

Although heavily studied, collaboration in construction is still perceived as an elusive or intangible aspect because of its complex nature. Its complexity roots in the unfeasibility of quantifying it or its impacts on the performance of a construction project. While some studies acknowledged the need to evaluate or assess collaboration, empirical and numerical methods that pertain to direct quantification of either collaboration or the impacts of collaboration on the performance of a project are still unaddressed. This paper aims to address this gap from a Lean perspective by investigating the effects of collaboration throughout the different phases of the Last Planner System. After a thorough analysis of the collaborative points occurring in each phase, computer simulation is employed to model the progression of a construction project from pull planning to lookahead planning and finally to execution while also modelling collaboration among the project members. Findings on how collaboration during each phase impacts the project performance differently are presented. This study's contribution lies in highlighting the importance of early collaboration in construction projects and emphasizing the need for accurate quantification of such qualitative aspects.