Production System Loading–Cycle Time Relationship in Residential Construction

Production home building possesses characteristics similar to manufacturing processes, such as the construction of more or less similar houses repeatedly and a growing demand for mass customization of homes. As a result of these similarities, larger homebuilders often attempt to view their production system as an assembly line process. However, the management tools generally utilized by these home builders are those used in other sectors of the construction industry, such as critical path method scheduling, cost estimating, and earned value analysis. These management tools do not provide an explanation or control/prediction tools for many undesirable situations that arise during home building, such as increasing cycle time which slows delivery of product to consumers and increases project capital costs, and increasing amounts of work in process that increases capital investment and thereby decreases company financial performance. In order to bring better management tools to the residential construction industry, this study examines relationships between cycle time, work in process, system throughput, new construction starts, and the capacity of the production system using building permit data for new single family homes in Chandler, Ariz. The applicability of Little’s law, a basic equation used in factory production management models, to a residential production system is examined. This study shows a definite, predictable relationship between cycle time, work in process, and production system throughput. It provides a pathway for further study of production system characteristics that have historically not been included in construction management models, with the expectation of developing new construction management tools that will account for more of the characteristics of construction production systems that affect project performance and company financial performance.     

Project Management in the Chinese Construction Industry: Six-Case Study

Originating from the West, project management was introduced into China after the country’s economic reforms in the 1980’s and has since spread quickly throughout the whole country, particularly in the construction industry. However, despite the wide adoption of project management practices by construction organizations and the growing recognition of the importance of project management as an enabler of organizational success, empirical studies on project management in the context of the Chinese construction industry have been inadequate. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of six Chinese construction organizations in order to come to a more comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of project management practices in the Chinese construction industry. The findings revealed: (1) a good appreciation of the role of projects and project management and satisfaction with current project management practices; (2) 11 key aspects of project management implementation; (3) 12 resultant value and benefits; and (4) five aspects of the main challenges facing the organizations. Meanwhile, variations in project management practices and the resultant organizational value were identified, first between the three owner- and the three contractor-case study organizations, then between the two construction contractor organizations and the one design contractor organization.     

Estimating Performance Time for Construction Projects

The prediction of performance time for construction projects is a problem of interest to both researchers and practitioners. This research seeks to gain insight into the significant factors impacting construction duration by developing a regression model. Data were collected for 856 facility projects completed between 1988 and 2004. These data were analyzed using Bromilow’s time-cost (BTC) model (1969) as well as multiple linear regression. The multiple linear regression model was found to provide the most acceptable prediction. As in the BTC model and previous research reported in the literature, a significant correlation was found to exist between cost and duration. However, several other factors were also identified that resulted in significantly lower than average construction durations. These include projects completed within certain management groupings, managed by a certain construction agent, and designed by in-house personnel.     

Improving Employees’ Work-Life Balance in the Construction Industry: Project Alliance Case Study

Work-life conflict has a damaging effect on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, productivity turnover, and absenteeism. On an individual level, work-life conflict is associated with employee burnout, mental health issues, substance abuse, and diminished family functioning. Thus, work-life balance is an important issue to the construction industry, in terms of both organizational effectiveness and occupational health. Long and inflexible work hours are the most consistent predictor of work-life conflict among construction employees, particularly those working on-site or in a project office. There is considerable resistance to the adoption of new ways of scheduling work within the industry. This paper describes the post hoc evaluation of a compressed work week (reducing the length of the working week, but increasing the length of the working day) in a case study project alliance in Queensland, Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented to demonstrate the beneficial impact of the initiative on employees’ work-life balance. The evaluation provides prima facie evidence that alternative work schedules can improve construction employees’ work-life balance, creating benefits for construction employees and organizations. The paper concludes that project alliances provide an ideal environment in which work-life balance initiatives can help to create high-performance work systems in the construction sector.     

Design and Construction Challenges of a Federal Laboratory Building: A Case Study

This paper presents a case study regarding design and construction challenges of a federal laboratory building. The case study illustrates the successful collaboration of two federal agencies, General Services Administration (GSA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Creative methods were used to resolve complex design, construction, and budgetary issues. This paper describes lessons learned from a specific laboratory project on issues such as: A master plan and its role in locating secure laboratory buildings, site planning issues, contracting mechanisms, building security, energy, project development, design and construction excellence, and funding. Although CDC and GSA approved the release of this paper, the authors offer a disclaimer that the opinions and conclusions drawn in the papers are those of the authors, and are not necessarily shared by the CDC and GSA.     

Systematic Evaluation of Construction Equipment Alternatives: Case Study

Selecting the right equipment for the project is inherently a multifaceted cost and benefit evaluation process that is further compounded by the complexity of today’s building projects and the lack of systematic tools for the consideration of soft factors. This paper presents a detailed application example of a model based on an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach. This model was developed to address the difficulties experienced during the multifaceted process. The example illustrates how an AHP-based model helps address the multitude of qualitative, intangible factors, both among the factors themselves and then vis-à-vis costs, by means of a systematic and traceable process. The method enables project managers and their equipment selection teams to exercise their knowledge, intuition, and professional judgment, and at the same time to address the context and specifics of the particular projects under examination. The example should be helpful for construction practitioners dealing with similar equipment selection issues. Researchers may find interest in the implementation of a multiattribute-decision-making method for a typical construction management problem.     

Design and Construction Performance: Smaller Projects

Distress and failure in smaller construction projects are rarely newsworthy, but distress and failures do occur very frequently. Smaller construction projects are much more numerous than larger projects. They also experience cumulatively many more performance problems than larger projects. Causative factors involved in these performance problems, along with four example projects where minor design or construction defects resulted in failure of the projects, are presented.     

Development of a Quantification Proposal for Hidden Quality Costs: Applied to the Construction Sector

This study develops a quantification proposal for those quality costs that construction companies cannot estimate through objective criteria, known as hidden quality costs. This proposal will later be the object of validation through a real case: the quantification of the cost of loss of image that a construction company experiences as a consequence of a delay in the completion of a certain building. This proposal is of relevance to researchers in that it demonstrates how hidden cost quantification based on a fuzzy logic model can be developed and tested, and it provides the basis for future investigations. It is of relevance to professionals as it describes how fuzzy logic and quality costs can be used to effectively model industrial construction quality management.     

Using Gaussian and Hyperbolic Distributions for Quality Improvement in Construction: Case Study Approach

The Gaussian distribution and the 6σ principle have been widely used in the field of construction quality management with great success. This paper proposes a theoretical study on a new hyperbolic distribution using the 6σ principle to improve quality in construction management. The hyperbolic and Gaussian distributions are then numerically compared by estimating their important statistical properties, such as population in range, number of defects, yield percentage, and defects per million opportunities. The impacts of these factors are briefly discussed to give guidance to organizations in the construction industry on how to lower cost and improve project quality by prevention. A case study showing the cost data of a construction consultant company is presented. The data’s population in range and defects per million opportunities are estimated using Gaussian and hyperbolic distributions. In this particular case study, the hyperbolic distribution is shown to be more effective in quality improvement by prevention than the Gaussian distribution. This also validates the hyperbolic distribution as a suitable distribution for construction quality management.     

Performance Evaluating Model for Construction Companies: Egyptian Case Study

The dynamic nature of today’s construction industry compels construction partners to seek strategies in order to improve performance. Current research introduces a performance evaluation model for construction companies in order to provide a proper tool for a company’s managers, owners, shareholders, and funding agencies to evaluate the performance of construction companies. The model developed helps a company’s management to make the right decisions. Financial, economical, and industrial data are collected from Egyptian construction companies for nine consecutive years (1992–2000). Five indices (models) are developed: company performance score, economy performance score, industry performance score, performance index, and performance grade. The models developed consider companies in four construction sectors: general building, heavy, special trade, and real estate. These models accommodate the effect of macroeconomic and industry related factors and company size on the performance evaluation. The final outcome of current research is a performance grade, which provides the performance of a construction company. The developed model is validated, which shows robust results.     

What Prompts Construction Innovation?

Current and expected chailenges on large engineering and construction projects demand innovative methods for improved performance. Analyses of several examples of innovative engineering and construction techniques for nuclear generating plant projects as presented. The findings based on those analyses identify not only conditions that favor innovation, but also those that appear to restrict the use of new techniques. The writer suggests guidelines for industry professionals and researchers to follow, in order to promote engineering and construction innovation.     

Safety Climate in Construction Industry: A Case Study in Hong Kong

Because of the characteristics of decentralization and mobility in the construction industry, safety culture is crucially important. A comprehensive safety climate questionnaire survey was conducted with all sites and employees of a leading construction company and its subcontractors in Hong Kong. In total, 4,719 records were returned from 54 sites. By means of factor analysis, a 15-factor structure that defines the dimensions of the safety climate has been extracted. Compared with previous research studies, the roles and influences of fellow workers, and safety resources on the safety climate are emphasized. The results also confirm the feasibility of exploring common factors of the safety climate in the construction industry. Through further analysis, logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between the safety climate and personal characteristics. Statistically significant relationships were found between safety climate and personal characteristics, including gender, marital status, education level, number of family members to support, safety knowledge, drinking habits, direct employer, and individual safety behavior. This research is a case study and the results are derived from the data of one company, but the methodology of this research may be useful as a model for further research, and the findings may provide useful information for construction managers and safety practitioners in the construction industry to improve their safety culture.     

End-User Attitudes toward EDM Use in Construction Project Work: Case Study

This paper reports on a cross-sectional case study of a large construction project in which electronic document management (EDM) was used. Attitudes toward EDM from the perspective of individual end-users were investigated. Responses from a survey were combined with data from system usage log files to obtain an overview of attitudes prevalent in different user segments of the total population of 334 users. The survey was followed by semistructured interviews with representative users. A strong majority of users from all segments of the project group considered EDM as a valuable aid in their work processes, despite certain functional limitations of the system used and the complexity of the information mass. Based on the study a model describing the key factors affecting end-user EDM adoption is proposed. The model draws on insight from earlier studies of EDM enabled projects and theoretical frameworks on technology acceptance and success of information systems, as well as the insights gained from the case study.     

Interlocutory Injunctions in Construction Cases in Hong Kong: Revisiting American Cyanamid Principles

Interlocutory injunctions in construction litigation cases are not uncommon, in particular, in construction nuisance cases. Despite its importance, there are only a few written materials dealing with this topic. With the public increasingly aware of their legal rights, it is anticipated that the number of interlocutory injunction applications will remain high in the foreseeable future. It is now timely and a worthwhile exercise to revisit those principles governing the courts’ discretion in granting and rejecting interlocutory injunctions. This paper discusses those factors that are relevant in exercising that discretion and how they should be assessed. It also examines the principles established by Lord Diplock in the landmark case “American Cyanamid,” i.e., how this case influenced judgments in recent Hong Kong construction cases. The paper concludes by summarizing the overriding principles in interlocutory injunction applications.     

Design/Build for Water/Wastewater Facilities: State of the Industry Survey and Three Case Studies

Documented successes of innovative delivery methods and recent changes in procurement laws are enabling water and wastewater utility owners to use alternative delivery methods for the construction of new facilities and the expansion of existing facilities. This shift toward alternative project delivery systems, such as design/build, has resulted in demand for additional guidance for owners and practitioners. This paper provides the results of an industrywide survey and three in-depth case studies. The survey results indicate large-scale growth in the use of design/build project delivery for water and wastewater facilities throughout the United States. The findings from the case studies indicate that common practices exist with regard to selecting a delivery system, contracting, allocating risk, evaluating proposals, determining the level of design in the request for proposals, using consultants, establishing trust, identifying key players, and permitting. These results serve as best practices for owners and practitioners using design/build delivery for the first time.     

Lessons Learned from Rigid Conflict Resolution in an Organization: Construction Conflict Case Study

Success in construction projects mainly depends on how well project managers handle conflicts. There are in general five conflict resolution approaches: withdrawal, compromise, forcing, smoothing, and problem solving. Conflict results are very relevant to the interaction of the approaches. Improperly managed, the interaction often generates psychological residue such as anger that ruins the project. The main objective of this research is, through a case study, to enhance the comprehension of the approaches, their interactions, and the psychological changeovers involved. Although conflict resolution among the contractual parties with privity has been studied widely, the conflicts among the parties either in an owner or in a contractor organization have been rarely researched, although they frequently cause destructive claims to the contractual parties. This research identifies a real construction conflict as the case study that occurred between two functional entities of a local Korean government. The case illustrates that a badly managed conflict in an owner organization causes undesirable claims between contractual parties. Based on the previous research regarding the five approaches and psychological transitions in a conflict resolution process, the case is analyzed to recognize the approaches and psychological changeovers absorbed. Useful lessons from the case are identified through a graduate class discussion.     

Application of a SOM-Based Optimization Algorithm in Minimizing Construction Time for Secant Pile Wall

Construction time matters for activities where rental equipment must be used. The building of a secant pile wall requires the rental of equipment and finding the optimal sequence to minimize the construction time is one way to lower construction costs. In this study we develop an effective and efficient optimization algorithm, which we call self-organizing feature map (SOM)-based optimization (SOMO), to minimize the construction time. The algorithm is applied to a case study to obtain the optimal sequences for both primary and secondary bored piles for a secant pile wall. The new SOMO algorithm is developed based on the ability of the human brain to produce topologically ordered mapping, so as to exploit better solutions via updating the weighting vectors of the neurons in a self-organizing topological way that occurs in the evolution of the feature map for optimization. Given detailed building time of the 16 activities of each bored pile, we find that 143.92 h or 27.21% of the original construction can be saved. The optimal sequences for both primary and secondary bored piles are also determined. The practicability of the SOMO algorithm is substantiated.     

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats: Case Study of Consulting Firms in Shenzhen, China

After China became a member of the World Trade Organization, Chinese architectural, engineering, and project management consulting firms faced competition from not only their domestic competitors but also from foreign firms. As most Chinese consulting firms are used to operating under a protected setting, they may face difficulties competing in the globalized environment. This research involves a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of Chinese consulting firms based in Shenzhen; investigates how they respond to opportunities and threats; and recommends how foreign firms can respond to Chinese consulting firms’ SWOT. The case study research design is adopted. Using semistructured interview questions, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 23 Chinese consulting firms based in Shenzhen. Foreign firms’ responses are investigated through a case study of a U.S.-based consulting firm operating in China. The SWOT analysis reveals that Chinese consulting firms are lagging behind foreign firms in design and technical capability; experience in international projects; general and project management ability; and financial capacity. Industry practitioners from outside China who are contemplating entering the Chinese market can leverage on Chinese firms’ strengths by forming joint ventures with them. Foreign industry practitioners can take advantage of Chinese firms’ weaknesses by offering superior products and services which would improve their competitive advantage.     

Construction Management: MARTA in Retrospect

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) System is a heavy rail, rapid transit system superimposed on the existing fabric of the Atlanta urban area. The MARTA program presented a unique opportunity to assess changes in the construction management process during a major project characterized by repetitive type contracts and a stable management group. A contract packaging approach was used to break the contract work into biddable packages, large enough to attract major national construction contractors, but small enough to provide real competition. A claims review board was established to process contractors' claims expeditiously. A list of practical management suggestions, compiled as a result of the experience gained from the MARTA construction management program, is included.     

Potential Mechanisms for Construction Innovation

Construction presents important opportunities for innovation. Current competitive conditions and owner demands for cost effectiveness provide strong incentives. Examining mechanisms for innovation rather than barriers to technical progress is one means to stimulate advance. This paper describes several advantages and disadvantages which the construction industry presents for innovation. The advantages include project organization, necessity and challenge, engineering and construction integration, low capital investment, capability and experience of key personnel, process emphasis, and variation in methods. Major disadvantages for construction include investment reluctance, competitive conditions, institutional framework, seasonal and economic cyclicity, and the role of suppliers. Based on these conditions, a set of hypotheses is developed (project demands, individual initiative, construction input to design, and transfer from other industries) concerning possible mechanisms for innovation in construction. The paper also reviews prior research regarding innovation in construction and manufacturing, develops practical applications of mechanisms for construction innovation, and highlights conclusions regarding opportunities for technological progress in construction.