This article presents strategies for teaching scheduling methods such as takt-time, flowlines, and point-to-point precedence relations (PTPPRs) using building information modeling (BIM) models in the Last Planner System. This article is the extended version of the article entitled "Teaching Takt-Time, Flowline and Point-to-point Precedence Relations: A Peruvian Case Study," which has been published in Procedia Engineering (Vol. 196, 2017, pages 666-673). A case study is conducted in final year students of civil engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. The mock-up project is an educational building that has high repetitive processes in the structural works phase. First, traditional tools such as Excel spreadsheets and 2D drawings were used to teach production system design with takt-time, flowlines, and PTPPR. Second, 3D and 4D models with Revit 2016 and Navisworks 2016 were used to integrate the previous schedules with a BIM model and to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, Vico Office was used for the automation of schedules and comparison of the methods in 4D and 5D. This article describes the lectures, workshops, and simulations employed, as well as the feedback from students and researchers. The success of the teaching strategy is reflected in the survey responses from students and the final perceptions of the construction management tools presented.

No abstract

In most residential building construction, the production system design relies on the assumption of linearity per zone and per story, thus, takt-time schedules and flow lines are produced accordingly. However, in practice, such smoothness is difficult to achieve due to non-linear and non-repetitive projects. This research aims to identify the main challenges of the production system design when a planning team faces such projects. To achieve this objective, lean scheduling methods are analysed by a complex production system framework including: variety of tasks, task interdependence, supply chain interdependence, and work density. Two simulation case studies are presented. First, the finishing phase of a residential building presents the case of a non-linear project. Second, the structural works of an industrial project presents the challenges of a non-repetitive project. The main finding is that non-repetitive projects can be handled as multiple repetitive non-linear stages. However, the main challenges include the reciprocal interdependence between trade contractors, the work density disparity between locations and trades, the capacity buffer design, and production rates predictions for the assembly of one-off products. This research contributes to the understanding of scheduling in projects where the linearity assumption of activities is violated.