Breakdown Work Sampling

Abstract

The Work Sampling (WS) technique has been used in the construction industry since the 1960s to understand how workers spend their time. However, the WS categories have exhibited variation throughout history due to interpretation and application discrepancies. This lack of consensus on what represents Value-Adding-Work (VAW) and Non-Value-Adding-Work (NVAW), has hindered the use of data from previous WS studies for further analysis. For this reason, this research aims to understand how the data obtained from the WS application can be analyzed to discuss value. To address this question, the authors adopted a case study as the primary research strategy. The phenomenon of the present study comprises the activities involved in the renovation process in residential buildings. The phenomenon is studied through the application of the WS technique. The authors adopted previous analyses from the existing literature and proposed new types of analyses. The discussion section presents various kinds of analysis based on a breakdown of categories into codes: (1) general analysis; (2) a category breakdown analysis; (3) one single component/material analysis; (4) recategorized activities analysis; and (5) correlation analysis. The proposal of a detailed code classification, named breakdown work sampling, represents the main novelty of this study.

Analysing the Value Adding Activities in the Brazilian Construction Companies

“…Despite criticisms regarding the reliability of the method, Wandahl et al (2022) monitored data through nine days of continuous WSM application considering Direct Work, Indirect Work and Wastes. They concluded that the WS Method is robust, considering the three types of testing involved in the Research (Wandahl et al, 2022;SALLING et al, 2022).…”

Framework for Integrating Productive, Contributory, and Noncontributory Work with Safe and Unsafe Acts and Conditions

“…DW is related to value-adding work time [ 23 ]. However, the lack of consensus created various subcategories of nondirect work [ 17 ]. After 1985, most researchers applied two additional categories, supportive work and waste time, which eventually evolved into indirect work (IW) and waste work (WW) [ 17 , 23 ].…”

“…Work sampling (WS) is a technique used by researchers to define and understand the types of productive work of workers on project sites [ 16 ]. However, there are still variations and discrepancies between authors [ 17 ]. For instance, [ 18 ] defines indirect work as talking, preparation, and transportation, while [ 19 ] classifies them as preparation, work supplements, administrative, and unusual elements.…”

Innovation opportunities from made-to-order gypsum boards in renovation projects: a case study in Denmark

“…The observers of the study, represented by the two first authors, developed a breakdown work classification of 32 activities related to the gypsum installation during the first day of the study. The adaptation of the WS Technique proposed by Salling et al [26], called Breakdown Work Sampling (BWS), was adopted. BWS supports the easy identification of the time spent on each of the activities that compose one construction process by developing a detailed list of codes for each main work activity category.…”

“…The adoption of a detailed list of codes allows, among other possibilities, to move codes from one main category to another. This represents a transparent way of manipulating the data that can be useful when comparing data to previous studies, where observations have been categorised differently [26], and to simulate different possible scenarios assuming other conditions. The breakdown codes were classified within six categories (see Appendix 1): ( 1…”