Making Formwork Design Lean

Abstract

Traditional formwork design processes entail considerable waste, increasing non-value-adding manpower costs and operational time. The purpose of this research is to use lean thinking in formwork design so as to enhance design correctness and eliminate waste through establishing a Lean Formwork Design Process. In the design process, the concurrent design concept is adopted to provide a visual communication platform for design team members using Building Information Modeling (BIM). Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) are used as a protocol for sharing design artifacts. Design correctness is established to review and correct design errors, thus allowing for the construction of an organizational learning environment. Finally, the Lean Formwork Design Process is conceptualized using stock-flow diagrams. A real case is used to validate the applicability of the proposed approach. Application results show that the proposed method can enhance design correctness and reduce manpower waste and operational time in formwork engineering. This study is one of the first to apply lean thinking to improve practices in formwork design.

Analysis of Industrial Formwork Systems Supply Chain Using Value Stream Mapping

“…Several studies have been carried out in formwork engineering to improve the productivity and performance of RC construction projects. Most of the previous studies focused on formwork engineering were grouped under three main topics: (1) lean design of the formwork and its implementation on the construction site with a lean approach (e.g., Ko and Kuo, 2019;Ko and Kuo, 2020), (2) determination of the selection and constructability assessment criteria for the formwork (e.g., Krawczynska-Piechna, 2016; Kannan and Santhi, 2018), and (3) application of decision-making methods for the appropriate formwork selection (e.g., Shin et al, 2012;Elbeltagi et al, 2012). This study aims to identify the industrial formwork system SCCs in the Turkish RC construction industry and to analyze the time performance of these configurations.…”

“…Based on Ko et al (2011)'s study, Ko and Kuo (2015) employed VSM to analyze non-value adding activities in the LFD production flow and to increase customer value by early detection of hidden problems resulting in waste and rework. Following this study, Ko and Kuo (2019) proposed a systematic method called lean formwork design (LFD), which integrates "concurrent design" and "system dynamics" into the formwork design process in order to reduce waste and increase efficiency in RC construction. The proposed method aims to improve the design value by reducing or eliminating design problems or errors in the early phases of the project.…”

“…The proposed method aims to improve the design value by reducing or eliminating design problems or errors in the early phases of the project. The effectiveness of the proposed method was validated using computer simulations (Ko and Kuo 2019). Sudhakar et al (2017) utilized VSM as a lean tool to determine the lead times and non-value-added times for rebar installation, formwork installation, and concrete pouring activities for RC column and slab processes.…”

“…This information is best provided by the FWF due to its expertise and knowledge of the assembly, erection, and striking times of the formwork systems. Ko and Kuo (2019) argued that the integration of the formwork subcontractor (i.e., FWF) into the formwork design process in coordination with other stakeholders could reduce design errors and change orders during construction phases. Ko (2017) highlighted that design quality could be improved by almost 50% in the early phases of the project, taking into account feedback from all stakeholders on the design.…”

“…The FWF selects the formwork alternatives and determines the quantity of the formwork by exchanging information with the contractor's technical and procurement departments. In SCC 2, "concurrent design" approach proposed by Ko and Kuo (2019), which enables the incorporation and integration of design knowledge of all stakeholders at an early phase, is adopted. In general, the FWF has better stock and quantity knowledge and uses standardized methods to optimize the formwork solution before negotiations start so that rework can be reduced.…”