Process Versus Operations Workflow – Making the Case for Continuous Monitoring of Construction Operations

Abstract

This article argues that an opportunity to leverage operations flow in construction exists. Operations flow represents the flow of work within a unit of production such as a worker or workstation. To date, construction has mostly neglected operations flow and solely focused on process flow. Process flow represents how the flow of work on a product moves through workstations or tasks. For example, the Last Planner System (LPS) exemplifies a successful approach to plan for tasks with resolved constraints, so that production units (e.g. crews) can flow smoothly through the built product or project. In order to spark a discussion in the construction community, this article provides a theoretical review of process and operations flow concepts and practices. In addition, interviews with subject matter experts in the automobile industry are leveraged in order to unveil how work and information flows are monitored in assembly lines. Based on the previous insights, a model for the continuous monitoring of operations in construction with the support of advanced technologies is discussed. The model is partially implemented in a healthcare project.

Role of a Digital Last Planner® System to Ensuring Safe and Productive Workforce and Workflow in Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Apart from LPS, line of balance has gained popularity in terms of maintaining the flow and promoting the safety for production. The location-based planning and line of balance combined approach is supportive for controlling process flow and operation flow simultaneously (Grau et al, 2019). The major focus here is the maintaining the flow of workforce in such a way that the safety hazards can be minimised in alignment with the process flow.…”

A Holonic Construction Management System for the Efficient Implementation of Building Energy Renovation Actions

“…Examples of unpredictable events affecting the construction process are bad weather conditions, work site accidents, supply chain delays, and productivity rates variation [3,4]. This implies flow variability that negatively impacts project performance and productivity [6,7], and requires frequent and demanding updates of the construction schedule [3]. Among common attitudes, it is worth mentioning that methodologies and tools conceived for general project management are very often used to support site management [3].…”

“…In the attempt to adopt PROSA in the construction domain, the differences between the AEC and manufacturing industries must be considered. In fact, the construction industry is usually more fragmented than the manufacturing industry [3], and flows of processes and operations do not coexist resulting in a batch production mode [7]. In construction sites, unlike manufacturing ones, which are characterized by strict assembly lines, work spaces are both dynamic and contextual entities that must be considered limited resources [9].…”

Uncovering and Visualizing Work Process Interruptions Through Quantitative Workflow Analysis

“…Both are used to track completed tasks by comparing actual start and finish dates with planned milestones and adjusting accordingly through a technical or social process at trade and project levels (Kenley & Seppänen, 2010). At trade levels, the detail of information required to perform daily or task-related work is of higher granularity than at a project level as in LPS and LBMS (Görschet al 2020;Grau et al 2020). Task orders at operational levels should include start and end dates as well as information on the products to be built, locations, materials, equipment, method, etc.…”