Revisiting the applicability of learning curve theory to formwork labour productivity

Abstract

The learning phenomenon has proved applicable in various industries, especially those associated with mass productions, such as aircraft and automobile assembly. The learning process in labour-intensive industries is assumed to be more significant in the sense that automated work is constrained by the fact that machines cannot benefit from previous experience and therefore would not 'learn' to run any faster or increase the rate of production. Several previous investigations into the applicability of learning curve theory to the construction industry proved the importance of this concept to labour productivity. Nevertheless, a thorough examination of the literature revealed a dearth of research into the effect of learning on the formwork operation of building floors. Consequently, the objective of this research is to explore the influence of recurring building floor configurations on formwork labour productivity. To achieve this objective, formwork labour inputs from 45 multi-storey in situ reinforced concrete building frames were collected and analysed using the straight-line learning curve model. The cumulative average input for each cycle, i.e. floor, and its associated cycle number were modelled using the least squares method. According to the learning curve theory, we expect the labour inputs to decrease by a certain percentage, as the cycle number increases. Based on the results obtained, there is very little evidence for that.Formwork, labour inputs, labour productivity, learning curve theory, learning phenomenon,

Transferring project management knowledge: lessons learned in open standards projects

“…The main production unit of the industry is a temporary organization (such as the SPie project) based on sub-contracting labor provision formed to construct a unique structure ( Jarkas & Horner 2011). The lack of operational permanence is why radical whole-industry change is advocated, and why attempts at implementation have been an ineffective method of increasing industry productivity (Hughes & Thorpe 2014;Kenley 2003).…”

“…In the specific case of a research project, this means actively searching for problems that will not be solvable and eliminating them from the scope of the project (Hughes & Thorpe 2014;Jarkas & Horner 2011).…”

A Mathematical Model for Quantifying Workers’ Learning Range on Repetitive Construction Projects

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A case productivity model for automatic climbing system

“…Most of these works focussed only on the formwork selection and cost, particularly conventional formworks (Tam et al, 2005;Hanna et al, 1992;Kamarthi et al, 1992;Elbeltagi et al, 2011;Ratary, 1980). A study focussed on exploring the influence of recurring building floor configurations on formwork labor productivity (Jarkas and Horner, 2011). The findings indicated that there was no potential context for the learning curve theory to be used as a useful tool to quantify productivity improvement of formwork installation.…”

“…The limitations of ACS are as follows (Kamarthi et al, 1992;Hanna, 1999;Elbeltagi et al, 2011;Jarkas and Horner, 2011;Tam et al, 2005):…”