Effects of Production Control Strategy and Duration Variance on Productivity and Work in Process: Simulation-Based Investigation

Improving productivity and reducing work-in-process are two activities that can improve project performance, but are often difficult to accomplish. The construction process is complex and consists of a large number of interdependent and sequential tasks. Construction activities are simulated as serial production lines, using state-and resource-based simulation of construction processes simulation models, to investigate the effects that different production control strategies (push/pull and balanced/unbalanced) have on productivity and work-in-process. The sensitivity to task duration variance is also examined for different working strategies. Simulation results are used to compare the models based on their performance. In the presence of duration variance, push strategies result in higher productivity, whereas pull strategies result in lower amounts of work-in-process. Pull strategies are more sensitive to the presence of duration variance. Work-in-process is also a function of the coefficient of variance. Simulation results are used to compare the tradeoffs between strategies. The findings will help construction managers better understand the effects of working strategies and conditions to decide which production control strategy is best suited for their needs. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000517. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.