CE 366 Introduction to Construction Engineering

Summer 2022

Project and Production Planning

Instructor: Qiuhua Duan PhD.

Sears: Construction Project Management 6th Edition

Lesson Objectives

• Describe project planning

• Explain work breakdown structure

• Explain the key components of production planning

• Describe Lean Construction and Explain key Lean Tools and Principles

• Compare between Lean and Traditional construction

Sears: Chapter 2 - 4

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Project Planning
• Project plan is a formal document designed to guide the control and execution of
a project.

• Project planning is a procedural step, where required documentation is created to

ensure successful project completion

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Project Planning
• Forming a construction plan is a challenging task, as it requires backward
reasoning abilities.
• As Sherlock Holmes noted
“Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result
would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them
that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told
them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the
steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of
reasoning backward.”[Doyle 1930]

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Alternative Planning Strategies

Beginning to End Planning

• Step by step sequential plan from mobilization to commissioning

Top-Down Planning

• Moving from a high level strategic view with few activities to a detailed view
with many activities

• The result is the Work Breakdown Structure

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Top Down Planning: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• The WBS breaks the project down into construction elements

• It is a listing of the discrete activities that must be accomplished to finish the

project

• An activity is a continuous piece of work that has a well defined start, finish,
and duration

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Advantages
• Starts at concept and evolves
• Starts with the big picture, adds detail, which is
✓
✓
✓
• Critical elements less likely forgotten:
✓less chance of missing the forest for the trees
• Focus can remain on small, easily handled parts

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Production Planning

Tomoichi Sato's interpretation of the Production System

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Production Planning

• Establishes the methods to be used, the assignment of personnel, movement

of material and workforce, and the process of assembling sub-activities

• Concerned with how activities are going to be accomplished

• = Macro planning

• = Micro planning

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Production Planning

• Traditional Production Planning

✓Optimizing performance at activity level

✓Fragmented planning

✓Schedule uncertainty

• Novel Production Planning (Lean Construction)

✓Derived from Lean Manufacturing

✓Squeezes the waste out of the production process

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Production Planning

• Off site and on site management of materials and equipment

✓ Access to the site

✓ Site layout, including

o Access roads

o Paths for vehicles and equipment

o Layout of field offices and facilities

o Laydown areas

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Production Planning

• Technical challenges include:

✓ Providing unobstructed movement of heavy equipment

✓ Efficient material management on site

✓ Providing adequate services and utilities

✓ Controlling access for safety and efficiency

✓ Management of temporary support structures

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Production Planning: Personnel

• Safety is a top priority

• Access to the work face and support facilities

• Parking

• Safety equipment

• Training

• Human resource policies and procedures

• Maintaining high morale

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Production Planning: Personnel
Safety Planning
• Safety is a key factor in all aspects of the job
✓Production
✓Quality
✓Cost
✓Schedule
✓Reputation
• Construction is, by nature dangerous
✓Safety planning is a major part of managing the risk

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Production Planning: Personnel
Safety Planning
• Considers such things as:
✓Behavior
✓The physical environment
✓Material handling and storage
✓Tools and equipment
✓Personal attention
o Distractions
o Substance use/abuse
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Production Planning: Work Quality

Planning for Quality

• Quality processes

• Quality product

• Quality workmanship

• Quality materials and installed equipment

• Quality culture and experience for all

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Production Planning: Materials
Supply Chain Management
• Starts with design
✓Materials and equipment
✓Processes to install
• Submittals and approvals
• Product purchasing
• Manufacture and/or fabrication
• Delivery to the site and receiving
• Onsite receiving and storage
• Delivery to the work face

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Production Planning: Materials
Onsite Management of Materials
• Creative management is important
✓Prefabrication can minimize onsite handling
✓Commodities can be managed my a distributor onsite
✓Materials can be pre-packaged and palletized and delivered to the point of
installation
✓Security minimizes theft and breakage

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Production Planning: Equipment
Equipment Planning
• A key factor in heavy/civil jobs
• Important for commercial jobs, considering
✓Equipment selection
✓Equipment maintenance
✓Equipment operation
✓Equipment sharing
✓Equipment ownership (own vs. rent)

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The New Production Model
• Though each project is unique, construction processes are repetitive from job to
job
✓Mobilization
✓Procurement
✓Managing change
✓Cash flow management
• Repetitive processes can be managed and improved
• LEAN CONSTRUCTION!

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Lean Construction
• What is Lean Construction?

Architect/Engineer Owner General

Contractor

Vendors Subcontractors

Lean construction is a set principles and tools to facilitate planning and control,
and throughout the construction process.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iETiCQ4eiiA
Waste in Construction

Current Manufacturing Current Construction

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Lean Principles and Tools

• Waste - 8 Types

• IPD

• 5S

• Visual Work Place

• Reliable Promises

• Electronic Documents

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Eight Wastes in Construction

1. Defects 5. Transportation

2. Overproduction 6. Inventory

3. Waiting 7. Motion

4. Non-Utilized Human Talent 8. Extra Processing

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LEAN Principles and Tools
• Shared risk
• Shared gain
• Increased transparency
• More control
• Reliable Promises
• More collaboration

Integrated Project Delivery

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Lean Tools: 5S

• Everything On
Wheels
• Nothing Hits the
Ground
• Subcontractor
Laydown Areas
• Continuous Cleaning
• Sustaining the Plan
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Lean Tools: Visual Work Place
Owner Signage -
Include Project
Goals or Condition
of Satisfaction
(CoS) • Clear Signage -
Boards and
Lists- Get the Restroom, Lunch, &
files out of the Staging Area
computer and • Owner Signage -
into the open Include Project Goals
or Condition of
Satisfaction (CoS)
• Boards and Lists
• Color Coding Site

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 Lean Tool - Visual Work Place
Subcontractor
Set expectation early laydown areas
and often. Get the and 5S
information in places organization
the field staff have
access to it.

Establish flow
and direction.
Color Coding of Floor- Logistic plan
Visual work is used in
should be posted
pull planning to talk
about batch sizing. on project.
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Lean Tool - Reliable Promises
• Pull Planning (Last Planner System®)

Pull Planning provides

project alignment and
schedule buy in with
subcontractors. Pull
Planning is just a different
way of running a
foreman’s meeting

Daily Forman
Huddles- Tracking Breakout Meeting-
Percent Promise Addressing Complex
Complete (PPC) Issues in Smaller Groups
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix7k0uK2AwA
Lean Tool - Electronic Documents

Everything Lives
in the Cloud

Electronic Documents
provide the most current
information to entire
project team and reduce
waste and rework.
• E-Doc’s
• Tablets - Including
Subcontractor Foremen

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Lean Tool - Electronic Documents
• BIM
✓Model as much as possible-
The more the better
✓Maximize learning curve
prior to work in field
✓Minimize variation created
by errors

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Lean vs. Traditional

• Making things happen • Monitoring results

• Maximizing value and minimizing • Attempting to optimize each individual

waste at the project level activity

• Value throughout the life of the project • defining requirements at the outset for
11 delivery at the end

• Pulling and continuous flow • Schedule-driven push

• Decentralized decision-making • Central authority

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-RB1Lw4wmA 34
Lean construction: Embrace changes

“It is not necessary to change.

Survival is not mandatory”
W. Edwards Deming

Credit: Jeff Anderson Lean Construction Institute

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