Gouett, M C; Haas, C T; Goodrum, P M and Caldas, C H (2011) Activity analysis for direct-work rate improvement in construction. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 137(12), pp. 1117-1124. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
In the construction industry, on-site labor is one of the most variable and costly factors that affect project profits. Because of the variable nature of construction labor and its correlation with profits, construction managers require a comprehensive understanding of the activities of workers on-site. For project success, it is obviously important that workers are spending the majority of their time installing materials that advance the project. This material installation time is known in the construction industry as direct-work or tool time. Continuously improving the direct-work rate through the life of the project is critical to project success, and yet no workface assessment method exists in the literature to provide (1)a detailed description of worker activities; or (2)a continuous productivity improvement process to help management identify productivity inhibitors affecting site labor, develop a plan to reduce or eliminate these issues, and measure improvements as a result of these changes. In response to this need, this research focused on the development of a workface assessment method called activity analysis. Activity analysis is a continuous productivity performance improvement process, which efficiently measures the time expenditure of workers on-site and identifies productivity inhibitors that management must reduce or eliminate to provide workers with more time for direct-work activities. Six case studies were conducted to verify the feasibility of the activity analysis process. Further, cyclical data from two major construction firms, including 26 project data points, were collected and analyzed to statistically validate the hypothesis, which in the past was supported by limited numbers of case studies, that activity analysis can improve direct-work rates. The research concluded that activity analysis, as a continuous performance improvement process, is feasible and when continually applied to a construction site, can significantly improve direct-work rates through the life of a project.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | activity analysis; continuous improvement; direct-work rate; productivity; tool time; work sampling; wrench time |
| Index terms: | performance improvement, construction labour, sampling, construction industry, project success, case study, productivity, continuous improvement, construction manager, project data, construction site, construction firm, profit |
| Subjects: | organization, data collection methods, profession, work location, economic analysis, management, performance measurement, project management theory and practice, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Site Management, Quality Management, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Project Management, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here