Hu, D and Mohamed, Y (2014) Simulation-model-structuring methodology for industrial construction fabrication shops. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 140(5): 04014002, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The process of planning and scheduling industrial construction fabrication (ICF) jobs is difficult because the sequence of operations varies considerably from one product to another due to the unique design and configuration of products. Traditional critical path method (CPM)-related approaches are not effective due to CPM's limitation or inability to model the repetition of operations, interactions between resources, and what-if scenarios. Discrete event simulation (DES) is often used to model processes that are repetitive in nature; however, DES has limitations in modeling ICF shops due to considerable differences between operation sequences, which means a model can only be used once per project. This paper proposes a new simulation-model-structuring methodology, which directly addresses product uniqueness and complex routing issues in ICF shops and significantly simplifies the simulation-model development. This methodology fully supports shop scheduling and schedule updating essential for ICF shops that operate under highly dynamic project environments.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | discrete event simulation; industrial construction fabrication; quantitative methods; scheduling; simulation modeling; simulation-model topology |
| Index terms: | methodology, configuration, quantitative method, model development, critical path method, topology, scheduling, simulation modelling, modelling, industrial construction, interaction, fabrication, discrete event simulation |
| Subjects: | building construction, behavioral psychology, systems engineering, manufacturing engineering, research methods, geometry and topology, operations research, modelling and simulation, data analysis and analytics, analytical methods |
| Topics: | Time Control, Engineering Principles, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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