Optimal work assignment to multiskilled resources in prefabricated construction

Multiskilling allows for dynamic reallocation of workers from one stage of production to another in response to bottleneck configurations and, therefore, has been advocated as a potential strategy to improve productivity in off-site construction. The aim of this research is to investigate the extent to which operational benefits associated with different resource management policies pertaining to bottleneck configurations can be achieved in off-site construction. To this end, the flow shop environment is recognized as an appropriate operational framework for modeling production dynamics. A quadratic resource allocation model was developed to expose different operational performances corresponding to different resource management strategies. Different resource management policies included no cross-training, hiring single-skilled crew, direct capacity balancing, chaining, and hiring multiskilled crew. Operational performance encompassed makespan and labor costs. Production data from a prefabrication factory based in Melbourne, Australia, were fed to the model, providing the basis for comparison of different resource management policies. Research findings contribute to resource planning and management in off-site construction.