CPM/LOB: new methodology to integrate CPM and line of balance

In 1963 the United States Federal Government established a Line of Balance Coordinating Committee to study LOB’s applicability and its ties with network scheduling. Ever since many researchers and practitioners attempted to integrate the merits of CPM and LOB in graphical, operational research, and activity-dominated network scheduling. Nevertheless, the obstacles were not truly eliminated in a simple and practical way that was good enough to be accepted and adopted by the construction industry. This work presents CPM/LOB, a new methodology integrating both methods in a network context. It is simple to comprehend and apply using available commercial CPM computer programs, and does not require elaborate training. The method overcomes the vulnerability of CPM to changes in the sequence of work and inability to maintain work continuity for the working squads of the repetitive activities. It introduces float into LOB and revives LOB by creating access to it by commercially available and popular CPM packages. Several additional features are introduced to facilitate the management of planning and control of repetitive projects, such as identifying and quantifying progress that contradicts network logic, evaluating the effect of discrete activities, and measuring the progress regularity on multiple large housing contracts as well as single and small repetitive projects. The principles of the method have been published in Journal of Constructing Engineering and Management of the American Society of Civil Engineers in September 1994. Its practical application on projects in Kuwait and the United States is demonstrated by three case studies.