Johnson, B T (2007) Exploring the use of virtual construction to capture knowledge and reduce waste for residential projects. PhD thesis, Colorado State University, USA.
Abstract
Construction lags behind manufacturing in productivity, occupational safety, and construction quality is considered to be insufficient (Koskela, 2000). Additionally, cost has continued to increase faster than the rate of inflation preventing many Americans from realizing home ownership (Shiller, 2006). Many of the advancements in manufacturing can be traced to the Lean production techniques developed by Toyota Motors (Ohno, 1988; Womack, 1996). A current line of research in the construction industry is focused on infusing Lean production principles into construction. Lean construction has not been significantly diffused in the construction industry primarily because it is a set of guiding principles or theory rather than an established set of practices. Few project management tools have been developed on the foundation lean principles. Producers of most manufactured products experienced breakthrough advances in productivity due to the digital-based convergence of 3-D CAD representations and production processes. The 3-D model serves as the medium for communication and collaboration among project participants. Products are digitally created and produced seamlessly from concept through production (Kolarevic, 2003). This study used a mixed methods sequential exploratory design (case study and quasi-experiment) to investigate waste in the residential on-site framing process. A new set of construction documents founded on lean principles was developed and tested for effectiveness to reduce waste. Much of the waste in the residential framing process is associated with the information-poor traditional construction documentation. This study provided insight into the waste activities associated with residential framing by identifying four information categories associated with the waste. These categories are, preference information, conflicting information, insufficient information, and hard to find and/or confusing information. A set of traditional construction documents (TCD) was compared to a set of new construction documents (NCD) produced from a 3-D model on construction time, construction quality (including accuracy), and framing experience. The results of the quasi-experiment showed a significant reduction in time and an increase in accuracy when using the NCD. The results also showed that quality (not including accuracy) was a function of experience. Overall, it was found that when crews used the NCD produced from a 3-D model, waste was reduced.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Gloeckner, G |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | accuracy; ownership; residential; collaboration; communication; documentation; inflation; lean construction; lean production; manufacturing; safety; productivity; case study; owner |
| Index terms: | experiment, framing, accuracy, production process, lean production, documentation, lean construction, preference, construction quality, inflation, residential project, collaboration, documents, productivity, owner, case study, traditional construction, mixed method, construction industry, occupational safety, construction time, project management, effectiveness, ownership |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, conceptual models, data collection methods, sociology, building construction, project controls, occupational health and safety management, quality assurance, industry analysis, heritage and conservation, performance management, economics, decision-making and reasoning, management, economic development, manufacturing engineering, project management theory and practice, professional development |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Quality Management, Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice, Site Management, Organizational Design, Time Control, Urban Studies, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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