Amarasinghe, A A S R; Agdas, D and Dawes, L (2025) Evaluating labour productivity and profitability in precast concrete manufacturing. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 32(13), pp. 148-173. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: Off-site construction (OSC) methods are proposed as a viable improvement to traditional construction with the potential to deliver higher quality products, faster construction times, and reduced project costs. This study aims to provide an insight into the precast concrete manufacturing process (PMP) and the possibility to improve productivity and increase viability of its adoption through realizing its potential benefits. Design/methodology/approach: We collected empirical data from a medium sized Australian precast concrete company and analysed using a system dynamics (SD) modelling approach. The labour productivity and profitability were simulated for different sensitivity scenarios across five (5) main PMP activities: reinforcement, formwork, concreting, finishing, and crane operation. Findings: The results revealed the main bottleneck activity hindering the productivity of PMP as reinforcement. Overtime allocation was identified as the most economical solution compared to increasing the crew size, for a potential fast-tracking scenario. Higher profitability can be achieved by significantly increasing the production throughput by at least 40% as sunk costs are better distributed. Originality/value: Limited research exists quantifying actual data from industry for labour productivity measurement, and cost investigations, especially for the PMP for concrete products. This paper fulfils this gap through the proposed flexible and robust SD models tested using empirical data.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | labour productivity; off-site construction; precast concrete manufacturing process; profitability; system dynamics |
| Index terms: | modelling, off-site construction, construction time, reinforcement, profitability, labour productivity, investigation, precast concrete, formwork, manufacturing process, productivity, traditional construction, methodology, system dynamics, concreting, fast-tracking, project cost |
| Subjects: | building construction, heritage and conservation, manufacturing engineering, research methods, analytical methods, economic analysis, project controls, management, economics, building materials, data collection methods, computing systems |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Site Management, Time Control, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Construction Technology |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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