Method to propose directions improving labor productivity in the steel reinforcement activities

The increasing competition in Brazilian building industry has encouraged construction companies to develop efforts in order to enhance their productive efficiency. Naturally, improving labor productivity becomes a critical path to achieve the above goal, since labor represents a significant component of construction costs and its performance may vary considerably from project to project. Likewise other construction services, concrete reinforcing planning stages reasonably lack systematic approaches to reduce the remarkable variability found in labor productivity (30 to 100 men hours/ton) throughout production and assembly processes. Moreover, and differently from other topics such as formwork, concrete reinforcing has not been covered by comprehensive studies in recent years. Therefore, the reported inefficiency in the production process, the impact on construction costs and the lack of systematic studies evidence the relevance of further investigations about this topic. This research proposes guidelines to improve labor productivity in the concrete reinforcing. The methodology involved an international literature review and an extensive data collection, which included interviews with specialists and descriptive case studies in construction sites. Initially, factors that influence labor productivity were identified through literature review and empirical studies. Subsequently, these factors were grouped in three main categories: product design (especiallyreinforcement detailing), production method and work organization factors. Then a method to improve the productivity in concrete reinforcing was proposed and finally validated though application in a real case study. ) The resulting guidelines may arguably support decision makers throughout the planning process of concrete reinforcing, including: i) structural engineers, who may take into account construct ability issues during the conception of design solutions; ii) contractors and subcontractors, who may conceive reinforcing systems more efficiently as to rationalize production operations and achieve better performances; and iii) those responsible for workers' organization, who may bring efficiency gains to the production process and benefits for all the stakeholders.