A Framework for Design of Panelized Wood Framing Prefabrication Utilizing Multi-panels and Crew Balancing by Ziad Ajweh A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Construction Engineering and Management Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Alberta © Ziad Ajweh, 2014 Abstract The construction industry is highly competitive and continually striving towards improving its performance in terms of time, cost, quality, and safety. Improved performance is essential to survival in today’s construction market. In this regard, measuring productivity can facilitate improved performance by establishing performance baselines, identifying problems, optimizing resources, creating dashboards and benchmarking, and evaluating improvement measures. Obtaining a framework for measuring productivity in construction confronts a problem within the complexity of the construction industry’s features and variability. The focus of this research is on establishing labour productivity modules for the fabrication stage of panels in panelized home buildings. Numerous techniques, such as lean concepts, last planner system, and line of balance are applied in order to assess production line performance in the machine assembly line, while a regression model is used to estimate productivity in the manual assembly line. Both modules are implemented and verified in a home building manufacturer in Edmonton in order to improve the overall performance of the assembly lines. ii Preface This thesis is an original work by Ziad Ajweh. No part of this thesis has been previously published. The literature review in Chapter 2 includes a reference to a collaborative study based upon which Ziad Ajweh co-authored a paper along with Dr. Bashar Younes, Dr. Ahmed Bouferguène, Dr. Mohamed Al-Hussein, and Dr. Haitao Yu. This paper is cited as part of the thesis’ literature review, but does not contain material published as part of this thesis. The author’s contributions to this paper involved developing the simulation model and contributing to the analysis of the results. The paper is cited in the list of references as follows: Younes, B., Bouferguène, A., Al-Hussein, M., Yu, H. & Ajweh, Z. (2013). “Aged-invoice management: a lean and post-lean simulation approach.” 4th Construction Specialty Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Mohamed Al-Hussein and Dr. Mustafa Gül for their invaluable supervision. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Landmark team: Mr. Reza Nasseri (CEO), Mr. Curt Beyer (VP), Mr. Michael Schmidt (Plant Manager), Dr. Haitao Yu (Senior Researcher), Mr. Alfred Porsche (Drafting Manager), Mr. Francisco Villarroel (Manufacturing Engineer) in addition to the production managers, engineers, drafters, schedulers, technicians, crew leaders, labour, and others at Landmark Building Solutions, for their kindness, supervision, collaboration, support, and assistance. I owe my deepest gratitude to my parents for instilling in me the desire to learn and the motivation to succeed. I would like to express my appreciation to all others who supported me, both directly and indirectly, through friendship and encouragement. I would like to express my gratitude to NSERC, which provided funding for this research. Many thanks to all those within the Construction Engineering and Management Group as well as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta for their support and kind words. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Preface............................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1 : Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Motivation ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Goals ........................................................................................ 1 1.3 Thesis Organization.......................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2 : Literature Review and Relative Background .......................................................... 4 2.1 Literature on Productivity Measurement in Construction ................................................ 4 2.1.1 Productivity Measurement ........................................................................................ 6 2.1.2 Productivity Studies ................................................................................................ 10 2.2 Literature on Management Items Related to Productivity in Construction ................... 13 2.2.1 Profitability ............................................................................................................. 13 2.2.2 Performance ............................................................................................................ 13 2.2.3 Effectiveness and Efficiency ................................................................................... 14 2.2.4 The Triple-p model ................................................................................................. 15 2.2.5 Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) .................................................................. 16 2.2.6 Benchmarking ......................................................................................................... 16 2.2.7 Last Planner System ................................................................................................ 17 2.2.8 Line of Balance ....................................................................................................... 19 2.2.9 Value Stream Mapping ........................................................................................... 20 2.2.10 Post Lean simulation ............................................................................................... 21 2.3 Relative Background ...................................................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Manufacturing Technology (MANTECH) Assets .................................................. 22 2.3.2 A Comparative Study on Construction versus Manufacturing ............................... 23 v 2.3.3 Comparative Study between Manual and Machine Stations in Off-site Construction 25 2.3.4 Factory-Built Housing Industry .............................................................................. 26 Chapter 3 : Proposed Methodologies....................................................................................... 28 3.1 Research Processes and Methodology Road Map.......................................................... 28 3.1.1 General Key-factors Impacting Productivity in Panelized Construction ................ 29 3.1.2 Productivity Models and Parameters-Machine Line Assembly .............................. 29 3.1.3 Productivity Models and Parameters-Manual station ............................................. 34 Chapter 4 : Implementation and Case Study ........................................................................... 38 4.1 General Processes and Activities in Panelized Construction ......................................... 38 4.2 Detailed Processes in Off-site Walls Fabrication Stage ................................................. 40 4.3 Application of Proposed Methodologies -- Case Study ................................................. 45 4.3.1 Production Mix and Panel’s Families: .................................................................... 45 4.4 Machine line Assembly .................................................................................................. 47 4.4.1 Data Collection in the Studied Stations .................................................................. 48 4.4.2 Applying Product Quantity Analysis ...................................................................... 50 4.4.3 Cycle Time for Each Product Family ..................................................................... 53 4.4.4 Exploring Implementation Strategies and Scenarios at Machine -Assembly Line . 55 4.4.5 Implementation of Simulation Model ..................................................................... 58 4.4.6 Mapping Different Scenarios of the Current State ................................................. 59 4.4.7 Verification of the Simulation Model ..................................................................... 60 4.4.8 Analyzing the Model Results .................................................................................