https://doi.org/10.24928/2023/0244

Workload Leveling Metrics for Location-Based Process Design

Vishesh V. Singh¹ & Iris D. Tommelein²

¹Ph.D. Candidate, Engineering and Project Management Program, Civil and Environmental Engrg. Dept., Graduate Student Researcher, Project Production Systems Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-6999-9727
² Ph.D. Candidate, Engineering and Project Management Program, Civil and Environmental Engrg. Dept., Graduate Student Researcher, Project Production Systems Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-6999-9727

Abstract

Process design can help to meet project deadlines and ensure a smooth workflow. While work structuring (WS) is commonly used to design processes as linear flows, doing so may not account for 2-dimensional spatial variation in work and such variation can disrupt the flow. To limit disruption, takt production and the Work Density Method (WDM) have been developed, but metrics are yet needed to gauge and visualize the quality of workloads to achieve the desired flow. This paper presents multiple perspectives to assess desired outcomes of workload leveling and formalizes them into optimization objectives. It proposes nine metrics, grouped into seven types, to measure the success of achieving these objectives. The value of these metrics is illustrated using XLWoLZo, an Excel-based tool with an off-the-shelf genetic algorithm (GA), to solve a toy problem. The paper compares XLWoLZo’s results obtained with the suggested metrics to the results of the metric used in existing models, examines how the resulting values of metrics compare to one another, and assesses their impact on desired outcomes. The paper concludes that no single “best” metric exists and suggests combining metrics to balance conflicting objectives. Finally, the paper discusses limitations and offers future research directions.

Keywords

Process, Location-based planning, Takt planning (TP), Flow, Variabilit

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Reference

Singh, V. V. & Tommelein, I. D. 2023. Workload Leveling Metrics for Location-Based Process Design , Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC31) , 1593-1604. doi.org/10.24928/2023/0244

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