https://doi.org/10.24928/2021/0178

Slack in Construction - Part 2: Practical Applications

Tarcisio Abreu Saurin¹, Daniela Dietz Viana², Carlos Torres Formoso³, Iris D. Tommelein⁴, Lauri Koskela⁵, Marcus Fireman⁶, Karina Barth⁷, Fernanda Bataglin⁸, Rafael Coelho⁹, Vishesh Singh¹⁰, Carolina Zani¹¹, Natália Ransolin¹² & Claudia Guerra Disconzi¹³

¹Associate Professor, Industrial Engineering and Transportation Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-2929-5888
²Adjunct Professor, Interdisciplinary Department, NORIE, UFRGS, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-8958-4708
³Professor, Building Innovation Research Unit (NORIE), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-4772-3746
⁴Professor, Civil and Envir. Engrg. Dept., Director, Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), University of California, Berkeley, CA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6596
⁵Professor, Civil and Envir. Engrg. Dept., Director, Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), University of California, Berkeley, CA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6596
⁶PhD Student, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre 90035-190, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-5843-4715
⁷PhD Candidate, NORIE, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Consultant and Managing Partner at LD Consulting, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-9612-6246
⁸PhD Candidate, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-8859-1201
⁹PhD Student, Civil and Envir. Eng. Dept. and Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-3298-3622
¹⁰PhD Student, Civil and Envir. Eng. Dept. and Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-6999-9727
¹¹PhD Student, Civil and Envir. Eng. Dept. and Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-6999-9727
¹²PhD Candidate, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-7128-8000
¹³PhD Candidate, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-7128-8000

Abstract

Construction projects are exposed to a wide diversity of variabilities, which suggests the existence of a correspondent wide diversity of variability coping mechanisms, whether they are designed or not. This wide diversity is not properly accounted for by the concept of buffer, as it neglects the social and informal dimensions of coping with variability. The use of the concept of slack is proposed as an alternative. A companion IGLC 29 paper defines slack and discusses its relationships with proxy concepts such as flexibility and resilience. This paper presents nine practical examples of slack in managerial processes and topics that are of interest for the lean construction community. These examples suggest that, while slack has been concealed by the lack of theorization and consistent terminology, it is ubiquitous in lean construction. Opportunities for future studies are outlined

Keywords

Slack, complexity, concept map

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Reference

Saurin, T. A. , Viana, D. D. , Formoso, C. T. , Tommelein, I. D. , Koskela, L. , Fireman, M. , Barth, K. , Bataglin, F. , Coelho, R. , Singh, V. , Zani, C. , Ransolin, N. & Disconzi, C. G. 2021. Slack in Construction - Part 2: Practical Applications, Proc. 29th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 197-206. doi.org/10.24928/2021/0178

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