Percent Planned Complete: Development and Testing of a Simulation to Increase Reliability in Scheduling
Noorien Bhaidani1, Zofia Rybkowski2, James P. Smith3, Iftekharuddin Choudhury4 & Rodney Hill5
1Graduate Student, Department of Construction Science, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, e-mail: [email protected]2Assistant Professor, Department of Construction Science, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, tel: 979-845-4354, e-mail: [email protected] *corresponding author
3Assistant Professor, Department of Construction Science and Management, College of Architecture, Art and Humanities, Clemson University, Clemson SC 29634-0507, tel- 864-656-7473, e-mail: [email protected]
4Associate Professor, Department of Construction Science, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, tel: 979-845-7000, e-mail: [email protected]
5Professor, Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
This research responds to a perceived need to help construction management students and industry stakeholders develop a solid understanding of the impact of Percent Planned Complete (PPC) during their first exposure to the Last Planner System of Production Control™. Although the practice of implementing PPC is becoming more widespread, the benefits of its use are arguably not yet fully appreciated by industry practitioners. The QUESTION this research seeks to address is: How can the impact of PPC be clarified to those who are exposed to it for the first time? The PURPOSE of the research is to develop and test a new simulation to better understand how participants perceive the impact of using PPC as a tool to measure and subsequently improve reliability in planning. With respect to RESEARCH METHODS, a simulation was iteratively developed and a questionnaire was administered to participants both before and after playing the simulation to perceive any change in their understanding of the PPC method. The simulation was tested using students as subjects from two universities, as well as industry professionals, and questionnaire results were analyzed. RESULTS demonstrate that playing the simulation led to a 718% enhanced understanding of how applying PPC to schedule planning can lead to improved reliability of performance. LIMITATIONS include time constraints which necessitated a limitation in the number of test subjects, and the disregard of cultural differences in test subjects. Underlying the need for this work is the assumption that comprehending the impact of PPC helps facilitate application of it. IMPLICATIONS and VALUE of this work is that it has the potential to assist instructors and project managers to more effectively and efficiently transfer understanding of PPC and its capacity to measure (and therefore enhance) reliability, as part of the larger process of continuous improvement.
Keywords
Percent Planned Complete/PPC; Lean simulation; Last Planner System of Production Control; Teaching Lean Construction
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Reference
Bhaidani, N. , Rybkowski, Z. , Smith, J. P. , Choudhury, I. & Hill, R. 2016. Percent Planned Complete: Development and Testing of a Simulation to Increase Reliability in Scheduling, 24th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , -. doi.org/
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