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Proceedings / IGLC 29

IGLC 29 · Lima, Peru · 2021

Slack in Construction - Part 1: Core Concepts

  1. Professor, Building Innovation Research Unit (NORIE), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, formoso@ufrgs.br, orcid.org/0000-0002-4772-3746
  2. Professor, Civil and Envir. Engrg. Dept., Director, Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), University of California, Berkeley, CA, tommelein@berkeley.edu, orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-659
  3. Associate Professor, Industrial Engineering and Transportation Department, UFRGS, Brazil, saurin@ufrgs.br, orcid.org/0000-0003-2929-5888
  4. Professor of Construction and Project Management, School of Art, Design and Architecture. University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, UK, l.koskela@hud.ac.uk, orcid.org/0000-0003-4449- 2281
  5. PhD Student, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre 90035-190, Brazil, marcus@climbgroup.com.br, orcid.org/0000-0001-5843-4715
  6. PhD Student, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre 90035-190, Brazil, marcus@climbgroup.com.br, orcid.org/0000-0001-5843-4715
  7. PhD Student, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre 90035-190, Brazil, marcus@climbgroup.com.br, orcid.org/0000-0001-5843-4715
  8. Adjunct Professor, Interdisciplinary Department, NORIE, UFRGS, dietz.viana@ufrgs.br, orcid.org/0000-0001-8958-4708
  9. Graduate Student, Civil and Envir. Eng. Dept., University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, rvcoelho@berkeley.edu, orcid.org/0000-0003-3298-3622
  10. Graduate Student, Civil and Envir. Eng. Dept., University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, visheshvs@berkeley.edu, orcid.org/0000-0002-6999-9727
  11. MSc Student, Postgraduate Program in Production Eng. UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, zani.carol@gmail.com, orcid.org/0000-0002-2649-2432
  12. PhD Candidate, Postgraduate Program in Civil Eng.: Construction and Infrastructure, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, natalia.ransolin@ufrgs.br, orcid.org/0000-0002-7128-8000
  13. PhD Candidate, Postgraduate Program in Industrial Eng:, UFRGS, Porto Alegre 90035-190, Brazil, claudiaguerraep@gmail.com, orcid.org/0000-0002-4224-5167

https://doi.org/10.24928/2021/0183

Abstract

Construction projects are known to be complex, due to being subject to uncertainty and variability. The use of buffers to protect them from the detrimental impact of variability has been well-researched. A key managerial choice is not whether or not to buffer variability, but rather how to define the necessary combination of buffers. Slack is a concept related to buffers but has been used in the literature to describe a broader range of strategies for coping with complexity. It allows an organisation to adapt to internal pressures for adjustment or to external pressures for change in policy. This paper aims to further develop the concept of slack and to unveil its relationships with other concepts and ideas that are partly overlapping such as buffers, resilience, robustness, flexibility, and redundancy. A concept map was devised in order to articulate the nature of the slack concept. This paper explores in detail this concept map and proposes a conceptual role for slack in the realm of Lean.

Keywords

  • Slack
  • buffer
  • complexity
  • variability
  • uncertainty
  • concept map
  • waste

Cite this paper

APA 7th edition

Formoso, C., Tommelein, I. D., Saurin, T. A., Koskela, L., Fireman, M., Barth, K., Bataglin, F., Viana, D., Coelho, R., Singh, V., Zani, C., Ransolin, N., & Disconzi, C. (2021). Slack in Construction - Part 1: Core Concepts. In Proc. 29th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) (pp. 187–196). https://doi.org/10.24928/2021/0183

Shortened reference for IGLC papers

Formoso, C., Tommelein, I. D., Saurin, T. A., Koskela, L., Fireman, M., Barth, K., Bataglin, F., Viana, D., Coelho, R., Singh, V., Zani, C., Ransolin, N., & Disconzi, C. (2021). Slack in Construction - Part 1: Core Concepts. IGLC29. https://doi.org/10.24928/2021/0183