Craft Productivity Research Program

  • Goodrum, Paul (PI)

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

Despite a century of sporadic advances in equipment, took mtJterials, and prefabrication strategies, direct work still typically amounts to no more than 40-60% of a craftman's time on the job. Improving direct work time offers an opportunity for achieving a through in craft productivity in corrstruction. To do this is beyond the scope ofa typical CII research team h;)wever. For any substantial chance of success, a research program is required. And, it must have (l clearly defined first phase that initiates a sustained effort to achieve a breakthrough. To increase direct work time, we know that one thing we hale to do is improve the availability of materials, information and tools at the workface. More ef£:;ctive crew level planning and crew support will help, but how do we make this happen? We have to b';gin by kr,owing where things are and in what state they are. Informationtechnology can help. A simple:;:;:anple the porential impact ofinformation technology is "stakeless" earth moving. In the past and.oday on smaller projects, knowing where the dirt is with respect to design stations n:quired teams:mrveyors to periodically layout grade stakes in a time consuming and inefficient process. With the use ,global positioning systems (GPS), graphic information display, wireless communications and: rnachiDf;::ontrol technology, productivity of earth moving has been improved by at least 50% because wor~ers knew where the dirt is in real-time and, ifnecessary, its state in terms ofcompaction. An opportumty t;) achJ.eve an analogous result in industrial construction exists, despite its complexity. What ifwe real-time where every valve, pipe spool and piece ofsteel was within yards, anYVi,here in the supp] y ::;hain, O.C where any tool was? This is possible. A promising approach to do this would be to buEd Of' our materials tracking work in cn RT 240 and to extend this technology up the supply chain. \\litLou' goed workface planning and lean construction methods, however, this information will be so, effcrt "vill also directed to determine how these methods can be used to exploit materials aEd tools location inforrnation to improve direct work time. This etTort will be the focus of the first phase ofthe research program proposed here. We anticipate that it will have a substantial jnract, but it may not by itself achieve the objectives ofthe research program. To achieve 50% improvement in craft productivity :in we have to accept that we do not have all the answers at this time. An approach to attacking must be designed that maximizes the probability ofsuccess while also managing risk. This mus:: introduce innovations in a flexible and cumulative but efficient way. Natural attrition ofindu;,try-:eam members must be balanced with the introduction ofnew members to maintain effectiveness OVf.:) ti~ne. \Ve rnwrt balance the continuity required for efficiency with the radical innovations breakthrough in order to be effective. We propose an approach that we believe will achieve:~ods. It is a :(olling, five stage attack that injects an innovation annually via a sequence ofinnovahoJ Norkshops, f1eld trials, analysis, and implementation tool delivery (Figure 1 Research Ivlethod5 S(~ction). The research program is described in more detail in the below. the research purpose, objectives, and scope are clarified, and then the expected p",~ducts ofthe r'~search are identified. The research methodology section begins with a review of pcist contributions ofThomas, Borcherding, Walsh, Sawhney, Diekmann, and others, ourselves, Goodmm, Haas, and Caldas. The approach is then defined in terms of the first two ye:3.r:::;·· tacks and annual After the research methodology is described, the qualifications ofthe research (enm are presented. It is a team rich in CII and craft productivity research experience .. A proposed and roteni:ia: matching resources are then submitted. Finally, schedules are submitted for the first 1\',10 years alld ter the six-year program via a simplified CPM chart.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date9/1/077/31/12

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