Simulation based scheduling of crew routing with learning and forgetting effects in repetitive projects

Area of Science:

• Construction Management
• Operations Research

Background:

• The Line of Balance (LOB) is a scheduling technique for repetitive projects.
• It offers advantages over Critical Path Method (CPM) by promoting workflow consistency and leveraging the learning rate effect.
• The learning rate effect shortens activity durations as crews repeat tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the trade-offs between maintaining dedicated crews for each activity and implementing crew routing in repetitive projects.
• To analyze the impact of crew assignment strategies on project duration and the total number of crews required.
• To explore a simulation-based approach for optimizing crew numbers and movement in LOB scheduling.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of two crew assignment strategies: dedicated crews per activity versus routed crews.
• Evaluation of the learning rate effect on activity durations with consistent crew assignments.
• Development and application of a simulation model to optimize crew allocation and routing.

Main Results:

• Dedicated crew assignments minimize project duration but necessitate a larger number of crews.
• Crew routing reduces the total number of crews but leads to an increase in overall project duration.
• A simulation approach can effectively balance crew numbers and project duration.

Conclusions:

• Optimizing crew assignments in LOB scheduling involves a trade-off between project duration and resource utilization (number of crews).
• Crew routing can be cost-effective by reducing indirect costs, despite potentially increasing project duration.
• A project-specific simulation model is crucial for optimizing crew numbers and routing decisions in repetitive construction projects.