Construction projects and becoming more and more complex. In the coming years and decades, the construction industry will be faced with the monumental task of repairing and replacing our aging infrastructure as well as constructing the communities and facilities of the future. All of this in the midst of dwindling resources, changing labor demographics and fiscal and environmental restraints.
The successful completion of a construction project is defined as delivering a facility that meets the owner’s specified needs and requirements on time and within budget. To achieve this the construction industry must embrace modern management practices and processes. At the top of the list is a renewed interest in the application of modern planning and scheduling techniques.
It is hard to under estimate the important role that planning and scheduling plays in the successful completion of a construction project.
The successful completion of a construction project is defined as delivering a facility that meets the owner’s specified needs and requirements on time and within budget.
As the projects get more complex it puts tremendous pressure on the management team to properly plan their projects and communicate the plan to all interested parties. We are seeing renewed interest in various interactive planning techniques such as “Pull Planning.” Pull Planning it is a collaborative approach that includes those who are directly responsible for supervising the work on the project. Using sticky-notes, the team participants work from the target milestone completion date backwards, defining and sequencing tasks.
Different technologies are emerging and being adopted, giving contractors more choices than they had just a few years ago. We are also seeing tremendous growth in 4D scheduling, where the schedule is linked to the 3D model to generate an animation of the project. With 4D scheduling, a project manager, owner and contractor are able to see what the project will look like at any stage of development, and they are able to visually compare the planned work versus the actual work that has been completed on the project.
Other techniques such as flowline or linear scheduling techniques allow contractors to better plan for optimal productivity of each trade contractor and crew. The advantage of linear scheduling over traditional CPM methods is that it more easily ensures work locations are available and clear of unnecessary materials and other crews.
Contractors who apply these and other modern planning and scheduling techniques will have a better chance of delivering a successful construction project.
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