This research aims to determine the appropriate level of effort required for each step of the Observe–Plan–Do–Check–React (OPDCA) cycle to improve the workflow reliability of a construction project. Empirical data on detailed weekly meeting minutes over 18 weeks and the planned and actual starting and finish times of 475 activities were collected from a bridge construction case project. The information theory approach was utilized to measure the information gained from discussions pertaining to the OPDCA cycle dur…

Making-do, a decision to start a construction task despite knowing that its preconditions are not fully ready, is a complex dilemma for construction managers. Managers' previous making-do decisions and the resulting consequence, delay, can have a significant impact on future making-do decisions. To understand how managers' experience with delay impacts their making-do decision and how it is handled differently in different countries, two surveys were administered, one in China and one in the United States (US), an…

Making-do, a decision to start work despite knowing that preconditions are not fully ready, has been referred as a type of waste in construction projects.It will be interesting and beneficial to understand how project managers make making-do decisions when managing projects in different countries and cultures.This research conducted two surveys, one in China and one in the U.S., to study how making-do decision is made differently in two countries by project managers with various levels of experience and responsibi…

Effective removal of constraints is critical in the Last Planner System (LPS ® )to improve work plan reliability.While removing constraints is important, it remains unclear to project managers about which types of constraint have the highest level of uncertainty and to what extent the constraint removal discussions are efficient for improving work plan reliability.This research uses a bridge project as an example to answer these research questions.The authors collected planning meeting minutes, look ahead plans, a…

Variability, defined as the deviation of production capacity from an expected average, has a negative impact on the productivity of downstream trades and the entire system. It increases project duration, lost capacities and inventory of the downstream trades. This paper, using Parade Game Simulation, aims to identify the key trade(s) of a single-line production system that contribute(s) the most in reducing/increasing the project duration, total lost capacity and total inventory buffer. The simulation model includ…