Title: Scheduling of large, complex, and constrained construction projects - an exploration of LPS application

Authors: Søren Lindhard; Søren Wandahl

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg Ø, Denmark ' Aarhus School of Engineering, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark

Abstract: Scheduling of construction projects is by nature complex. The construction process is unreliable and difficult to forecast. Last planner system (LPS) is introduced in construction in order to achieve greater reliability and productivity in the process. To ensure that implementation is successfully anchored in the organisations, differences between theory and application are investigated. To determine the theoretically correct application a literature survey is conducted. A questionnaire survey is made to collect empirical date of the practical application. Comparison between theory and application revealed that often only parts of LPS are applied. A partly applied LPS can be a main barrier to increased reliability in the scheduling process. Furthermore, the questionnaire showed that failures in the execution processes often start in the look-ahead plan. Here, lacking knowledge of the execution process is causing problems to be overlooked. To increase the level of knowledge foremen should be involved in the look-ahead planning.

Keywords: last planner system; LPS; increased reliability; productivity; project implementation; project scheduling; construction projects; construction industry; building industry; project management; scheduling processes; execution processes; failures; look ahead planning; knowledge levels; foremen.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2014.065258

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2014 Vol.6 No.3, pp.237 - 253

Published online: 31 Oct 2014 *

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