The robust schedule - a link to improved workflow

In today’s construction, there is a paramount focus on time, and on the scheduling
and control of time. Everything is organized with respect to time. The construction
project has to be completed within a fixed and often tight deadline. Otherwise a daily
penalty often has to be paid. This pins down the contractors, and forces them to
rigorously adhere to the initial schedule. If delayed the work-pace or manpower has
to be increased to observe the schedule. In an attempt to improve productivity, three
independent site-mangers have been interviewed about time-scheduling. Their
experiences and opinions have been analyzed and weaknesses in existing time
scheduling have been found. The findings showed a negative side effect of keeping
the schedule too tight as it becomes inflexible and cannot absorb variability in
production. Flexibility is necessary because of the contractors’ interacting and
dependent activities. Variability delays the process and results in conflicts between
the trades. Moreover, a tight schedule does to a greater degree allow conflicts to be
transmitted from one contractor to another. This increases the number of hot spots
between contractors and produces more conflicts. The result is a chaotic, complex
and uncontrolled construction site. Furthermore, strict time limits entail the workflow
to be optimized under sub-optimal conditions. Even though productivity overall
seems to be increasing, productivity per man-hour is decreasing resulting in increased
cost. To increase productivity and decrease cost a more robust schedule is needed.
The solution seems obvious, more time has to be released and more robustness has to
be put into the schedule. The downside is that a postponed completion data often
results in other costs for the client. Therefore, the deadline set has to be realistic. By
introducing flexibility into the deadline negotiations can help achieve win/win
situations bringing productivity and value creation up.