Browsing by Author "Olivieri, Hylton, Prof., IPT - Institute for Technological Research, Brazil"

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    Production Control Using Real-Time Monitoring in Construction
    (Aalto University, 2022) Zhao, Jianyu; Olivieri, Hylton, Prof., IPT - Institute for Technological Research, Brazil; Rakennustekniikan laitos; Department of Civil Engineering; Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Engineering; Seppänen, Olli, Prof., Department of Civil Engineering, Aalto University, Finland; Peltokorpi, Antti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Civil Engineering, Finland
    Construction projects are known to be full of complexity because they interconnect high quantities of elements, including labor, tasks, and components. The complexity often results in risks such as poor work productivity and interruptions of production workflows, which further leads to unexpected and wasteful activities on-site. A well-functional production control system in construction is important in enabling smooth workflows with minimal waste and variability. Waste measurement is difficult and complex through conventional measurement techniques in construction. For instance, notable waste happens in labor movement and material flows, but the challenges of measuring the waste are still hard to address in construction. Therefore, it is of great benefit to develop a scalable and automated system that measures wasteful events and improves site operations in construction. If an automated real-time monitoring system in construction can be implemented with ease and satisfactory coverage and accuracy, it is then possible to assess the movement of labor and materials on-site. Next, the analyses of movement can be conducted to reflect upon the magnitude of variability at the project and task levels, which helps waste elimination and improvement of production control. The overall objective of the research is to improve production control in construction by estimating workers' presence on-site at the project and task levels to support task progress monitoring and to assess task workflow and material management practice. First, the thesis demonstrates how the proposed real-time monitoring system can be implemented in different types of indoor construction projects. The data accuracy and coverage of the system were evaluated, and heuristics were also proposed to improve the system's coverage. With this method, presence indices were calculated, matching previous studies in which value-added time was evaluated and the data were collected manually. Second, the thesis illustrates how the system can be installed to detect task start and finish times, measuring and validating task progress data automatically. Third, the thesis also shows how the proposed system could be applied for the automated detection and analyses of time-matching level of materials and workers based on their uninterrupted presence, which can be used to evaluate the kitting material solution practice. From a research perspective, this study makes it possible to measure the impact of construction management or digitalization interventions on the long-term presence of workers and materials in work locations. From a practical standpoint, managers can use the suggested presence information to compare efficiency in different projects. For project management, the daily measurement of presence in work locations could identify problems that are currently unknown to the management or highlight the impact of problems, e.g., the productivity impacts of delays.