Developing and evaluating a framework of total constraint management for improving workflow in liquefied natural gas construction

Abstract

Liquefied natural gas projects are complex and full of variability. Their plan reliability is affected by constraints arising from engineering, supply chains and construction site. Effective management of these constraints is critical to reducing project uncertainties and improve workflow. However, current approaches for constraint removal are fragmented and heavily rely on human’s commitments because the underlying data for decision-making are static and outdated. In order to tackle this problem, this paper proposes a framework of total constraint management (TCM), which consists of three main parts: constraint modelling, constraint monitoring and constraint removal. Information technologies (i.e. building information modelling, radio frequency identification, barcoding, laser scanning and photogrammetry) are also discussed and incorporated into the TCM framework so as to make it more practical and effective. A laboratory-based experiment was developed to demonstrate and evaluate the framework. The results showed that successful implementation of TCM could significantly improve construction workflow and productivity.

Keywords:

• Advanced work packaging
• last planner system
• lean construction
• theory of constraints
• total constraint management
• workface planning

Acknowledgement

An earlier version of this paper presented to the ARCOM 2015 Conference: Wang, J., Shou, W. and Wang, X. (2015) A framework of total constraint management for improving work flow in liquefied natural gas construction, in: Raiden, A. and Aboagye-Nimo, E. (eds.), Proceedings 31st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7–9 September 2015, Lincoln, UK. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 803–812. The authors were invited by the editors of Construction Management and Economics to develop the paper for publication in this journal.