Resource-loaded piping spool fabrication scheduling: material-supply-driven optimization

Abstract

Background: As offsite prefabrication and modular construction continue to gain momentum into the future, material supply chain becomes increasingly complex for modern construction projects. Pre-engineered material supply presents itself as a driver for planning crew installation operations on site that involve skilled labor and heavy equipment. Methods: This paper proposes a framework for implementing the material-supply-driven project planning and control optimization approach to deal with material delays that take place at the piping spool fabrication shop. Design drawings, contract deadlines, resources availability and material supply patterns are extracted from a real oil and gas expansion project to validate the proposed implementation methodology. Results: An interactive Gantt chart with information on activity start time, duration, and allocated resources is generated to visualize the optimization outcome. In connection with the resource-constrained schedule, material supply-demand patterns over project duration are also visualized. Conclusions: These two forms of visualizations provide insightful decision-making support in coping with material delay while fulfilling project objectives. Ultimately, material-supply driven crew job schedules in correspondence with particular objectives and implementation strategies can be generated, ready to guide project execution.