An Integrated Approach to Project Production System Optimization

It is well documented that capital projects continue to experience cost and schedule overruns, while owners whether business or government and their contractors experience the consequences. Driven by digital transformation, the associated need for energy and the necessity to build new or replace existing civil infrastructure while dealing with a declining skilled labor market it is easy to see how things can only get worse.

At the root of the project cost and schedule overrun problem are the never ending and continued attempts of applying legacy thinking and methods developed during the beginning and middle of the last century to address the issue. If construction projects are to be delivered in accordance with objectives, a more effective approach to managing the project delivery process must be adopted. The construction industry must shift from its over reliance on the current administrative approach to managing projects to an approach focused on managing projects as production systems. But what is a project production system and how are they effectively managed?

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated approach to the design and contro1l of project production systems. Specifically, this paper sets forth a framework for effective design /optimization of project production systems based on the application and integration of Production System Modeling, Production Engineering and Project Production Control (PPC).