Embodying Product and Process Flexibility to Cope with Challenging Project Deliveries
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 131, Issue 4
Abstract
Four factors make it challenging to manage semiconductor fabrication facility (“fabs”) projects: technical complexity of the product design, need to compress the project duration, need to reduce upfront costs, and unexpected project changes. The strategies employed by practitioners to cope with these challenges form an intricate puzzle. We empirically develop a framework that provides a structure for helping to solve this puzzle, which comprises two principles: investing upfront in a flexible product design and structuring a flexible process. Empirical findings reveal that project teams make commitments early on by overdesigning but also postpone critical decisions by differentiating the scope of their work. Project teams employ other strategies such as increasing communication, using modular architectures, engaging in four-dimensional computer-based modeling, and fabricating components and subsystems off-site. Our analysis yields understanding on the purposes and performance tradeoffs of these strategies, and on how they embody the two principles. Project managers may find the framework useful when deciding which strategies best suit other equally challenging projects.
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Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments are due to the Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento and to the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) for the financial support provided to the first author for doctoral and post-doctoral studies. In the early stages, this research was funded through Grant No. SBR-9811052 from the National Science Foundation, whose support is gratefully acknowledged. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this report are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Finally, we thank all people interviewed, at IDC in particular, for the time and knowledge they shared with us.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 131 • Issue 4 • April 2005
Pages: 439 - 448
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 8, 2004
Accepted: Mar 30, 2004
Published online: Apr 1, 2005
Published in print: Apr 2005
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