Simulation-Model-Structuring Methodology for Industrial Construction Fabrication Shops
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 140, Issue 5
Abstract
The process of planning and scheduling industrial construction fabrication (ICF) jobs is difficult because the sequence of operations varies considerably from one product to another due to the unique design and configuration of products. Traditional critical path method (CPM)–related approaches are not effective due to CPM’s limitation or inability to model the repetition of operations, interactions between resources, and what-if scenarios. Discrete event simulation (DES) is often used to model processes that are repetitive in nature; however, DES has limitations in modeling ICF shops due to considerable differences between operation sequences, which means a model can only be used once per project. This paper proposes a new simulation-model-structuring methodology, which directly addresses product uniqueness and complex routing issues in ICF shops and significantly simplifies the simulation-model development. This methodology fully supports shop scheduling and schedule updating essential for ICF shops that operate under highly dynamic project environments.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
AbouRizk, S., and Mohamed, Y. (2000). “Simphony—An integrated environment for construction simulation.” Winter Simulation Conf. Proc., 2000, IEEE, New York, 1907–1914.
Dubiel, B., and Tsimhoni, O. (2005). “Integrating agent-based modeling into a discrete event simulation.” Winter Simulation Conf. Proc., 2005, ACM Press, New York, 1029–1037.
Fisher, M., and Froese, T. (1996). “Examples and characteristics of shared project models.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 174–182.
Halpin, D. W. (1977). “CYCLONE—Method for modeling job site processes.” J. Constr. Div., 103(3), 489–499.
Hu, D., and Mohamed, Y. (2012). “Automating fabrication sequencing for industrial construction.” Proc., 29th Int. Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction, 2012, IAARC, Munich, Germany, 97–103.
Karumanasseri, G., and AbouRizk, S. (2002). “Decision support system for scheduling steel fabrication projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 392–399.
Liu, L. Y., and Ioannou, P. G. (1992). “Graphical object-oriented discrete-event simulation system.” Winter Simulation Conf. Proc., 1992, ACM Press, New York, 1285–1291.
Lu, M. (2003). “Simplified discrete-event simulation approach for construction simulation.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 537–546.
Martinez, J. C. (1996). “STROBOSCOPE—State and resource based simulation of construction process.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Martinez, J. C., and Ioannou, P. G. (1999). “General-purpose system for effective construction simulation.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 265–276.
Pidd, M. (1998). Computer simulation in management science, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
Rokni, S. (2010). “Optimization of industrial shop scheduling using simulation and fuzzy logic.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
Sadeghi, N., and Fayek, A. R. (2008). “A framework for simulating industrial construction processes.” Winter Simulation Conf., IEEE, New York, 2396–2401.
Shi, J., and AbouRizk, S. M. (1997). “Resource-based modeling for construction simulation.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 26–33.
Song, L., and AbouRizk, S. M. (2006). “Virtual shop model for experimental planning of steel fabrication projects.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 308–316.
Tommelein, I. D. (1998). “Pull-driven scheduling for pipe-spool installation: Simulation of lean construction technique.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 279–288.
Wang, S., and Halpin, D. W. (2004). “Simulation experiment for improving construction processes.” Proc., 2004 Winter Simulation Conf., IEEE, New York, 1252–1259.
Wang, P., Mohamed, Y., AbouRizk, S. M., and Rawa, A. R. T. (2009). “Flow production of pipe spool fabrication: Simulation to support implementation of lean technique.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 1027–1038.
Zhang, H., Tam, C. M., and Li, H. (2005). “Activity object-oriented simulation strategy for modeling construction operations.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 313–322.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 140 • Issue 5 • May 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 19, 2013
Accepted: Nov 26, 2013
Published online: Jan 23, 2014
Published in print: May 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Jun 23, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.