Construction Research Congress 2020
Analyzing the Correlation between Productivity Metrics
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2020: Project Management and Controls, Materials, and Contracts
ABSTRACT
This research presents an interesting look at productivity metrics in the construction industry. The research seeks to find a possible correlation between the unit rate (UR) measure and direct work rate (DWR) measure. Such correlation could provide insight into ways of better allocating labor resources on project sites through more informed productivity management strategies. This research analyzed 120,000 man-hours in piping assembly activities from the oil and gas industry. The piping assembly activities were divided in off-site (pipe shop) pipe coupling and on-site (field) pipe coupling. The data was gathered by trained personnel, who recorded information about the productivity metrics while the activities were being performed, the workers who were involved in execution of the service and the hours available for work. The correlation degree between the UR and DWR varied depending on the type of activity being performed. The pipe shop coupling presented a higher correlation when compared to the field coupling. Even though the two metrics have a different approach on how to measure productivity, both have proven to be complementary in supporting productivity management. This conclusion lead to potential future studies on understanding why some processes present higher correlation than others.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Araujo, L. O. C., Filho, C., Telles, M., and H., C. (2012). “Introducing a new methodology to mitigate schedule delay damages.” Proceedings of RICS COBRA, Las Vegas, Nevada USA.
Araujo, L. O. C., and Sampaio, P. (2012). “How To Measure Productivity: a real possibility.” Proceedings of RICS COBRA, Las Vegas, Nevada USA.
Gouett, M. C.; Haas, C. T., ; Goodrum, P. M. and Caldas, C. H. (2011). “Activity Analysis for Direct-Work Rate Improvement in Construction” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 1117-1124
Heiland, R. E., and Richardson, W. J. (1957). Work sampling, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Liou, F., and Borcherding, J. D. (1986). “Work sampling can predict unit rate productivity.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 112(1), 90
Picard, H. E. (2002). “Construction process measurement and improvement. ”Proc., 10th Conf. of the Int. Group for Lean Construction, Federal University of Rio Grande de Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Picard, H. E. (2004). Direct labor productivity measurement—As applied in construction and major maintenance projects.” Recommended Proactive No. 22R-01, American Association of Cost Engineers Int. (AACE), Morgantown, WV.
The Business Roundtable. (1982). “Work sampling and foreman delay surveys (tools for improving productivity at construction sites).” Report A-1: Measuring productivity in construction, The Business Roundtable, New York.
Thomas, H. R., Jr, Holland, M. P., and Gustenhoven, C. T. (1982). “Games people play with work sampling.” J. Constr. Div., 108(1), 13–22.
Thomas, H. R., and Mathews, C. T. (1986). “An analysis of the methods for measuring construction productivity.” Source Document No. 13, Construction Industry Institute (CII), Austin, TX.
Thomas, H. R. (1991). “Labor productivity and work sampling. the bottom line.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 117(3), 423–444.
Tippett, L. H. C. (1934). “A snap-reading method of making time studies of machines and operatives in factory surveys.” Shirley Inst., Mem., 13, 73.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Construction Research Congress 2020: Project Management and Controls, Materials, and Contracts
Pages: 730 - 739
Editors: David Grau, Ph.D., Arizona State University, Pingbo Tang, Ph.D., Arizona State University, and Mounir El Asmar, Ph.D., Arizona State University
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8288-9
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 9, 2020
Published in print: Nov 9, 2020
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.