Simulation-Based Approach for Master Planning and Scheduling in Offsite Construction Supply Chain Management

Effective coordination among supply chain entities, particularly factory production, transportation, and onsite assembly, is critical in offsite construction as a means of mitigating the risk of schedule delays. Offsite construction companies thus tend to develop master schedules that consider not only production capacities and resources in the factory but also delivery logistics and onsite assembly processes. However, the current scheduling practice still lacks integration of the various components of the supply chain, instead relying on a manual and time-consuming approach. As a result, the master schedules generated do not fully take into consideration the dynamic relationships among the respective operational schedules of each supply chain entity. This, in turn, leads to unstable supply chain performance and underutilization of resources and, ultimately, cost overruns and project delays. In this context, the present study proposes an automated master scheduling system that employs the hybrid simulation paradigm to develop an integrated supply chain model. The developed method is implemented in a case study of a residential prefabricated panel producer, with the results demonstrating the effectiveness of the developed system in expediting master schedule generation while boosting supply chain resource utilization.