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- Jimenez, Alexander, 1988-
(författare)
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Towards Understanding Productivity in On-Site Housebuilding
- 2021
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Global reports over the years indicate that productivity development in construction is poor if compared to other industries, even negative in some countries, calling for a change to increase productivity. However, the construction industry has a problem of defining, measuring and using productivity. Previous research suggest that productivity is a multifaceted term, which meaning depends on the purpose of addressing productivity, the context where one uses the term, the level of analysis (e.g. task, project or industry) or even the background of who addresses the term. The multifaceted meaning seems to have encouraged the development of multiple methods for measuring productivity in construction. The variety of understandings indicate that different aspects of productivity are accounted for by different people. Moreover, the construction productivity measures at different levels account for different things, and there is a lack of a clear connection between the levels of analysis. Subsequently, the multiple meanings and measures hamper how to understand construction productivity, what or how to measure and how to use the measures to improve overall productivity.This thesis furthers how housebuilding productivity can be understood by drawing on how the literature and on‐site housebuilding contractors address productivity concerning how it is defined, measured and used. An understanding of productivity that has a base in how productivity can be defined and measured, including how different performance measures can be applied to represent measures of productivity and then be used to improve productivity. The research questions of how productivity is understood, measured and used by Swedish housebuilding contractors are answered and synthesized to contribute with an enhanced understanding of construction productivity.Empirical data was collected through 17 semi‐structured interviews and four workshops. The interviews were held with practitioners ranging from site‐, to project‐, to business area managers from one small and four of Sweden’s largest contractors. The workshops were held with senior managers in charge of production development at the four large companies. Data was cross‐analyzed to identify commonalities and contrasting findings connected to how productivity is defined or understood to represent and include, how productivity is measured, and how productivity is used.The findings suggest that productivity in on‐site housebuilding production is about how efficiently the production system reaches its goal. That is, how efficiently the building is produced in conformance with the requirements to meet client values. Hence, productivity in housebuilding production integrates efficiency, effectiveness and many other factors that make the production system function better towards reaching its goal. Yet, what is included in, and thus what productivity represents, differs, caused by the choice of level of analysis (e.g. task, project or industry) and the length of the considered system or value chain (e.g. only production, or design, planning and production). The results also indicate that housebuilding productivity includes planning, measurement, control and reporting results. While separate direct productivity measures can be used in planning and for reporting results, many different indirect productivity measures are applied to enable for and control productivity during operations. These different measures represent different factors understood to influence productivity at different levels. However, the choice of measures vary, their use is unstructured and the measures usually stay undocumented.The results suggest that one measure of productivity is not enough to understand productivity of building production systems, it is rather through the combination of direct and indirect measures of productivity. Yet, there is a need to adopt a systems perspective to understand how to structure and connect the different measures from sub‐processes to processes and productivity, which this thesis suggests as a line of future research. Moreover, it is not enough to measure productivity to develop productivity. Systematic routines for measurements, review and action based on the measures must be developed and implemented.
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| 2. |
- Vestin, Alexander
(författare)
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Smart manufacturing for the wooden single-family house industry
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To meet the demand of future building requirements, and to improve productivity and competitiveness, there is a need to modernize and revise the current practices in the wooden single-family house industry. In several other sectors, intensive work is being done to adapt to the anticipated fourth industrial revolution. The manufacturing industry has already begun its transformation with concepts such as smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0. So far, smart manufacturing has not been discussed to any significant extent for the wooden single-family house industry, even though it might be a way for this industry to improve productivity and competitiveness.The research presented in this thesis aims at increased knowledge about what smart manufacturing means for the wooden single-family house industry. This requires investigating what smart wooden house manufacturingis, what challenges that might be associated with it, and how smart wooden house manufacturing can be realized. At the core of this thesis is the conceptualization of smart wooden house manufacturing—when realized, it is expected to contribute to improve the competitiveness of the wooden single family house industry.The findings presented here are based on three Research Studies. Two studies were case studies within the wooden single-family house industry. The third study was a traditional literature review.The findings revealed two definitions and 26 components of smart wooden house manufacturing. At large, smart wooden house manufacturing emphasizes digital transformation with a focus on digital information flow, how to add information, information compilation, and information distribution between systems/programs and departments. Some of the challenges associated with smart wooden house manufacturing are, e.g. culture, competence and manual transfer of information between systems.The findings indicate similarities of smart wooden house manufacturing within certain components of industrialized house building and Industry 4.0, these components could enable the realization of smart wooden house manufacturing.
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| 3. |
- Wernicke, Brian
(författare)
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Diversity of Flow in Production Improvements in House Building
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Flow is a complex construct and has developed differently in different research fields. Some of the interpretations are included within this thesis and categorized in two main perspectives: (1) the individual flow perspective as defined in positive psychology and (2) the system flow perspective based on notations from supply chain management, lean production, construction management, and operations management. Both flow perspectives have at least one commonality which bases this thesis: to improve something towards a desirable condition. In positive psychology, that something is human well‐being and the system perspective focuses on entities that need to be combined to facilitate production. Both flow perspectives have been developed independently without clear consideration of each other, even though several theoretical sources indicate relevant relations between them. This thesis addresses that theoretical gap and aims to describe how system flows and individuals’ flow are related in initiatives intended to improve production in house building.The thesis is operationalized by a flow framework based on system flows and individuals’ flow. Within three different cases of improvement initiatives, qualitative data is analysed to exemplify how flow relations occur in the researched settings. Findings of quantitative patterns of traced flow relations exemplify flow relations and can inspire practitioners in assessing how the different flows are addressed in ongoing improvement initiatives and what other potential flows that could be addressed in future improvements. This thesis concludes that relations between flow on system level and flow on individual level can occur in improvement initiatives in house building production settings, thus exemplifying the ‘Diversity of Flow in Production Improvements in House Building’. Theoretically, this thesis contributes to the understanding of the flow concept in construction management, visualizes the diverse understanding of flow, and advocates that flow should not be treated as homogenous at any level.
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