Vijay,
Please do not take my comments as being rude. I am merely trying to be
direct.
As a start to your project I'd suggest that you call up a couple of
companies which are in this business. Call a concrete company, a steel
fabrication company, an elevator company and ask them how they typically
manage this. I think you will find that there will be someone who will talk
to you and will give you an idea of how this problem is traditionally
handled in the industry. By doing this you will be able to present what the
current environment is like and from there you can do research upon possible
improvements.
Here are my brief thoughts:
Just about every construction project utilizes "just in time" delivery for
the many of the materials. This is independent of whether the project is
scheduled in Project, Primavera or just on the back of an envelope.
Having materials on site early is bad because: they cost money, they can be
damaged, they get in the way, you have to move them more than once...
This is sufficiently obvious that it does not require much research.
(although some professional researchers and academics devote their career to
optimizing this)
Usually this problem is handled by arranging deliveries so that the material
arrives when needed.
This is done by:
1) Notifying the supplier in advance of what you need so it can be
fabricated or procured (you would do this by looking at your project
schedule to give an approximate date)
2) Having the supplier construct or prepare the materials and stockpile them
offsite if necessary.
3) Giving the supplier a call a day or a week before telling them when and
where to deliver.
Obviously there are more steps needed when the delivery is difficult such as
large objects which require special transportation or when you have many
deliveries (or removals - dirt for example) which need to be accomodated,
but I personally don't think that use of a critical path schedule to handle
it is anything new.
I think that if you research your topic you will find a fair amount of
material on JIT for construction.
I recall it was a popular topic about 8 or 10 years ago - but I do not think
that it had much impact on the industry.
If I am not mistaken the principles of JIT have been incorporated in what is
called "Lean Construction" which is also derived from the manufacturing
world. You may find some research on that topic to be of interest.
http://www.leanconstruction.org/
Try a google search for JIT, Construction, delivery and you will get a large
number of results.
As to the role of using Project98 in this process - well, it is kind of like
saying is it better to draw building plans on white paper or yellow paper.
It is only a tool. One which has been used for this many times in the past.
Hope this is clear.
I am currently working on research project where i could
integrate the following
1) Construction industry (Project management )
As all are aware that we use MS project .
2) Managing Logistics such that the supply of materials
(continous supply similar to ready mix concrete) are just
in time.(Concept of "just in time" delivery.)
Has anybody worked on some project with " Just in time
delivery" (requirement ) in a construction company .
This kind of delievry is ideal for space constraint
projects where real time situations and conditions are to
be considered and negotiated.
Hope this was reasonably clear.
Regards
Vijay
--
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-Jack Dahlgren, Project MVP
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