Dynamic control of resource logistics quality to eliminate process waste in rebar placement work

Output-oriented resource control in the traditional planning methods is still prevalent in construction industry. It frequently causes unpredictable wastes leading to deterioration of the sequenced supply chains. On the other hand, the use of feed-forward control offers the opportunity for prevention by ensuring the high quality of necessary process resources. This paper, in turn, presents a dynamic control approach that highlights the effectiveness of feed-forward control on minimising process wastes. The field experiment in this paper presents the rebar supply and placement on an actual construction site. It aims to measure the responsiveness of pre-controlled resources to ever-changing process performance. Collected data during this field study provided the basic data for establishing statistical relationships between resource logistics quality and process performance. The research experiments found out two of the critical resource logistics: (1) Available number of workers; and (2) Distance between resource and final place. Finally the proactive control on these entities resulted in a dramatic reduction of process waste, leading to the improvement of productive work rate (31.0 to 53.3%). The main contribution of the research lies on the first-hand investigation from a very probable situation, which would benefit practical engineers and construction managers.