Production Resource Management in the Industrialised House-Building Supply Chain

Abstract

Industrialised house-building suppliers must learn to see how the lack of resource management disrupt the synchronisation of their production processes both upstream (e.g. capability to forecast material consumption) and downstream (e.g. order delivery Just-in-Time). In contrast to focus on workflow as is more common in construction, Systematic Production Analysis (SPA) is a tool capable of providing a more robust production process in terms of better resource characterisation and predictability. A roadmap model, composed of six steps, has been developed for simple introduction of SPA. The model is a straightforward way of classifying the production system in terms of impacting resource and parameters attributing to production loss (scrap or downtime). The applicability of SPA is analysed through a pilot case study at a patio door manufacturer. Two main response parameters emerged related to scrap; surface and dimension errors of the work piece material (wood). An objective function was formulated to reduce the scrap without increasing the total cost of the work piece material. It was suggested that the case company evaluates Engineering Wood Products (EWP) leading to a more robust production process (less scrap), but in turn increasing the initial cost of the work piece material. Other potential measures are purchasing new processing tools, investing in new machinery or educating workers which all, directly or indirectly, lead to reduced scrap. Consequently, proper management of production resources will improve their predictability and in turn improve production control.

Peer reviewed