Bottlenecks and Time-Thieves: Comparison Between the Construction Industry in Norway and a Case Company in Spain

Abstract

This thesis compares the bottlenecks and time-thieves in the construction industry, between a case company in Spain and the Norwegian construction industry, the thesis also examines the current bottlenecks and time-thieves and the measures that are being used nowadays in order to limit their impact and reduce their appearance. The construction industry is a source of value for all the countries in the work, and the correct implementation of the methods and procedures helps to achieve the success of the project maximizing the benefits, the Norwegian government has invested resources in SpeedUp projects for reduce the final time of the construction projects, the project identify the bottleneck and time-thieves as one of the main sources delay. The literature reveals the nature of the different issues studied, revealing the closeness between all of them, and the measures that can be taken in order to reduce them. The utilization of the qualitative research in the thesis aims to identify the bottlenecks and time-thieves of a case company of Spain, and also identify the measures that are taken in the company. Once the different bottlenecks and time-thieves are identified, a comparison between the case company and the previous research is done in order to identify the similarities and differences between both countries and identify why these differences appear. The thesis compares both cases and also the measures that are being used in the theory for proposing them to the case company and see the results. The originality of the work comes with the comparison of the two countries with a previous theoretical explanation of all the bottlenecks and time-thieves that have more influence in the performance of the projects. However, there are some limitations that have to be identified, the study of the case company and the issues that they have should not be the same in all the companies of Spain, even inside the company the utilization of just five project managers for the research could not be enough. The implementation of the measures will have long-term results, so their effects is not going to be study in the thesis. Further research includes the study of other cases of Spain, and the interview to some project managers in Norway to identify the reasons behind the bottlenecks and time-thieves. Keywords: Bottlenecks, Time-Thieves, Time Optimization, Comparison