Variability propagation in the production planning and control mechanism of construction projects

Abstract

One explanation for the often-problematic performance of projects is poor execution of the productionplanning and control function. This function’s supply, an arrangement of managerial processes, plays a keyrole in driving a project’s construction operations and the variability propagation across them. However,the variability propagation across the function’s supply structure has not been considered. This researchaddresses this gap by exploring the behaviour of outcomes over the function’s supply. To do so, this paperstudies the existence of variability propagation in the function supply during the construction stage of fiveinfrastructure projects that used the Last Planner® System as a tool. A plausible propagation pattern wasfound. The pattern expresses the complex behaviour of the function’s supply. Further work is required toaddress the impact of the pattern on the performance of the function supply and the pattern’s implicationsfor improving the function supply.