CASE STUDY IN APPLICATION OF PROJECT SCHEDULING SYSTEM FOR CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY CHAINMANAGEMENTINTRODUCTION$$The architecture, engineering, and construction $($AEC$)$ industry is one of the oldest industries in civilization. For over two$$hundred years, the industry has operated on the basis on trust based relationships. The industry is largely separated along$$trade lines trade contractors either form teams or work together to complete a project. Typically there is a project$$superintendent to oversee and coordinate construction of the entire project. For example, in an office or residential building,the architect oversees the work during the design phase of the project. He sub$-$contracts design work to the structural$$engineer$,$ HVAC engineer, electrical engineer etc. But, during the construction phase of the project, the GC oversees the$$work and coordinates work between the various trade contractors. In a house reconstruction project, a project coordinator or$$sometimes the customer coordinates work between the various trade contractors.In recent years, several project based collaboration tools have been developed for the AEC industry. But adoption of these$$tools has been restricted to big projects and among big institutional players players in small reconstruction projects still$$collaborate in the traditional way: via phone and fax. In small house reconstruction projects, the problems are different.First, job durations, although small, are difficult to estimate accurately. Second, poor coordination causes the schedule to be$$extended$.$ Third, rescheduling and scope expansion is typical. All of these make it difficult for downstream contractors to$$plan their schedule upfront. This causes project schedules to be drawn out longer than necessary. The whole supply chain$$is fragile. Traditionally, project durations are padded with conservative estimates based on experience to reduce the impact$$of this variability. All these factors have led to low customer satisfaction levels, high cost associated with variability, and a$$risk averse trade contractor community.$$In an attempt to change all this and improve customer service, a major retailer is undertaking a huge challenge. They are$$attempting to share information from product vendors and service vendors to increase visibility, better collaborate, and$$provide future of home remodelling services. Their aim is to provide a more reliable due date for home improvement$$projects when the customer initiates a project in their store using product shipment information from product vendors and$$service provider schedule and capacity availability information from contract service vendors. They are modifying the$$supply chain to act as the orchestrator for the entire collaboration. The following paper will attempt to discuss the retailers$$objective and where they are in their charter to create a better customer experience. Their primary objectives are the$$following: Improve customer satisfaction by providing reliable due dates for project completion Streamlining their business to have better accountability, auditing, and centralized control of good and information flow Reduce project delivery timelines Better forecast demand and plan for resource availabilityPROBLEMIn their current business, the retailer is involved in selling thousands of home improvement products. Starting from a simple$$carpet installation to a whole house redesign including kitchen, bath, and flooring remodelling, the retailer historically is in$$the business of selling products. Selling value added services on top of that has been done through contractual$$relationships with relevant trade contractors or service vendors. They have existing relationships with contractors that$$provide measure, deliver, and installation services. But all collaboration is through phone or fax. There are dedicated$$employees that handle the collaboration in the case of complex projects acting as project superintendents. The supply$$chain can be described in the context of a carpet installation. A typical carpet installation has the following process: Customer orders carpet and store promises a phone call from measurer to get measurements Store calls measurer and gives information about customer Measurer calls customer and schedules appointment for measure After measure, measurer updates store with information Store contacts customer and closes sale, orders product Product vendor receives order, provides promise dates Product is either received at the store or shipped directly to installer If product is received at the store, it is reached to the customer. Once product delivery confirmation reaches store, store contacts installer Installer contacts customer for install schedule, installs carpet Store calls customer to ensure order is done and closes the orderThere are very few process controls and no real target deadline to meet for the customer. Somebody has to remember the$$sequence of steps in the project to keep it on track. The only time the system notifies a human is when a job is delayed.There is no proactive prompting. In the case of complex projects, this approach is error prone, causes rework, and wasted$$trips for contractors reducing their utilization. All of this has led to the following problems. Multiple attempts by contractors to schedule services with customers Job charges from vendor to retailer is higher than it must be to account for wasted resource utilization Project due dates are difficult to quote to customer Lack of proactive communication with customers and vendors in case of delays, leading to dissatisfied customers and$$vendors$.$From the contractors point of view, demand fluctuates, and capacity planning becomes infeasible. In case of rescheduling,$$and delays, lax in communication leads to wasted trips for downstream vendors and reduces resource utilization. The$$contractors perform work not only with the retailer, but also with other retailers in the same business, and other general$$contractors$.$ Their capacity is distributed among the different demand sources. The fluctuating demand from various$$sources exacerbate the situation and this multi$-$enterprise interaction effect makes proactive capacity planning near$$useless$.$ With no ability to project their demand service vendors buffer their fluctuations with temporary labour and$/$or due$$date slippage, both of which cost higher to complete the job.SOLUTION$$To address these problems, the retailer is looking to overhaul its business process and put a system in place for better$$project coordination. A look at the construction supply chain indicated that with a small shift in the flow of information,$$tremendous value could be realized. The retailer acts as the central orchestrator of information flow. The proposed solution$$works as follows: Retailer promises dedicated demand to vendors in the form of percentage of all orders from an assigned group of stores Vendors sign agreement with retailer to promise dedicated capacity to meet an agreed service level agreement $($SLA$).$ This$$helps isolate the capacity from the influence of the multi$-$enterprise demand for the vendors. Vendors will input and maintain capacity into the retailers resource planning system Project schedule will be computed based on average job durations and standard product lead time Individual job scheduling will be done on a schedule forward logic based on available vendor capacity Schedules and project execution will be based on a schedule forward basis. Wherein one job has to be completed to$$trigger the scheduling of the next downstream job. Electronic notification will drive communication between jobs, to customer, vendor, and retailer Collect better lead time data from product vendors Historical data will be built to accurately predict demand for their service vendors and over time help their vendors manage$$their capacity more effectively.In the modified supply chain, the carpet workflow gets modified as follows: Customer orders product and system gives customer measure schedule date based on measurer capacity Measurer does measure and updates order with results Store closes sale and places order for product Product vendor responds with promise dates Product arrival triggers installer notification and scheduling of the install job. Installer completes job and that triggers order to be completeBy taking control of distribution of information, the retailer is essentially being more accountable to the customer. The$$bullwhip effect of information lag is reduced. The communication is more streamlined and centralized leading to reduction in$$project schedules.DISCUSSION REDUCED PROJECT DELIVERY TIME$$The Table $1$ provides a comparison of the expected benefit from the future business process as compared to the current$$business process.Table $1$ Comparison of the expected benefit from the future business processOld ProcessNew ProcessOrder creates to measurer notification$0\mathrm{.}6$ day$0\mathrm{.}1$ dayTime to schedule measure$3$ days$1$ dayMeasure done to store notification$1$ day$1$ dayStore notification to order sold$4$ days$4$ daysOrder sold to product receive$10$ days$10$ daysTime to schedule install$10$ days$1$ dayTotal$28\mathrm{.}6$ days$17\mathrm{.}1$ days $(60\%$ reduction$$If executed, the table above summarises the effect of the new information flow. In the case of a simple carpet installation,$$the table above reflects the project duration for the current and modified supply chain. By streamlining this information flow,$$the expected reduction in project duration is around $50\%.$ The primary reasons for the squeeze in schedule are the$$following:$$ Elimination of needless back and forth between service vendor and customer trying to coordinate schedules No wasted trips for downstream vendors since they get notified only when their job is schedule Better resource utilization because vendor time is not wasted in coordinating schedules$$RISKSWhile there is a lot of value in this simple approach itself, there are still some associated risks. Integrity of the solution depends on good data from vendors in terms of accurate lead times for products and capacity from$$trade contractors Service vendor published capacity should match their ability to deliver Service vendors have infrastructure problems no computers and no access to internet Coordinating among variety of vendors involves rigor and discipline For the whole system to work, it is data driven. Vendors have to continually update their status. In a construction type$$environment$,$ where being at the site and mobility is critical, mobile access is crucial.Computing complexity of durations based on attributes is also an unreliable science. For example, the duration of carpet$$install varies widely depending on whether it is a new carpet installation vs$.$ remove and replace an existing carpet, glue$$down carpet installation vs$.$ stretch carpet installation, staircase vs$.$ flat floor, existence of furniture etc.CONCLUSION$$The potential value to be realized is huge. The expected value from the system once it goes into production is to be$$realized in a number of ways. For service vendors, payment is aligned with job completion and since system tracks job status to trigger payment,$$workflow is more streamlined No wasted trips to customer site since system ensures coordination No wasted trips by installer to store to see if product has been arrived Better utilization of resources, higher efficiency for all parties For customers, painless experience, easier to follow status of order$/$project For retailer, better accountability, more satisfied customers, more business for the retailer.Changes in supply chain to streamline information flow and managing capacity of contract labour to remove inefficiency$$requires changes in business process and sharing information across enterprises. Technology is only an enabler. Without$$adoption and fundamental business process changes, the potential value will never be realised.$$Question $1(25$ Marks$)$Appraise the Scope and schedule management key benefits that you have studied in the context of the case study project.Advise the case study project manager how the project team can use these benefits to the advantage of the project at hand.$$Question $2(25$ Marks$)$The case study describes the process of a typical carpet installation. Use the process to compile a Work Breakdown$$Structure $($WBS$).$ Thereafter, examine the Mind Mapping approach to creating a WBS that you have studied, and argue how$$the case study project can benefit from using this approach for the WBS creation.Question $3(25$ Marks$)$Design a network diagram for the carpet installation activities in the case study. Identify six $(6)$ or more main activities of thecarpet installation process$\mathrm{.}1.$ Provide a table with :$(10$ marks$)$a$.$ the activitiesb. assumed duration in daysc. Predecessors$2.$ Thereafter, design the network diagram for the project using the $($Arrow on Node$)$ AON method$(11$ marks$)3.$ Determine the critical path$(2$ marks$)4.$ Determine the duration of the project$(2$ marks$)$Question $4(25$ Marks$)$Crashing is also known as acceleration where the duration of an activity is reduced to meet project schedule requirements.Arguably the case study project is need of crashing. Appraise the methods related to shortening a project to the case study$$project$.$ Assess how these methods could benefit the case study project.$$