Workload leveling based on work space zoning for takt planning

摘要

This paper focuses on a location-based method used in construction, namely the Work Density Method (WDM) for takt planning. The contribution to knowledge is presenting a problem formulation and a mathematical optimization algorithm to divide a work space into zones while leveling work densities across trades in a process. Given a work space and the number of zones in which to divide that space, the so-called WoLZo problem is to identify the shape and dimensions of each zone while minimizing the peak in the trades' workloads per zone. Increasing the number of zones tends to result in lowering the peak, but application of the WoLZo algorithm shows that this trend levels out due to the spatial distribution of work densities. Application to work density maps of different granularity sheds light on zoning work spaces and sharpens one's intuition on how many zones to select. These findings inform data collection pertaining to work density as needed when planning construction work on the basis of takt.