Simulation experiment for improving construction processes

From the perspective of flow analysis, the more complex the project, the more wastes are prone to build up, due to the increasing number of interfaces between activities. When processes are further expanded beyond the jobsite to the scale of a supply chain, the complexity is usually beyond human perception. In order to provide a systematic approach to help management make correct and timely decisions, an analytical approach capable of efficiently and economically modeling the complicated processes and to address various managerial questions is necessary. An analytical framework combining simulation, design of experiment, regression analysis, and mathematical programming is proposed to facilitate management to determine the optimal design for a construction process under various constraints. A simplified concrete delivery process is used as an example to illustrate how the framework is implemented. Some implementation issues and other potential applications are discussed.