Space scheduling for construction progress planning and control

Abstract

Space scheduling pertains to allocating the work space to resources associated which activates in a schedule as it changes over time. This is an important aspect of materials management in dynamic environments in which many pieces of equipment, crews, and possibly robots move about, as congestion and interference would seriously hamper production. Advanced space scheduling is then warranted to reduce the need of real time sensing and adjusting. Reactive space scheduling may be needed when problems have arisen and must be alleviated. In any case, space-schedule data must be made available in a timely fashion to all parties who need it. The MovePlan model for dynamic layout planning is described to illustrate the overall significance of space scheduling to construction progress planning. MovePlan uses a two -dimensional representation of space to keep the computational costs associated with space time calculations low. Accordingly, the model does not require a powerful work station, but runs on a laptop computer-and is expected to run on a palm top-that could be easily taken out into the field. MovePlan has been loosely integrated with a space schedule conflict resolver, named ConRes, which delays activities or changes their resource needs to lower the demand in space so-called problematic time intervals. Issues pertaining to data collection for space scheduling, scheduling progress control, and data dissemination are discussed. A futuristic scenario is presented to illustrate the use of palmtop computing for space scheduling on site.