Adapting dynamic coordination buffers for reducing critical production wastes in the Hong Kong building services subsector

Abstract

Managing interdependencies between construction activities is one of the major challenges in project management. An ongoing study in Hong Kong indicated that the critical causes of production shortcomings or so-called ‘production wastes’ at pre-installation stage of the building services subsector were ‘poor coordination of processes and/or trades’ and ‘design changes and/or errors’. Empirical findings and statistical analyses in a multi-pronged study lead to the conceptualization of a ‘dynamic coordination buffer’ to help relieve the tensions from coordination constraints. The paper also explains how a focus on ‘pull’ scheduling can be propelled by incorporating these buffers when producing repetitive elements or typical construction units in building services projects, in order to reduce critical ‘production wastes’ at the ‘pre-installation’ stage. This approach is also shown to align with the application of lean principles in repetitive manufacturing.