TY  - CONF
TI  - The Tonnage-Flow
C1  - Haifa, Israel
C3  - 18th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction
SP  - 558
EP  - 568
PY  - 2010
AU  - Hofacker, Alexander
AU  - Gehbauer, Fritz
AD  - Research Associate, Technology and Management in Construction, Karlsruhe Institute of  Technology, Am Fasanengarten Geb.50.31, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany, Phone +49-160 99085916  Alexander.hofacker@kit.edu
AD  - Professor Dr.-Ing. Fritz Gehbauer, M.S., Head of the Institute of Technology and Management in  Construction, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Am Fasanengarten Geb.50.31, 76128 Karlsruhe,  Germany, Phone +49-721 6082646, fritz.gehbauer@kit.edu
ED  - Walsh, Kenneth
ED  - Alves, Thais
AB  - In steel fabrication and erection, the production flow is measured by counting the amount of fabricated and erected tons. This leads to several questions: is this indicator sufficient to visualize the real productivity? Are there better metrics to display process performance? Thirdly, how can lean methods like pull, Kanban, ConWIP and SMED improve these processes? A study of steel fabricators in Germany and Chile revealed that the only KPI today is the global metric of [hours/ton] related to the finished products. The lack of performance metrics, high process variability and individual production justifies the first research question concerning whether there are common patterns behind all steel-fabrication processes. Further questions involve finding the right metrics and determining which lean-methods could be best applied at certain work-stations to optimize the whole production flow. Data is measured in detail considering the whole steel-fabrication process including the erection of the building on site. This paper provides an exemplary in-depth exploration of the cycle times and process variability of the work-stations conducting ―fitting-welding‖ operations. The application of PULL through Kanban and CONWIP as well as takt-time control and SMED is discussed. A three level KPI-concept is elaborated, to support pull in the whole supply chain. Finally the study provides a basis for simulating the steel fabrication and erection process as tonnage flows by continuous simulation (HECRAS) or the one-piece concept of DES-Simulation (SPS). 
KW  - Steel-fabrication process
KW  - Production metrics
KW  - Process variability
KW  - Standardisation
KW  - Product complexity
KW  - Continuous- and discrete event simulation
PB  - 
T2  - 18th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction
DA  - 2010/07/14
CY  - Haifa, Israel
L1  - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/682/pdf
L2  - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/682
N1  - Export Date: 26 April 2024
DB  - IGLC.net
DP  - IGLC
LA  - English
ER  -