https://doi.org/10.24928/2024/0157

About Time-Cost Trade-Offs in Takt Planning

Iris D. Tommelein¹

¹Distinguished Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, and Director, Project Production Systems Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6596

Abstract

Time-cost trade-off problems in construction scheduling are well known and described in the literature, but time-cost trade-off problems pertaining specifically to takt planning have received little attention to date. Previous papers have introduced concepts and applications of takt planning (aka. takt production) in construction. They addressed production systems design questions and presented various takt planning methods. Quite a few of those papers also mentioned how takt planning helps cope with variability that is known at the time of planning and with the manifestation of variability when it is encountered during plan execution. Coping methods include the use of capacity- (people and their means of production), materials- (inventory), space-, and time buffers. These buffers—and of course money too (financial buffers or contingencies)—come at a cost. This paper explores various costs to be considered in the takt planning process and it presents trade-offs that can be made to meet selected objectives. The goal is to initiate discussion on this topic and help spur further quantification of the advantages of using takt when designing project production systems.

Keywords

Takt planning, buffers, slack, direct cost, indirect cost, fixed cost, variable cost, cost management, buffer management.

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Reference

Tommelein, I. D. 2024. About Time-Cost Trade-Offs in Takt Planning, Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 32) , 226-237. doi.org/10.24928/2024/0157

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