33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33) - Osaka and Kyoto, Japan - 2025

https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0101

Optimized Cycle-time Flow Batching: Enhanced Performance in Project Portfolio Management

Doron S. Gabai1, Eran Haronian2, Rafael Sacks3, Mark K. Miera4, Tabitha D. Cloyd5 & Nicah Wong6

1PMP, PgMP, LCI Israel Chairman, Strategic Planner, Intel Corporation, AZ Construction, USA. [email protected], https://www.lci-israel.org/,
2Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel, 40700, Israel, [email protected]
3Professor, Virtual Construction Laboratory, Faculty of Civil and Env. Eng. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-9427-5053
4PMP, Senior Director of Construction, Intel Corporation, AZ Construction, USA. [email protected]
5Director of Construction, Intel Corporation, AZ Construction, USA. [email protected]
6OCF PM for Central Tool Install, Intel Corporation, AZ Construction, USA. [email protected]

Abstract

As organizations in the AEC industry increasingly work within multi-project environments, there is an urgent need for lean Project Portfolio Management (PPM) strategies to ensure effective project prioritization, resource management, and alignment with organizational goals. While lean construction approaches have been proven effective at the single-project level, they do not address portfolio issues, such as flow of trades between projects and strategic prioritization across multiple projects. This study introduces and discusses the project grouping considerations of Optimized Cycle-Time Flow (OCF), a pull-based methodology designed to enhance portfolio performance by grouping projects into manageable batches based on trades’ demonstrated capabilities and customers priorities. By optimizing the mixture, sequence and timing of batches, this approach leads to improved alignment with organizational priorities. Using a comparative analysis between two semiconductor plant project portfolios, each comprising hundreds of projects, the study demonstrates the effects of OCF Batching: stabilization of WIP levels, reduction of individual projects’ cycle times, and enhanced overall portfolio performance. The findings validate OCF as a powerful lean approach for PPM and suggest that it can enhance efficiency for project-based organizations.

Keywords

Batching, Optimized Cycle-Time Flow (OCF), Production Planning and Control, Project Portfolio Management, Strategy

Files


Full Text
 

Reference

Download: BibTeX | RIS Format

Reference in APA 7th edition format:

Gabai, D. S., Haronian, E., Sacks, R., Miera, M. K., Cloyd, T. D. & Wong, N.. (2025). Optimized Cycle-time Flow Batching: Enhanced Performance in Project Portfolio Management. In Seppänen, O., Koskela, L., & Murata , K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33) (pp. 540–550). https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0101

Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:

Gabai, D. S., Haronian, E., Sacks, R., Miera, M. K., Cloyd, T. D. & Wong, N.. (2025). Optimized Cycle-time Flow Batching: Enhanced Performance in Project Portfolio Management. IGLC33. https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0101

 

Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.

2015 © All Rights Reserved.