https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0245
A digital-twin based CONWIP framework for work in progress (WIP) management in modular construction
Nima Moghimi1, Sahar H. Shamaee2, Haitao Yu3, Qipei Mei4, Vicente A. Gonzalez5 & Farook Hamzeh6
1Ph.D. Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected], orcid.org/0009-0008-4733-12762Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected]
3R&D Lead, Landmark Homes, Edmonton, Canada, [email protected]
4Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected]
5Hal Kvisle Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Digital Lean Construction, Infrastructure Human Tech (IHT) Lab, Strategic Projects Insight Centre in Engineering (SPICE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-3408-3863
6Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-3986-9534
Abstract
Effective Work-in-Process (WIP) management is a principle of lean production, and pull-based control methods such as Kanban and CONWIP have been shown to regulate WIP levels and improve production flow. However, conventional implementations based on physical cards or visual signals are often impractical in modular construction environments, where high product customization, limited floor space, and heterogeneous WIP units complicate traditional control mechanisms. This paper presents a digital-twin-based CONWIP framework designed to overcome these challenges. The framework replaces physical signaling with automated, real-time WIP tracking enabled by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and introduces a WIP harmonization method that standardizes diverse product configurations into a single reference unit for consistent system-wide control. A centralized CONWIP controller regulates job release based on the harmonized WIP level relative to a predefined cap. The feasibility of the proposed framework is demonstrated through a simulation of a wall assembly line in a panelized prefabrication factory in Edmonton, Canada. Performance evaluation using Factory Physics benchmarks shows that the framework effectively controls WIP, absorbs production variability, and achieves near-maximum throughput, constrained primarily by the system bottleneck. These results validate the framework’s practicality and highlight the potential of digital twins to extend CONWIP to high-variability, space-constrained modular construction environments.
Keywords
Modular construction, work-in-progress (WIP), CONWIP, digital twin, hybrid simulation.
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Reference in APA 7th edition format:
Moghimi, N., Shamaee, S. H., Yu, H., Mei, Q., Gonzalez, V. A. & Hamzeh, F.. (2026). A digital-twin based CONWIP framework for work in progress (WIP) management in modular construction. In Hamzeh, F., Poshdar, M., & Garcia-Lopez,, N. P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34) (pp. 824–836). https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0245
Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:
Moghimi, N., Shamaee, S. H., Yu, H., Mei, Q., Gonzalez, V. A. & Hamzeh, F.. (2026). A digital-twin based CONWIP framework for work in progress (WIP) management in modular construction. IGLC34. https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0245
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