TY  - CONF
TI  - What are the Main Causes of Discontinuous Work?
C1  - Osaka and Kyoto, Japan
C3  - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33)
SP  - 376
EP  - 387
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.24928/2025/0129
AU  - Rathnayake, Asitha
AU  - Murguia, Danny
AU  - Asmone, Ashan Senel
AU  - Pal, Aritra
AU  - Middleton, Campbell
AD  - Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, agbrr2@cam.ac.uk, orcid.org/0000-0002-1389-7801
AD  - Senior Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, dem52@cam.ac.uk, 
orcid.org/0000-0003-1009-4058
AD  - Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, asa79@cam.ac.uk, orcid.org/0000-0002-2173-3890
AD  - Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, ap2425@cam.ac.uk, orcid.org/0000-0002-1644-7400
AD  - Professor, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, prof@construction.cam.ac.uk,
orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-0680
ED  - Seppänen, Olli 
ED  - Koskela, Lauri 
ED  - Murata , Koichi 
AB  - Discontinuous work in construction refers to periods without resource or work continuity, leaving workers without designated locations to perform their tasks. Studies show in many activities idle durations are a significant portion of total work. Caused by poor production system design in projects, discontinuous work is a major cause of low trade productivity. This paper aims to identify factors affecting discontinuous work and quantify their impact. 346 datapoints (including 46 superstructure crews across 75 building levels in 10 multistorey buildings in London) were analysed using correlation and regression techniques. Data included crew size, batch size, activity type, work start and end dates. Results showed that reducing the batch size by increasing slab concrete pours per level minimised discontinuities by ensuring more available work locations. Synchronising the production rates of successive crews also reduced discontinuities by limiting idle time for faster crews. Surprisingly, although often considered a cause of discontinuities, out-of-sequence work had no statistically significant relationship with discontinuities. Possibly due to the constraints of superstructure work limiting the out-of-sequence work. Additionally, offsite construction methods exhibited greater variability in discontinuities compared to in-situ methods, likely due to clashes between in-situ activities happening at a different rate of work to offsite activities.
KW  - Resource continuity
KW  - flow
KW  - productivity
KW  - location-based management (LBM)
KW  - out-of-sequence work
PB  - 
T2  - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33)
DA  - 2025/06/02
CY  - Osaka and Kyoto, Japan
L1  - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/2325/pdf
L2  - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/2325
N1  - Export Date: 02 June 2025
DB  - IGLC.net
DP  - IGLC
LA  - English
ER  -