Allocation of construction resources through a pull‐driven approach

Abstract

Purpose

Construction resources are often limited, and there is a need to ensure resources are carefully allocated to avoid resource wastage and/or project delay. While mathematical and heuristic models were developed to resolve the conflicts between activities, none of them has been proven to be totally satisfactory. The aim of this paper is to explore this.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a novel heuristic method known as a pull‐driven approach (PDA) is proposed; and this approach encourages a lean consideration of resource supply and partnering between activities. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how PDA can be applied. A comparison with another heuristic approach, namely the ranked positional weight method is conducted to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.

Findings

Using the PDA approach, all the activities strive to find matching partners to pull resources to their sides. The resources are, therefore, no longer passively pushed to a single activity with high ranking but a combination of activities that can demonstrate their superiority in resource utilisation will actively win the necessary resources.

Originality/value

This approach has an ability to deal with intermittent activities and locate the lean (no‐waste) supply level of each resource.

Citation

Ng, S.T., Zheng, D.X.M. and Xie, J.Z. (2013), "Allocation of construction resources through a pull‐driven approach", Construction Innovation, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 77-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/14714171311296066