Analyzing the Relationship Between Production Constraints and Construction Work Flow Reliability: An SEM Approach

The lack of an explanatory understanding of factors giving rise to low/high PPC highlights the importance of investigating the relation between production constraints and PPC as implemented in the Last Planner™ System. As production is cumulative in nature, that is, underperformances and deficiencies multiply as we move downstream it is important to investigate the combined effect of constraints and underperformances on the next production performance output, and develop an association between production constraints and percent plan complete. The overall goal of this research is to understand the relation between production constraints and workflow reliability, as measured by the PPC metric, at the production level in a construction project. To approach this goal, the research focused on developing a method to investigate such a relationship. The research has concluded that production constraints are mostly subject to constructivist interpretation, i.e., they form as a result of a collection of a set of measured variables and represent a collective existence of those variables. Therefore, it is recommended that future research focus on testing the relationships with formative latent variables. It was also found that studying the impact of all factors together is more insightful than in isolation. The framework in this paper can be used by industry professionals to measure the impact of production constraints on work flow reliability.