9,392 research outputs found
Addressing information flow in lean production management and control in construction
Traditionally, production control on construction sites has been a challenging area,
where the ad-hoc production control methods foster uncertainty - one of the biggest
enemies of efficiency and smooth production flow. Lean construction methods such
as the Last Planner System have partially tackled this problem by addressing the flow
aspect through means such as constraints analysis and commitment planning.
However, such systems have relatively long planning cycles to respond to the
dynamic production requirements of construction, where almost daily if not hourly
control is needed. New solutions have been designed by researchers to improve this
aspect such as VisiLean, but again these types of software systems require the
proximity and availability of computer devices to workers. Given this observation,
there is a need for a communication system between the field and site office that is
highly interoperable and provides real-time task status information. A High-level
communication framework (using VisiLean) is presented in this paper, which aims to
overcome the problems of system integration and improve the flow of information
within the production system. The framework provides, among other things, generic
and standardized interfaces to simplify the “push” and “pull” of the right (production)
information, whenever needed, wherever needed, by whoever needs it. Overall, it is
anticipated that the reliability of the production control will be improve
Towards Automated Urban Planning: When Generative and ChatGPT-like AI Meets Urban Planning
The two fields of urban planning and artificial intelligence (AI) arose and
developed separately. However, there is now cross-pollination and increasing
interest in both fields to benefit from the advances of the other. In the
present paper, we introduce the importance of urban planning from the
sustainability, living, economic, disaster, and environmental perspectives. We
review the fundamental concepts of urban planning and relate these concepts to
crucial open problems of machine learning, including adversarial learning,
generative neural networks, deep encoder-decoder networks, conversational AI,
and geospatial and temporal machine learning, thereby assaying how AI can
contribute to modern urban planning. Thus, a central problem is automated
land-use configuration, which is formulated as the generation of land uses and
building configuration for a target area from surrounding geospatial, human
mobility, social media, environment, and economic activities. Finally, we
delineate some implications of AI for urban planning and propose key research
areas at the intersection of both topics.Comment: TSAS Submissio
Towards a lean model for production management of refurbishment projects, VTT Technology: 94
This is the Stage 3 Report for the ApRemodel project, which aims at improving
processes for multi-occupancy retrofit by generating a lean model for project delivery.
In this respect, a process-driven approach has been adopted to investigate
what can be done to improve the way that retrofits projects are delivered.
An initial literature review, focused on the management of refurbishment works,
revealed that the research on this matter is scarce. There are plenty of studies
related to the broad refurbishment area, however only a small number refer to the
way that those construction projects are delivered.
According to the literature, construction organisations have predominantly used
traditional methods for managing the production of refurbishment projects. The
problem is that those tools and techniques are not often appropriate to cope with
the complex characteristics inherent to construction projects, especially in the
case of refurbishments. Moreover, they have often not been based on a clear
theoretical foundation. As a result, numerous types of waste have been identified
in refurbishment projects such as waiting time, disruptions in performing tasks on
site, rework, among others. This has led to unsatisfactory project performance in
terms of low productivity, project delays, and cost overrun.
The first step towards better production management in refurbishment projects
is recognising the complexity of the sector in order to adopt the correct approach
to cope with this specific scenario. In this respect, lean construction is identified as
an appropriate way to deal with the complexity and uncertainty inherent in refurbishment
projects, given that this management philosophy fully integrates the
conversion, flow, and value views.
This document builds on the findings from the literature review as well as evidence
from case studies. Managerial practices based on lean construction principles
have presented successful results in the management of complex projects.
Case studies available in the literature report the feasibility and usefulness of this
theoretical foundation. Moreover, the evidence from these studies show considerable
potential for improving the management of refurbishment works.
A list of methods, tools, and techniques are identified. This report may be used
by construction refurbishment organisations and housing associations as a starting
point for improving the efficiency in managing production of refurbishment projects.
To this end, partnerships between industry and academia are strongly recommended.
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Although the usefulness of lean principles in complex projects is already
proved, further work is needed to check what practices are best for the respective
refurbishment context, as well as identifying enablers and barriers for practical
adoption. Furthermore, additional studies would be also necessary to better understand
the extent to which the implementation of lean philosophy might influence
performance of refurbishment projects.
This report should be seen as work in progress with much more to learn, as detailed
research work around the sustainable retrofit process in a lean way is further
developed
Automated space layout planning for environmental sustainability
There is a growing global interest in low/zero carbon buildings in response to the increased CO2 in the atmosphere, nearly half of which comes from building energy consumption. Buildings are built for a considerably longer lifespan and enhancing energy efficiency in buildings can play a significant role in reducing CO2 emissions. Energy efficiency features need to be incorporated at the earliest, as alterations to the design at latter stages may prove to be difficult and sometimes expensive. Building design is concerned with satisfying various objectives (e.g. cost, efficiency of a space layout, energy consumption), which are sometimes in conflict with each other. Performance of various indicators, therefore, needs to be assessed as a whole rather than in isolation.
Space layout planning is considered as the starting point of building design. Most performance indicators; i.e. cost, energy efficiency, etc. are closely linked with the layout. Researchers have attempted at automating space layout planning since the 1960s with a view to effectively search the solution space. Diverse approaches are adopted in space layout planning that ranges from the analysis of spatial proximity to the application of ‘space syntax’ theory. Developments in whole building energy simulation and integration of simulation in the design process imply that the search for optimum space layout could be better guided by incorporating detailed-based simulation as response generators as opposed to the ones with a simplified representation of the problem domain.
This paper describes a framework for sustainable space layout planning that uses evolutionary computation methods to search the solution space. Whole building simulation programs are used as response generators to guide the search for energy efficient layouts. The integrated approach enables the consideration of energy consumption, in addition to the geometry and topology, for decision making during space layout planning
On Applicability of Automated Planning for Incident Management
Incident management aims to save human lives, mitigate the effect of accidents, prevent damages, to mention a few of their benefits. Efficient coordination of rescue team members, allocation of available resources, and appropriate responses to the realtime unfolding of events is critical for managing incidents successfully.
Coordination involves a series of decisions and event monitoring, usually made by human coordinators, for instance task definition, task assignment, risk assessment, etc. Each elementary decision can be described by a named action (e.g. boarding an ambulance, assigning a task). Taken as a whole, the team coordinating an incident
response can be seen as a decision-making system.
In this paper, we discuss how invaluable assistance can be brought to such a system using automated planning.
In consultation with experts we have derived a set of requirements from which we provide a formal specification of the domain. Following the specification, we have developed a prototype domain model and evaluated it empirically. Here we present the results of this evaluation, along with several challenges (e.g uncertainty) that
we have identifie
The interaction of lean and building information modeling in construction
Lean construction and Building Information Modeling are quite different initiatives, but both are having profound impacts on the construction industry. A rigorous analysis of the myriad specific interactions between them indicates that a synergy exists which, if properly understood in theoretical terms, can be exploited to improve construction processes beyond the degree to which it might be improved by application of either of these paradigms independently. Using a matrix that juxtaposes BIM functionalities with prescriptive lean construction principles, fifty-six interactions have been identified, all but four of which represent constructive interaction. Although evidence for the majority of these has been found, the matrix is not considered complete, but rather a framework for research to
explore the degree of validity of the interactions. Construction executives, managers, designers and developers of IT systems for construction can also benefit from the framework as an aid to recognizing the potential synergies when planning their lean and BIM adoption strategies
Federated Robust Embedded Systems: Concepts and Challenges
The development within the area of embedded systems (ESs) is moving rapidly, not least due to falling costs of computation and communication equipment. It is believed that increased communication opportunities will lead to the future ESs no longer being parts of isolated products, but rather parts of larger communities or federations of ESs, within which information is exchanged for the benefit of all participants. This vision is asserted by a number of interrelated research topics, such as the internet of things, cyber-physical systems, systems of systems, and multi-agent systems. In this work, the focus is primarily on ESs, with their specific real-time and safety requirements.
While the vision of interconnected ESs is quite promising, it also brings great challenges to the development of future systems in an efficient, safe, and reliable way. In this work, a pre-study has been carried out in order to gain a better understanding about common concepts and challenges that naturally arise in federations of ESs. The work was organized around a series of workshops, with contributions from both academic participants and industrial partners with a strong experience in ES development.
During the workshops, a portfolio of possible ES federation scenarios was collected, and a number of application examples were discussed more thoroughly on different abstraction levels, starting from screening the nature of interactions on the federation level and proceeding down to the implementation details within each ES. These discussions led to a better understanding of what can be expected in the future federated ESs. In this report, the discussed applications are summarized, together with their characteristics, challenges, and necessary solution elements, providing a ground for the future research within the area of communicating ESs
Inside Magazine, October 2010
Iowa Department of Transportation Newsletter. INSIDE Magazine is developed to help keep all Iowa DOT employees informed about critical issues affecting them, recognize DOT employees for their excellent service and share interesting aspects in the lives of our co-workers
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