Location based scheduling in the form of flow line and its comparison to CPM/Bar chart scheduling

ABSTRACT: Time Management is a process of planning, scheduling and control over the amount of time spent in specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, or productivity. Planning of construction projects differ in size, type, and nature. Bar charts are generally popular, easy and good for small projects; network diagrams like Critical Path Method (CPM) are used for medium to large size projects, while the line of balance technique is used for big linear projects and repetitive actions. Location based scheduling is a deviation of line of balance technique, which is graphical line showing the movement of crew’s productivity and continuity of two dimensional coordinate system using the location and time. A modified method have been evolved with the use of computer software called Vico office which uses Location Based Scheduling (LBS) in the form of flow line scheduling, which is a combination of CPM and Linear Scheduling Method(LSM) with which, one can deal with small, medium and big projects in planning and scheduling. Every type of planning has advantages and disadvantages.CPM algorithm is designed for optimizing project duration rather than dealing the balancing of resource constraints to ensure easy productivity of crews from unit to unit as the LSM does. This study will use the modified LBS method for a case study of 3 floor villa which represents as a small project. Both scheduling tools, CPM/Bar chart and LBS, will be used to schedule the villa and a comparison between the two methods with their limitations and advantages will be discussed. The results of the LBS scheduling through the case study showed that the LBS scheduling can work on small projects, can be easily planned, and it gave some advantageous results than the traditional CPM/Barchart scheduling method. Keywords: Time Management, Line of Balance, Location Based Scheduling, Critical Path Method, Bar Charts. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………