A simulation approach for a periodic PCR buffer allocation strategy in organizational program management

In a dynamically changing environment, the manager of a maintenance and remodeling (M/R) program is confronted with an increasing complexity of coordinating and cooperating multi-resource constrained multiple projects. Uncertainty and interdependence are sources of the complexity, and cause an internal disruption of an activity and chain reactions of disturbance propagation that deteriorate the stability and manageability of the program. This paper evaluates previous endeavors to apply production control and management techniques to the construction industry, and investigates the possibility of applying other production concepts and theories to organizational program management. In particular, this paper proposes a buffer allocation strategy by which periodic buffers are allocated in the flows of program constraint resources (PCRs) to stabilize a master construction schedule instead of protecting individual activities. Comparative experiments by Monte Carlo simulations illustrate better performance of the proposed strategy in terms of program goals: productivity, flexibility, and long-term stability.

Research Highlights
► In this study, we suggested an effective buffer allocation strategy to stabilize a master construction schedule.
► The suggested strategy transforms the internal uncertainty of activity disturbance to stability and manageability of the multiple M/R projects.
► From the results of the Monte Carlo experiments, we concluded that the suggested buffer allocation strategy performed better than the IBA (Individual buffer allocation) in terms of average completion days and complete lateness.