Project buffer sizing of a critical chain based on comprehensive resource tightness

•This study suggests a buffer sizing method based on comprehensive resource tightness.•This research analyzes the concept of information resource tightness and applies it to the sizing of project buffer.•The method used to calculate physical resource tightness is improved by setting a critical value of resource availability.•The proposed method considers the mandatory logical relationships and the resource constraints between activities.

A buffer sizing method based on comprehensive resource tightness is proposed in order to better reflect the relationships between activities and improve the accuracy of project buffer determination. Physical resource tightness is initially determined by setting a critical value of resource availability according to the law of diminishing marginal returns. The design structure matrix (DSM) is then adopted to analyze the information flow between activities and calculate the rework time resulting from the information interaction and the information resource tightness. Finally, the project buffer size is adjusted and determined by means of comprehensive resource tightness which consists of physical resource tightness and information resource tightness. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method considers the effect of comprehensive resource tightness on a project buffer, thus overcoming the deficiencies of traditional methods which consider only physical resource tightness and ignore information resource tightness. The size of the project buffer determined by the proposed method is more reasonable, thus signifying that it can doubly optimize project duration and cost.

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