Craft Labor Productivity

Relatively larger stockpiles of design, piping materials, or construction equipment all resulted in higher crew productivity. However, the buffer strategy for electrical work did not appear to be effective. No definitive relationship was found between electrical crew productivity and availability of design, material, or construction equipment. (RS143-1, p. 13)

Although the conventional approach of providing large piping buffers did improve productivity, it is not certain that the strategy is cost effective. The buffer strategy resulted in a relatively small labor savings stemming from productivity improvements against relatively high costs for providing the material buffers. The combination of stability to the production process and a small crew productivity improvement is sufficient to justify the added costs of providing large buffers. (RS143-1, p. 16)

The production management strategy proved more effective at improving crew productivity and is effective for both piping and electrical trades. The order of magnitude estimates indicate that the production management strategy is twice as cost effective as the buffer strategy. However, the pronounced improvement in the stability of crew performance was not observed with the production management strategy. (RS143-1 p. 10)

Both electrical and piping work productivity were extremely sensitive to changes in the degree of planning and production support available for the work crews. The implication is that shielding production through planning efforts improved the flow of work be either avoiding late or missing resources or providing increased expediting and logistic support to overcome late or missing resources. (RS143-1, p. 21)