Int J Adv Manuf Technol
DOI 10.1007/s00170-016-9306-9
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Production process improvement of buildings prefabricated
steel frames using value stream mapping
Gholamreza Heravi 1 & Mohammad Firoozi 1
Received: 5 February 2016 / Accepted: 9 August 2016
# Springer-Verlag London 2016
Abstract The ultimate goal of lean philosophy is to eliminate
or decrease wastes and deliver value to the customer. After
successful implementation of lean principles to the
manufacturing sector, researchers have been trying to apply
lean principles to the construction sector. However, construc-
tion is completely different from manufacturing. Prefabricated
and industrialized buildings bear a striking resemblance to
manufacturing due to completing most processes in the facto-
ry environment. This paper uses value stream mapping (VSM)
as a lean technique in the production phase of Pprefabricated
steel frames (PSFs) in a case study. The case includes con-
struction of three 16-story residential buildings made of PSFs
with bolt and nut connections in Iran. The production process-
es are investigated, and the current state of the production line
is examined. The VSM uses elaboration of maps to identify
the current state of production, diagnose wastes and their root
causes, and finally, propose improvements in the future state.
To investigate the productivity of the production line and im-
plement lean principles, discrete event simulation (DES) was
carried out. After identifying and reducing some of the wastes
in the current state, the future state was modeled. The results
showed 34 % reduction in the lead time of production and
16 % reduction of costs. These results support the hypothesis
that lean principles can be successfully applied to industrial-
ized and prefabricated construction.
* Gholamreza Heravi
heravi@ut.ac.ir
Mohammad Firoozi
mohfiroozi@ut.ac.ir
1
School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of
Tehran, 16 Azar Ave, P.O. Box: 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran
Keywords Lean production . Production process . Value
stream mapping . Simulation . Prefabricated steel frames
1 Introduction
Lean means getting the right thing to the right place, at the
right time, and in the right quantity while minimizing waste
and being flexible and open to change [1]. Waste is defined as
any process step/activity that does not add value in the final
product delivered to the end consumers [2]. Lean production
principles include specifying the value by a product, identify-
ing the value stream, making the production flow, acting at the
pull of the customer, as well as pursing perfection [3]. In this
regard, lean production principles have been used in various
industrial sectors as one way of positioning operating efficien-
cies toward leading value indicators of operational excellency
[4]. The mentioned production principles are considered as an
effective management tool since they focus on eliminating
wastes and delivering value to the customers. As a result, lean
thinking concepts have gained a lot of attention in terms of
identifying and removing waste [5].
The process of delivering a constructed facility in construc-
tion industry is similar to that of making a product in the
manufacturing industry. The two industries have the same
goal of generating a product that meets the clients require-
ments within the shortest time and at the lowest cost [6].
However, the construction industry differs significantly from
manufacturing in three aspects namely onsite production, one
of a kind projects and complexity [7]. In this regard, applying
lean principles to construction is difficult even with respect to
modified lean principles since the lean journey started in the
production line of an automobile company. But, lean princi-
ples can be applied more easily to industrialized and
prefabricated buildings (i.e., using modularity in

construction), since they consist of sections manufactured
offsite in production lines.
The use of modularity in the specific industry of construc-
tion can be traced back to wooden houses in Northern Europe.
However, the real turning point seems to have originated in
Japan [8]. To provide fast and affordable housing, construc-
tion of industrialized and prefabricated home-building pro-
jects have been high on the agenda in the developing country
of Iran in recent years. In this research, the production line of
PSFs, as a widely used modular and prefabrication method, is
examined. The reason for choosing steel frames is that they
are frequently used in prefabricated building projects in Iran
due to the fact that no other building systems can outweigh
steel frames when it comes to economy, flexibility, and speed
of construction. Moreover, Firoozi and Heravi [9] indicated
that PSFs create more wastes compared with other prefabrica-
tion methods used in Irans industrialized building projects
like insulated concrete forms (ICF) or light cold-formed steel
frames (LSF).
The purpose of this research is to examine the production
phase of PSFs and to improve the efficiency of the production
line. To improve the efficiency, the VSM is implemented in
the production phase of the PSFs in a construction project.
The project included three 16-story residential buildings made
of PSFs with bolt and nut connections in Iran. VSM is de-
scribed as a technique used for the diagnosis, implementation,
and maintenance of a lean approach. Its main function is to
identify opportunities for improvement through elimination of
waste [10]. To estimate the impact of the method implemen-
tation, a discrete event simulation (DES) is employed.
Eventually, the results that highlight the reduction of costs
and time of delivering the project are discussed.
2 Literature review
Numerous papers have been published on application of VSM
in various domains including health care, food industry, fi-
nance, manufacturing, software development, engineering,
and service industries [2]. But, there has been little research
studying the application of VSM in construction projects or
their related sectors. Pasqualini and Zawislak [11] applied the
VSM to the masonry stage of construction projects in Brazil.
Their study resulted in reduction of 25 days in the total lead
time of the masonry which allowed decreasing of the final
deadline of the project. Yu et al. [12] developed a lean model
for house construction by VSM. The model presented four
main features namely: synchronized first in/first out (FIFO)
lane-based flow, production leveling at pacemaker, work
restructuring, and improved operation reliability. Compared
with the current state, the future state showed a considerable
improvement in overall performance. With a stable product
flow, the capacity of each task was synchronized to Takt time
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
and sales changes were responded rapidly. By restructuring
work packages, the number of handovers was reduced and
total lead time was further decreased to 50 % of that of the
current state.
Sing et al. [13] reviewed and classified literature on VSM
in four categories of conceptual work, empirical/modeling
work, case studies, and survey articles. In their study, they
applied the VSM in a small manufacturing Indian industry
to reduce lead time, processing time, work in process inven-
tory, and manpower requirement at individual stations. Yu
et al. [14] examined one of the leading industrialized building
manufacturers in the USA for 6 months. Value stream map-
ping was implemented to the production line along with two
other lean techniques namely, standardized work and five S
(sort, straighten, standardize, shine, and sustain). The applica-
tion resulted in improved labor efficiency by 10 %, reduction
of labor costs by 18 %, and increase in number of customer
orders by 50 %. Tabanli and Ertay [15] used the VSM in the
shop floor of an automotive supplier company and, as a part of
the study, generated a current value stream map and a future
value stream map, which contained the recommended revi-
sions for the company. To evaluate the return of the invest-
ment, they established performance metrics and made a
benefit-cost analysis. They gained better inventory manage-
ment to reduce the inventory levels within the production
system.
Forno et al. [10] investigated the main difficulties and lim-
itations encountered during the development of current state
maps, analyzed associated causes, and pointed out guidelines
to facilitate the use of VSM to map processes. They criticized
some ways in which VSM has been used and claimed that this
tool can lead to mistakes that can cause problems instead of
benefits. They asserted that the biggest difficulty is in under-
standing and classifying problems identified in the studies
researched, because they were not always clearly presented.
Their study suggested future works for improving the use of
VSM for mapping processes. In a case study by Rosenbaum
et al. [16], the VSM was implemented as a green-lean ap-
proach in the construction of a hospital to improve its envi-
ronmental and production performance during the structural
concrete work stage. In this research, the current state indicat-
ed that only 33 % of the cycle times were value added. The
researchers recommended some lean tools such as FIFO lane,
work standardization, and value stream synchronization to
tackle root causes of wastes to reduce waiting times and in-
ventories. To decrease wastes of materials, a waste manage-
ment approach was recommended to recycle some wastes and
use other wastes in projects like soil stabilization, drainage
construction, and backfilling.
Andrade et al. [17] applied the concepts of VSM in an auto-
parts company in Sao Paulo. By mapping the current and
future states, they eliminated waste and reduced lead time.
Simulations were made using current and future states to
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
support the suggested improvements. The results showed that
VSM combined with simulation is a good alternative in the
decision-making for change in production processes. Atieh
et al. [5] implemented the VSM toward improving
manufacturing processes in a company in Jordan. They
employed a DES model to accurately estimate the impact of
the method implementation. The results of the simulation was
then used to identify all the possible primary and secondary
bottlenecks using multiple approaches such as utilization
method, waiting time method, and scenario-based method.
An improving algorithm is then utilized to systematically sug-
gest changes aiming to relieve the system and produce a better
manufacturing lead time and/or increase its throughput taking
into consideration feasibility. Helleno et al. [18] applied the
VSM and DES as decision-making tools to direct the manage-
ment investment in the best option among the available sce-
narios in manufacturing cell part of a Brazils metal industry.
The results showed the efficiency of VSM and DES integra-
tion as decision-making tools.
3 Implementing VSM on industrialized
and prefabricated home building
In general, two strategies including product and process ap-
proach have been used for industrialized construction. The
product approach aims to decrease onsite construction ac-
tivities by changing buildings into products. In other words,
the processes performed at the project site are reduced as few
as possible. On the other hand, the process approach focuses
on applying a manufacturing management model to the cur-
rent construction processes. Simply put, a new management
approach is applied to the existing construction processes
which consists of both onsite and offsite activities [14].
Furthermore, the extent of industrialization is expected to rise
with the emergence of building information modeling (BIM),
advanced information technology (IT), and automation tech-
nology [19]. Thus, using industrialized and prefabricated
buildings as a product approach and at the same time applying
lean principles to increase efficiency through repetition as a
process approach are perfectly justified.
One of the methods, used by many construction com-
panies in industrialized and prefabricated buildings in
Iran, is PSFs with bolt and nut connections. In this
method, after the design phase, columns and girders
are fabricated in the factory, transported to the construc-
tion site, and finally installed using bolt and nut or
sometimes welding connections. The advantages of this
method include, but are not limited to: faster fabrication
and installation; fewer defects due to high accuracy of
fabrication; fewer wastes of materials, equipment, and
labor; less occupied space of the construction site; less
air and noise pollution at the construction site; and less
residual stress in the structural elements.
Unfortunately, not all advantages are achieved because of
implementing traditional management approach in the indus-
trialized buildings which results in several wastes in construc-
tion processes. To eliminate the wastes, after visiting several
project sites, production line of a steel factory, and
interviewing experts, 23 most common wastes were identi-
fied. Table 1 shows the identified wastes within the seven
categories defined by Ohno [20] namely: (1) overproduction,
producing an item before it is needed; (2) waiting and idle
time; (3) transportation, excessive movement, and handling
of an item; (4) inventory, excess inventory, increasing lead
time, and consuming floor space; (5) motion, unnecessary
movement of labor, materials, and equipment; (6) over pro-
cessing or unnecessary processing of an item; and (7) defects
or quality defects.
To eliminate or at least decrease wastes in the pro-
duction line, VSM is widely used as a lean construction
technique. This technique graphically shows the pro-
cesses required to make a product, starting from deliv-
ery of raw materials to shipping finished goods to the
customer. Value stream mapping is the simple process
of directly observing the flows of information and ma-
terials as they now occur, summarizing them visually,
and then envisioning a future state with much better
performance [21]. The first step of the VSM is to define
a particular product or product family as the target for
improvement. The following step is to develop current
state VSM for the targeted process with the prospect of
reaching an efficient version in the future to become
lean. In order to achieve this, the value that each activ-
ity in the current state adds to the final product is de-
termined. Then all non-value-added activities are re-
moved to determine the future state. This future state
map then becomes the basis for making the required
changes to the system [2].
The map of the current state is used to simply show how the
production is currently operating. Its analysis, based on the
lean principles, is what actually allows identifying wastes
and proposing improvement actions for a production line
which generates the shortest lead time, highest quality, and
the lowest costs. The map of the future state is a drawing of
an ideal state of production, the best way it could operate
based on the current state analysis. The proposed improve-
ments show where the wastes are and how they can be elim-
inated or reduced.
To draw the future state map, the following eight key ques-
tions should be answered [22]:
& What is the Takt time (Takt time is how often one part or
product is produced, based on rate of sales to meet cus-
tomer demands)?

Table 1 The identified wastes in
Irans prefabricated steel frame Main groups
projects
Overproduction
Waiting and idle time
Transportation
Inventory
Motion
Over processing
Defects
& Will finished goods be built to replenish a supermarket, or
will they be built and directly shipped to clients?
& Where can continuous flow of processes be utilized?
& Is there a need for a supermarket pull system within the
value stream?
& What single point in the production chain will be used to
schedule production?
& How will the production be leveled at the pacemaker
process?
& What increment of work will be consistently released from
the pacemaker process (pitch)?
& What process improvements will be needed?
Value stream mapping offers the following advantages [23]:
& It forms the basis for lean production implementation;
& It relates the manufacturing process internal to the facility
to the whole supply chain;
& It displays both the product flow and the information flow;
& It links products planning and demand forecast to
production scheduling and to flow shop control; and
& It includes information related to production time and in-
ventory levels.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
The identified wastes
Early production of elements (columns and girders) before use
Additional costs due to keeping the elements in the store
Idle funds due to keeping the elements in the store
Waiting for repairing the equipment
Waiting for the fabricated elements at the project site
Waiting for funds provided by the client
Waiting for approval of the new maps
Waiting for inspection of fabricated elements
Waiting for sending the fabricated elements to the project site
Unnecessary transportation of equipment
Unnecessary transportation of materials
Materials in excess of planned requirements
Elements undergoing inspection
Unnecessary movements of equipment due to inappropriate site layout
Unnecessary movements of materials due to inappropriate site layout
Unnecessary movements of staff due to inappropriate site layout
Use of equipment with higher capacities than required
Use of materials with higher qualities than required (thicker plates)
Unnecessary processes leading to wastes of materials and equipment
(e.g., application of paints with greater thickness than required)
Defects in fabrication due to errors in design
Defects in fabrication due to non-conformance with maps
Defects in cutting the plates and causing scrap
Defects and rework caused by changes in maps
Defects and accidents caused by ignoring safety measures
4 Case study
Aransage Company is in charge of fabricating and erecting
steel structures and metal deck floors of three buildings of a
residential complex consisted of 14 buildings in Tehran. Each
building is 16 stories tall. The production line of the
Companys steel factory included ten production processes
from supply of materials to hauling the fabricated elements
as follows: (1) supplying the steel plates; (2) cutting the steel
plates; (3) drilling the plates for nuts and bolts; (4) initial
assembly of the main plates and stiffeners; (5) submerged
arc welding (SAW) of columns in three phases; (6) final
welding by metal active gas welding (MAG); (7) cleaning
the fabricated elements by shot blasting and sand blasting;
(8) welding the connections by metal active gas welding
(MAG); (9) painting the elements (columns and girders);
and (10) hauling the elements.
Each buildings steel frame weighed approximately
1900 tons. The steel frames were erected in five stages and
each stage consisted of almost three metal deck sheet floors.
After examining the shop drawings, 36 box-shaped columns
and 180 girders were considered. While the elements were
made of different sections, for simplicity, the sections shown
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 2 Dimensions of structural elements of each stage Table 4 Percentage of accepted elements after inspection

Structural elements Dimensions of required Number of plates No Process Columns (%) Girders (%)
plates (mm)
1 Accepting the initial welding 80 90
Columns 30*2000*6000 72 2 Accepting the final welding 85 95
Column connections 20*2000*6000 36 3 Accepting the paint 90 97
Flanges of girders 20*2000*6000 45
Webs of girders 8*2000*6000 45
Girder connections 30*2000*6000 15
Although, Table 3 demonstrates the number of required
resources for every process, according to site visits and
interviewing experts in the production line, there were
in Table 2 are considered as the most frequently used sections 12 skillful workers, 12 common workers, 10 common
(the dimensions and number of steel plates required by every welders, 10 skillful welders, and 4 painters available
stage for each structural element are shown in Table 2). and allocated in the production line which calls for
The approximate weight of each column and girder were movement of these resources between stations. For ev-
considered 6.60 and 0.75 tons for each stage, respectively (the ery welder, a welding rectifier was provided. Thus, 20
total weight of the steel frames is about 1918 tons). rectifiers would be needed. Also, for submerged welding
It was assumed that the staff worked in a daily work shift of of columns, a submerged welding machine was needed.
8 h. The required human resources for each process are shown In total, three submerged welding machines, which
in Table 3. would be repaired after every 200 h, were considered
It should be noted that two kinds of skillful and for the case.
common workers and welders were considered to avoid The fabricated elements of some processes were inspected
excessive movements of the staff between processes. at the factory by the designers company. Some tests like

Table 3 The required human resources for each process

Process Common welder Skillful welder Common worker Skillful worker Painter

Cutting the major plates of columns 4

Initial assembly of columns 4 2 2
Modifying the welding of columns 2
Submerged arc welding of columns 2 2
Final welding of columns 3 2
Modifying the welding of columns 1
Cleaning the columns 3
Cutting the minor plates of columns (connections) 3
Welding columns connections 3 2
Painting columns 3
Modifying the paint of columns 1
Cutting the major plates of girders 4
Initial welding of girders 1 1
Modifying the welding of girders 1
Final welding of girders 1 1
Modifying the welding of girders 1
Cleaning the girders 1
Cutting the minor plates of girders (connections) 2
Welding girders connections 1 1
Painting girders 1
Modifying the paint of girders 1
Hauling the elements 2
Total 10 10 18 14 6

ultrasonic test, penetration test, and visual tests were conduct-
ed. Table 4 shows the percentage of accepted elements after
inspection.
4.1 The current state map
The current state map of the processes to produce the steel
frames of one stage were developed using the data gathered
and the aforementioned assumptions. The current state map
shows which processes produce the most inventories, the
value-added time, as well as non-value-added time.
According to the approved project scheduling, the client
demanded that the elements be prepared for erection at the
job site in 2 months. Since there were 36 columns and 180
girders, the daily production rate would be as follows:
& Daily production rate for columns: 36/60 = 0.60
(columns per day)
Fig. 1 The current model of production after 30 days
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
& Daily production rate for girders: 180/60 = 3
(girders per day)
To calculate the lead time for every process, the number of
inventories should be divided by the daily production rate. In
reality, this cannot be true because the human resources are
moved between stations by the production manager whenever
possible to avoid being idle. If some processes are parallel, the
greater lead time would be considered.
To investigate the productivity of the production line, com-
puter simulation was carried out by DES software Arena 13.5.
In the shop floor simulation, different flows of discrete entities
circulate in a model composed of different processes, which
will have an effect on the speed of flow, its nature or its ad-
vance within the model. These flows can represent logical or
physical entities. A physical entity is a physical object, for
example, a product, which can be modified by physical pro-
cesses such as a machine or workstation. A logical entity is
modified by control processes to make decisions for creating
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
and routing physical entities and/or launching, sizing, or
booking shop orders on physical processes [24]. Therefore,
different stages of steel fabrication at the factory were
modeled by Arena using real data gathered by site visits and
interviewing experts in the production line. The data included
the processes, cycle times of processes, and available re-
sources for every process. After developing the model, it
was run for 30 days or 240 h to find out the current state of
the production line. Figure 1 shows the simulated model of the
fabrication phase after 240 h in the software environment.
Basically, computer simulation can precisely calculate the
number of inventories, total lead time, as well as costs.
Therefore, the number of inventories and the lead time for
every station were calculated by using the software reports.
Figure 2 shows the current state map of the production line
which consists of stations, inventories, and lead times for ev-
ery station in the production line after 30 days.
As shown in Fig. 2, the current state map shows that some
stations like initial assembly of columns and girders and sub-
merged welding produce a larger number of inventories,
which is not desirable in lean production. The client wants
the first stage of steel frames to be completed after 60 days.
Fig. 2 The current state map of the production line
Since there are 36 columns and 180 girders, on average, 3
girders and 0.60 column should be fabricated to meet the
deadline. To calculate the lead time for every process, the
number of inventories should be divided by the daily produc-
tion rate which is 0.6 for columns and 3 for girders (the time-
line underneath the current state map shows the lead time for
every station). In reality, this cannot be true because the hu-
man resources are moved between stations by the production
manager and this assumption to calculate the lead times is
extremely approximate. Therefore, the lead time for fabrica-
tion of the 1st stage is the summation of lead times for every
station. Because 30 days have passed since the fabrication
started, as shown in Fig. 2, the total lead time will be
107.66 days (8.33 + 20 + 15 + 4.33 + 26.67 + 3.33 + 30).
On the other hand, by modeling the processes and using com-
puter simulation with respect to available resources (Fig. 1),
simulation has been replicated for five times since there are
five stages of steel frames in every building. Figure 3 shows
the simulation properties like number of replications, time
units, etc., in the current mode of production.
After running the developed model for five replications, the
total lead time of fabrication is 695, 674, 681, 718, and 630 h,

Fig. 3 Simulation properties of
the current model
respectively. The average of these numbers indicates that the
fabrication is completed by 680 h (85 days). Obviously, the
current state of the production line will not meet the 60 day
deadline.
To calculate the total costs of resources for the current
production line, the busy and idle hourly costs of each re-
source has been introduced to the software. With regard to
the specified rates, the software calculates busy costs when
the resource is seized and calculates idle costs when the re-
source is released. In this regard, the total busy and idle costs
of resources are shown in Fig. 4. By adding costs of each
resource, the total cost of production in the current mode is
obtained which is equal to $152,554. The total cost of fabri-
cating 1 kg of steel frames is calculated by dividing 152,554
by approximately 380,000 kg for every stage which is $0.41.
4.2 The future state map
After identifying the stations producing the most wastes,
the current state map should be modified and the future
state map be developed to eliminate or decrease wastes.
As it was mentioned above, some stations produce
a large number of inventories. To tackle this problem,
some supermarket pull systems are provided to avoid
inventories and achieve continuous flow of the
production.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
There are often spots in the value stream where continuous
flow is not possible and batching is necessary. There can be
several reasons for this including [22]:
& Some processes are designed to operate at very fast or
slow cycle times and need to change over to service mul-
tiple product families.
& Some processes such as those at suppliers are far away and
shipping one piece at a time is not realistic.
& Some processes have too many lead times or are unreli-
able to couple directly to other processes in a continuous
flow.
Also, while having no inventory may be beneficial with
regard to decreasing inventory holding costs, it can result in
production downtime if sufficient buffer stock is not avail-
able to shield against upstream variability in the manufactur-
ing process. As a result, it is essential that manufacturing firms
not ignore the cost tradeoffs which exist between holding
inventory and process downtime [25].
A supermarket pull system is composed of two processes,
namely the supplying and customer process. Figure 5 shows
the relationship between these two processes:
Simply put, the upstream process should not produce the
product unless the downstream is ready to receive it.
To draw the future state map and improve productivity of
the production line, several supermarkets should be placed in
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 4 Total costs of resources for the current production line

the system to speed up the slow stations and slow down the girders should not exceed 30/day. Once the supermarkets are
fast ones to achieve a continuous flow. In the supermarkets, full, the human resources can go to the adjacent stations to
the number of columns should not exceed 6/day and that of speed things up and reduce inventories. The future state map is

Fig. 5 The supermarket pull

system

Fig. 6 The lean model of production after 30 days
developed using computer simulation. Figure 6 shows the
developed model with the above mentioned supermarkets af-
ter 240 h in the software environment.
Figure 7 shows the future state map of the produc-
tion line. The number of inventories greatly decreases
by controlling the speed of production through placing
ten supermarkets in the production line.
It is worth mentioning that achieving a continuous flow
with no inventories is impossible with regard to the nature of
steel frame production with long cycle times, complicated
processes, and heavy products. The simulation of production
line indicates that the production process is completed by
56 days.
The total cost of resources for the lean production line is
equal to $128,415 (Fig. 8). Also, the total cost of fabricating
1 kg of steel frames in the Lean mode is calculated by dividing
$128,415 by approximately 380,000 kg for every stage which
is $0.34.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
By comparing costs in the lean and current production,
total busy costs are almost the same. However, total idle cost
in the current mode is remarkably greater than idle cost of the
lean mode which shows efficient use of resources in the pro-
duction line in the lean mode.
4.3 Results and discussion
Mapping the future state shows improvements in the produc-
tion line in both time and costs of the project. Table 5 shows
the summary of the results obtained by simulation.
According to Table 5, after applying VSM via computer
simulation, the total fabrication time of one stage reduces from
85 to 56 days, which shows 34 % of improvement. In addi-
tion, the total cost of fabrication decreases by 16 %.
To calculate the amount of reduction in the time of con-
structing the whole project, the line of balance (LOB) tech-
nique and critical path method (CPM) were used. If CPM is
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 7 The future state (lean) map of the production line
used to schedule the construction of one buildings structure,
the structure which is fabricated and erected in five stages will
complete in 220 days. The precedence relationships for the
current production line are shown in Table 6.
As the fabrication reduces from 85 to 56 days, the sched-
uling should be modified in the lean mode which changes the
duration of fabrication from 220 to 151 days. Thus, the pre-
cedence relationships will be modified as shown in Table 7.
The LOB technique is used to evaluate the construction of
one and then three under contract buildings. The LOB tech-
nique is effective in repetitive construction project scheduling
[26]. Construction of repetitive projects is normally carried
out by sequencing discrete activities, which are identical in
each repetitive segment (unit). By arranging work to proceed
continuously and sequentially from the first to the last unit for
the entire project, the LOB technique links repetitive cycles of
work together to form an overall schedule. This technique
plots repetitive activities as diagonal lines on an X-Y graph
with time on the horizontal axis and location on the vertical
axis. The slopes of the lines are the production rates (the rates
of progress) of the activities. To ensure continuity of work
from start to finish, all similar activities in different units
should be performed with similar rates without any gaps
(i.e., wasted time) between the end of one activity and the
beginning of another. Fabrication of steel frames for the three
buildings, as three units of the entire project, cannot be per-
formed simultaneously, since the under-studied factory does
not have the capacity to handle fabricating steel frames for
three buildings at the same time. Foundations or other activi-
ties can begin simultaneously, but if so, they will remain idle
for a period of time, waiting for incomplete tasks to be com-
pleted which contradicts the principles of both LOB and lean
construction which both emphasize continuity of work and
efficient use of resources. In this regard, the first building will
complete by 443 days and the three buildings by 703 days
(Fig. 9). The time gap between starting fabrication and erec-
tion in Fig. 9 is due to the LOB principle of ensuring continu-
ity of work from start to finish. In this case, the succeeding
activity (erection) that has a faster rate of progress than its
immediately preceding activity (fabrication) needs to be de-
layed sufficiently to prevent interference with the preceding
activity (fabrication) in the future. In this regard, it will be
scheduled from the finish date of the last units (3rd build-
ings) fabrication activity. Since erection of the last
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Fig. 8 Total costs of resources for the lean production line

building begins 85 days after its fabrication according to the
simulated model, erection of the 3rd building would start and
finish on days 525 and 684, respectively. If we go backward
from the 3rd building to the 1st one with respect to the dura-
tion of each activity, the start and finish time of the erection of
the 1st building will be obtained, which are days 205 and 364,
respectively, in comparison with days 1 and 220 as start and
finish time of fabrication activity. Since ceiling is again
faster than erection and each ceiling starts 50 days after start

Table 5 Improvement in the time

and cost of production Time or cost Current Lean Improvement (%)

Total time of fabricating a stage (days) 85 56 34

Busy cost of resources ($) 110,608 110,523 0.10
Idle cost of resources ($) 41,946 17,892 57
Total cost of fabricating a stage ($) 152,554 128,415 16
Cost of fabricating a kilogram of steel frames ($) 0.41 0.34 16
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 6 The precedence

relationships in current No Work package Precedence Completion time Completion time
production of one building of three buildings

1 Excavation 30 90
2 Foundation 1FS 60 180
3 Fabrication 1SS 220 660
4 Erection 3SS + 85, 2FS 160 480
5 Ceiling 4SS + 50 130 390

Table 7 The precedence

relationships in lean production No Work package Precedence Completion time Completion time
of one building of three buildings

1 Excavation 30 90
2 Foundation 1FS 60 180
3 Fabrication 1SS 151 453
4 Erection 3SS + 56, 2FS 160 480
5 Ceiling 4SS + 50 130 390

Fig. 9 The whole project schedule with the current production line

time of erection, by the same way the ceiling of the 3rd build-
ing will start and finish on days 574 and 703, respectively.
If lean construction is applied to the production line of the
factory, the first building will complete by 294 days and the three
buildings by 554 days, which shows considerable improvement
(Fig. 10). In this case, the succeeding activity (erection) that has a
slower rate of progress than its immediately preceding activity
(fabrication) needs to start as soon as possible depending on
precedence relationships and according to the simulated model,
which is 56 days after the start day of the 1st buildings fabrica-
tion. If we go forward from the 1st building to the 3rd one with
respect to the duration of each activity, the start and finish time of
the erection of the 3rd building will be obtained, which are days
376 and 535, respectively; in comparison with days 303 and 453
as start and finish time of fabrication activity. Since ceiling is
again faster than erection and each ceiling starts 50 days after

Fig. 10 The whole project schedule with the lean production line

start time of erection, by the same way the ceiling of the 3rd
building will start and finish on days 425 and 554, respectively.
As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the durations of excavation,
foundation, erection, and ceiling stages do not change since it
is assumed that the required resources remain the same for both
current and lean productions. The only difference is the duration
of the fabrication stage which affects the ceiling and erecting.
5 Conclusions
In this research, the PSFs, as one of the most common
prefabricated building systems in Iran, were investigated.
Some common wastes in PSF projects were identified. To
examine the wastes more closely, the VSM was used to elim-
inate or decrease some of the identified wastes in a case study.
The case included construction of three 16-story residential
buildings made of PSFs with bolt and nut connections in Iran.
The production phase of the case study at a steel factory was
examined. The production processes were investigated, and
the current state of the production line was evaluated.
The processes required to bring steel frames from raw ma-
terials to columns and girders were identified, and for each
process, the required resources were also extracted. After
mapping the current state and using DES by Arena 13.5, the
stations producing the most wastes and their inventories were
determined. The future and ideal state map was modeled by
DES. In the future state, the supermarket pull system was
applied to encourage Just in Time as the most important
lean objective. Results of the VSM application to the produc-
tion line demonstrated 34 % reduction of time and 16 % de-
crease in costs. In addition, saving time in the fabrication
phase of steel frames in the factory, affected the erection phase
at the project site. In other words, if CPM and LOB methods
are used to determine the impacts of the improved or lean
production line on the whole project, the total completion time
for the structure of each building will decrease from 443 to
294 days. The results of this research can be used by project
managers to determine the effects of a lean production line on
the project through simulation along with scheduling methods
such as CPM or LOB.
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