Alternative Scheduling and Planning Processes for Hybrid Offsite Construction

Offsite construction has gathered momentum in recent years due to its improved performance in terms of project cost, schedule, quality, environmental impact, and safety. Offsite prefabricated systems vary depending on the size of prefabricated components, which affect the need for onsite construction. These systems include categories such as modular, panelized, prefabricated, and processed materials construction. Each category has its own unique practices and can be blended with other categories in a 'hybrid' offsite construction system. Several research studies have introduced scheduling and planning techniques for panelized and hybrid offsite construction using BIM and simulation tools. This paper thus presents an alternative BIM-based integrated framework for modelling and planning of hybrid offsite construction projects. BIM software (eg. Vertex BD) is used in the proposed framework for automating the data exchange between BIM model and the proposed method for scheduling of hybrid construction system. The objective of the proposed method is to develop a practical planning and scheduling alternative at the components level for offsite hybrid construction project. The proposed method integrates the linear scheduling method (LSM) and the buffering techniques of the critical chain project management (CCPM) into a comprehensive BIM-based framework while considering uncertainty associated with activities durations. This paper first introduces the literature pertaining to planning, and scheduling techniques for offsite construction; then, it presents the proposed computational along with a case study to verify the efficiency of the proposed integrated framework. Finally, conclusions related to implementation of the proposed framework are summarized.