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Pre-fabricated
Integrating the production and steel frames in
the erection processes of building
projects
pre-fabricated steel frames
in building projects using
phased lean management Received 11 March 2019
Revised 27 July 2019
Accepted 21 October 2019
Gholamreza Heravi, Majid Fazeli Kebria and Milad Rostami
School of Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of implementing value stream mapping
(VSM), just in time ( JIT), continuous flow and total productive maintenance (TPM) methods throughout
production and erection processes of pre-fabricated steel frames (PSFs) of building projects.
Design/methodology/approach – As phased lean management, after implementing the VSM technique,
the JIT technique is implemented as first lean phase and the TPM and the continuous flow techniques are
implemented as second lean phase. To evaluate the expected improvement of project performance due to
reduce wastes by implementing lean techniques, discrete event simulation (DES) is utilized. In this research,
an eight-story residential building project in Tehran, Iran, is studied.
Findings – Simultaneous use of lean techniques to integrate production and erection processes of PSFs leads
to the improvement of the performance of production and erection stages, significantly. The results indicate
43 and 17 percent reduction in PSFs production and erection processes time and cost, respectively.
Research limitations/implications – In the present study, only the effects of implementing lean
techniques on the production and erection of PSFs have been evaluated. However, it is also possible to apply
these lean approaches and the key strategies to the other modular or pre-fabricated construction methods.
Originality/value – The main contribution to knowledge is improving the construction project performance
by integrating the production and erection processes, using phased lean management through implementing
lean techniques. The results of the current study provide valuable insight into the possibility of integrating
and improving construction processes of pre-fabricated construction.
Keywords Process, Project management, Construction planning, Scheduling, Integrated practice
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
In addition to difficulties of on-site construction methods, the competitive environment of
the construction industry has led many construction organizations toward using innovative
methods (Serrano et al., 2009). The innovative methods may be used in order to improve
the performance of the construction project by reducing project time and cost. Among
those innovative methods, lean techniques have been used as an effective tool for minimizing
wastes with doing functions in proper time, proper quantity by utilizing minimum resources
(Womack and Jones, 2005). Waste is defined as any activity or process that is not value added
that means it does not add any value to the final product (Tyagi and Vadrevu, 2015). The
definition of value depends on the ultimate desire. This value is a critical point in lean thinking
(Womack and Jones, 2003). The ultimate goal of lean methods is to eliminate wastes and
improve the value index of the processes. As a result, lean production systems try to produce
in lower time and cost compared with conventional systems by reducing or eliminating wastes
(Womack et al., 1990; Bhosale and Salunke, 2015).
Lean production was started in Toyota car factory in Japan that reduced the time between Engineering, Construction and
Architectural Management
receipt and delivery (Ohno, 1988). After applying lean techniques in the manufacturing © Emerald Publishing Limited
0969-9988
industry (Wahab et al., 2013) and achieving desired results, with the development of new lean DOI 10.1108/ECAM-03-2019-0133
ECAM techniques, the application of these techniques expanded to the different industries such as
construction industry (Arbulu and Tommelein, 2002). Complexities of construction processes
make some challenges in the way of applying lean techniques. But, construction processes of
industrialized and pre-fabricated buildings (i.e. using modularity in construction) due to the
similarities to the manufacturing processes make it possible to apply lean techniques in
order to reach required product in lower time and cost (Mao and Zhang, 2008; Koskela and
Howell, 2002).
One of the most widely used techniques with the aim of reducing time and cost of the
project is the value stream mapping (VSM) technique (Singh et al., 2011), which eliminates
wastes through identifying idle times and wastes of different processes (Atieh et al., 2015;
Forno et al., 2014; Womack and Jones, 2003; Seth et al., 2008), and also, the just in time ( JIT)
technique that aims at increasing efficiency and decreasing wastes by receiving resources
as it is needed only for construction processes for reducing inventory costs and time of the
project, and, in addition, maintaining continuous flow rate with the aim of reducing
waiting time, equipment downtime and defects of processes by trying to remove wastes
and also standardizing and synchronizing production flow. Furthermore, the total
productive maintenance (TPM) technique as a mechanism of maintaining and improving
the integrity of production system through equipment, processes and employees tries to
minimize the non-value-added processes by eliminating breakdowns, small stops and
production defects.
According to the multi-stage and multi-purpose structure of industrialized and
pre-fabricated building projects, integrating the production and erection processes using
lean techniques will have a considerable effect on cost, time and rate of resource utilization
of the project. The purpose of this research is to improve project performance by
integrating the production and erection processes, using phased lean management by
implementing VSM, JIT, TPM and continuous flow techniques. The phased lean
management process may improve the current mode through two following phases after
implementing the VSM technique in order to integrate the production and erection
processes and optimize the rate of resource utilization as follows: first phase: using the JIT
technique based on outputs of implementing the VSM technique and second phase:
implementing TPM and continuous flow techniques. The simultaneous application of lean
techniques in addition to making the possibility of integrating pre-fabricated production
and erection processes leads to the creation of a practice area with the aim of improving
time and cost of building projects. In this study, the production and erection processes of
pre-fabricated steel frames (PSFs) are integrated and modeled by using lean techniques
through discrete event simulation (DES), in an eight-story residential building project in
Tehran, Iran.

2. Literature review
2.1 Implementing lean methods in manufacturing industry
Numerous studies have been conducted on using lean methods in different industries
including healthcare, manufacturing (Wahab et al., 2013), finance, food industries (Vlachos,
2015), engineering, service industry (Bonaccorsi et al., 2011), process management,
architectural design (Othman and Khalil, 2018) and also redesign production systems
(Serrano et al., 2008a). These studies have focused on assessing the impact of the using lean
techniques and the areas that are affected by the application of lean techniques in industries
such as automotive (Lacerda et al., 2016), plastics and manufacturing (Serrano et al., 2008b;
Singh et al., 2011). Moreover, some studies have assessed the environmental impacts of
using lean techniques as case studies (Faulkner and Badurdeen, 2014). By expanding the
use of lean techniques, some studies have been done on identifying barriers of implementing
lean techniques in various industries (Schmidtke et al., 2014), such as manufacturing
industry and healthcare (de Souza and Michael, 2011). In addition to examining the barriers, Pre-fabricated
considering the benefits of using lean techniques, some studies have been done to simplify steel frames in
the use of lean techniques (Seth et al., 2017) by the combination of lean techniques with other building
techniques (Agyapong-Kodua et al., 2012), such as immersive virtual reality (Tyagi and
Vadrevu, 2015), last planner system (Murguia et al., 2016; Wesz et al., 2018) and building projects
information modeling (Koseoglu et al., 2018; Aziz and Arayici, 2018). In addition to
expanding the use of various lean techniques, some studies were conducted to quantify the
improvements by using various tools such as DES. Moreover, DES is used to quantify the
results and show the benefits of using lean techniques in order to create one of the most
appropriate decision-making tools (Andrade et al., 2016). Moreover, the simultaneous use of
DES and lean techniques make it possible to examine the application of different lean
techniques in different scenarios (Helleno et al., 2015). As a result, there are previous studies
that used DES to support lean techniques (Heravi and Firoozi, 2016; Marvel and Standridge,
2009; Abdulmalek and Rajgopal, 2007; Detty and Yingling, 2000; Baniassadi et al., 2018). Also,
in recent years, some literature reviews have been conducted to classify the fields of
application of lean techniques (Singh et al., 2011) and also the role of formal and informal
mechanisms in implementing lean principles in construction projects (Bygballe et al., 2018).
A recent review showed that lean practice application still occurs in a fragmented way
disregarding the systemic linkage that is essential for lean manufacturing (Negrao et al., 2017).

2.2 Implementing lean methods in construction industry

The complexities of the construction processes compared to manufacturing industry create
some barriers in the application of lean techniques through construction processes. As a
result, in recent years, some studies have been carried out on the major barriers of
implementing lean techniques in the building industry (Sarhan and Fox, 2013), and some
research studies explain the limitation of using lean methods in the construction industry
and presented an operational attitude for using lean methods (Bhosale and Salunke, 2015).
By the expansion of the application of lean techniques, in the construction industry, some
complementary tools and methods were introduced with the aim of improving the
performance of lean techniques in the construction industry (Sacks, Koskela, Dave and
Owen, 2010; Sacks, Radosavljevic and Barak, 2010). Similarities of industrial and modular
construction with manufacturing processes led to extend the use of lean techniques in the
construction industry in some fields of the construction industry like modular and
pre-fabricated construction. Some research indicated the influence of applying lean
techniques on the production stage of modular and pre-fabricated construction (Yu et al.,
2011; Sakka et al., 2016; Firoozi and Heravi, 2013). In addition to economic effects, some
studies have been carried out on the environmental effects and sustainable developments
caused by implementing lean techniques in the construction industry (Nahmens and Ikuma,
2012; Aziz and Hafez, 2013). Most of the research in the construction industry, using lean
techniques, tried to improve the production processes of modular and pre-fabricated
construction (Heravi and Firoozi, 2016; Sakka et al., 2016) and some research studies
attempted to improve just the erection processes with the use of lean techniques (Arbulu and
Tommelein, 2002). Although many studies have been conducted on the use of lean
techniques in the construction industry to improve production or erection processes,
attention to the integration of production and erection processes has not been considered.
Thus, evaluating the effects of creating an integrated stream of production and erection
processes of PSFs using lean techniques may help to improve this application area. As a
result, considering the evolution of using lean techniques in different industries, extending
the simultaneous application of lean techniques in the different areas of the building
industry (especially in the pre-fabrication and modular construction) can lead to a
significant improvement in the performance of construction processes.
ECAM 3. Methodology
According to recent research, creating an integrated flow for the construction processes is
recognized as an important requirement. In the present study, using lean techniques included
VSM, JIT, continuous flow and TPM techniques in subsequent phases leads to the creation of
an integrated flow between production and erection processes of PSFs (Figure 1).
As shown in Figure 1, before applying phased lean management, the VSM technique is
implemented to draw the current state map for identifying improvement capabilities. Then, in the
first phase, the JIT technique is implemented and, in the second phase, continuous flow and TPM
techniques are implemented to improve the current state map. Figure 2 shows the developed
algorithm that integrated the production and erection processes by using lean techniques.
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the methodology of this research is implemented through
the following six steps:
(1) Choosing product family: categorizing products into separate groups based on
performed processes and utilized equipment and evaluating different production
types (Luna et al., 2013).

VSM technique
Method
• Choosing production family
• Drawing current state map
• Improving current state map
• Drawing future state map
Purpose
• Waste identification
• Specifying working and Lean techniques
standby times implement in the
• Visualizing processes flow step of improving
• Identifying the possibilities current state map
for improvement

DES
Software

JIT technique TPM and Continuous

Method flow techniques
• Placing a supermarket
Method
between the production and
• Implementing erection
Second lean phase

the erection processes

First lean phase

• Placing a supermarket processes simultaneously

between production stations • Grouping the resources
• Coordinating the production
processes according to Purpose
erection processes
• Reducing stop times and
Purpose break times
• Reducing the standby time
• Integrating the production • Creating an integrated flow
and erection processes between the production
• Reducing defects
Figure 1. • Minimizing transportation
processes
Implemented lean processes
techniques
 Start Pre-fabricated
steel frames in
Choosing product family building
projects
Evaluating product types Categorizing product
families

Drawing current state

map

Using VSM technique

• Visualizing production
and erection flow
Using lean techniques

• Identifying wasteful
processes
• Data collection

Improving current state

map

Using JIT technique Using TPM and continuous

flow techniques

• Integrating production • Grouping human resource

and erection stages of erection stage
• Integrating processes of • Implementing erection
production stage processes simultaneously

Drawing future stage map

Visualizing lean mode Implementing lean

technique

Assessing the
improvements

Evaluating time Evaluating cost Evaluating rate of resource

improvement improvement utilization improvement

Verifying and validating

Comparing DES model with Comparing results with past Figure 2.

actual processes research The algorithm of
improving production
Finish and erection processes

(2) Drawing current state map: for improving initial mode, the current state map should
be drawn using the VSM technique. For drawing the current state map, information
and material streams are drawn in order to specify the rate of resource utilization,
idle time, working time and depot rate of each station in the current mode. The
ultimate goal of this stage is identifying the non-value-added processes.
ECAM (3) Improving current state map: in this research, analyzing current state map consists
of using the JIT technique in order to integrate production and erection processes by
placing supermarket between production and erection processes and between
production stations. The supermarket is an icon with specific capacity having a
mean of giving accurate production instruction to the upstream process (Rother and
Shook, 2003); and implementing TPM and continuous flow techniques in order to
integrate and improve erection processes.
(4) Drawing future state map: lean production aims to regulate processes to produce
needs of the next process with the least waste, on time, in exact numbers and avoid
depot (Womack and Jones, 2005). After implementing JIT, continuous flow and TPM
techniques, the future state map is drawn in order to evaluate the effects of using
lean techniques in different processes. The most important features of future state
map compared to current state map are as follows: regulated pace of production;
continuous flow between different processes; (3) pull system for controlling
production instead of push production system; and production according to the
needs (Rother and Shook, 2003).
(5) Assessing the performance improvements: after using the VSM method in order to
identify wastes and implementing JIT, TPM and continuous flow techniques, the
current and lean modes are simulated in ARENA simulation software in order to
evaluate the process improvement by DES.
(6) Verifying and validating the results: in order to ensure the results of the research
and the outputs of DES model, in addition to comparing the simulation model with
the actual processes carried out at the factory and site, the inputs and outputs of
DES model compared with the inputs and the outputs of the real mode in order to
verify the results of implementing DES. Moreover, for validating the method of
integrating the production and erection processes, in addition to face validation, the
results are compared to previous research.

4. Case study
4.1 Project description
The project consists of an eight-floor residential building with the total land area of 660 m2
and total building area of 3,720 m2. The present research focused on studying processes of
production, transportation and erection of PSFs of floors five to eight with the total building
area of 1,610 m2 (112 tons of PSFs).
The weights of the PSF components are as follows: columns: 17 columns (total weight is
34 ton); beams: 134 beams (total weight is 69 ton); and braces: 64 braces (total weight is 9 ton):
• Production in factory: the production line of the PSF components (i.e. columns and
beams), in the factory, is comprised of the following nine production processes:
cutting main frame parts; initial assembly of principal components; cutting and
drilling connections and stiffeners; welding of columns; welding of beams; final
assembly/welding of principal components (columns and beams); drilling of main
components (columns and beams) for nuts and bolts; cleaning the fabricated
components; and painting the fabricated components.
• Also, the production line of braces in the factory is comprised of the following four
processes: cutting components and plates; drilling components and plates; welding
and assembly of braces; and painting the fabricated braces.
• In the factory, there is one production line for producing beams, columns and braces and
just for the welding process, and there are two different stations for columns and beams
 for welding (because of different welding types). Moreover, before the cleaning process, Pre-fabricated
quality control department checks welded components, by using non-destructive tests steel frames in
like penetrant testing and ultrasonic testing to check produced components. building
• Transportation: the distance between the factory and the erection site is 67 km. For projects
loading and transporting PSF components, three trailers are used for fabricated steel
frame’s components: columns (4 trips), beams (5 trips) and rolled steel profiles as
braces (1 trip).
• Erection on site: the erection stage of PSF components is comprised of the following
four general processes: pre-erecting processes included lifting and moving (erecting
the columns and the beams); bolting the connections; plumbing the steel frames; and
permanent connection with impact spanner.
• The erection processes are planned to carry out through two separate stages included
the south area in the first stage and north area in the second stage. Also, in order to
simplify the simulation process, resources are separated as possible.
The workforces and equipment used in the production, transportation and the erection
stages are depicted in Table I.
All the information is obtained from the production, transportation and erection
processes through multiple visits of the production factory and the erection site, as well as
interviewing the factory’s technical officials and the project manager of the erection site.
Finally, by gathering the information, we tried to model the initial mode and improve it by
implementing lean techniques in the subsequent steps.

4.2 Results and discussion

4.2.1 Choosing product family. Products are classified by their specifications according to
undergoing the same processes and using the same resources. They have been categorized
into three production families: columns, beams and braces. The collected information for
each product family includes the type and number of processes, the allocated resources and
the lead time of each process.
4.2.2 Developing current state map. The current state map of production, transportation
and erection processes of PSFs is developed after identifying product family and collecting
information about the production processes. The goal of drawing current state map is to
identify the non-value-added processes and the depot. The value stream of the current state
is mapped using collected information including the type of processes, lead time and
numbers of the available resource as well as the equipment of the factory. Figure 3 shows
the current state map of production and erection processes.
As shown in Figure 3, in the production line, columns and beams are fabricated through
nine steps, whereas braces are fabricated through four steps.
4.2.3 Improving current state map. The current state map is improved through
implementing the JIT technique; and TPM and continuous flow techniques:
• Implementing JIT technique: based on the principles of the JIT technique, the process
of producing PSFs in the factory should be adjusted according to the requirements of
the erection stage, in order to increase the resource efficiency, decrease the idle time
and integrate the production and erection processes. As a result, in order to apply the
JIT technique some supermarkets are placed between the production process
stations, besides that, a supermarket with a specified capacity is placed between
production and erection processes. Placing this supermarket between production and
erection processes integrates these processes by specifying the supermarket’s
capacity based on the erection site requirements as well as synchronizing the
ECAM Process Human resource Equipment

Production
Columns and beams
Cutting the main parts Two skilled workers One flat cutting machine, one computer
numerical control machine and one shearing
machine
Initial assembly Four ordinary welders Two strapping and two tack welding machine
Cutting and drilling Three skilled workers One cutting machine and two magnet drilling
machine
Welding of columns Two ordinary welders and one Four shield metal arc welding (SMAW)
skilled worker machine
Welding of beams Three skilled welders Four gas metal arc welding (GMAW) machine
Final assembly One ordinary welder and one One CO2 welding rectifier
skilled welder
Drilling of main Three skilled welders and one Two magnet drilling machine
components skilled worker
Cleaning fabricated One ordinary welder and one One shaping machine
components skilled worker
Painting the fabricated One painter One airless machine
segments
Braces
Cutting components One skilled worker One cutting machine and one magnet drill
and plates
Drilling components One skilled worker One magnet drill
and plates
Welding and assembly One skilled welder One GMAW machine
Painting the fabricated One painter One airless machine
braces
Transportation
Loading and transporting Three ordinary workers One lift truck and three trailers
Erection
Pre-erecting included One foreman, three erection One tower crane and one mobile crane
lifting and moving workers, and two ordinary
workers
Bolting One foreman and three bolting One elevator and three impact spanners
Table I. workers
Manpower and Plumbing One foreman and four erection –
equipment of the workers
production, Permanent connection One foreman two skilled Two impact spanner
transportation, and workers and three erection
the erection stages worker

capacity of the supermarkets of the production process based on the erection

process’s requirement. As a result, placing supermarkets between production
stations converts the production system of PSFs from a push system to pull system,
restricts the massive depot between production stations and improves the rate of
resource utilization by moving the human resources of the production stations.
• Implementing TPM and continuous flow techniques: concepts associated with the
TPM technique are categorized into eight general terms that focused on proactive
and preventive techniques for improving equipment reliability and efficiency. These
terms consist of autonomous maintenance, planned maintenance, quality
maintenance, focused maintenance, early equipment maintenance, training and
education, health safety and environment, and TPM in administration. In this case,
 Production
Control
30-day Order MRP 30-day Order
Supplier: Zob
Customer:
Ahan Esfahan Weekly Schedule Eng.
Initial
Bozorgani
Cut main 7C 7C SMAW 3C Final 4C 8C
Cleaning 8C
Drilling Paint
frame Parts Assembly Welding assembly
12.7 days 12.3 days 5 days 7 days 13.8 days 13.5 days

1 4 1 2 1 2 1

C/T=135 C/T=180 C/T=300 C/T =240 C/T=180 C/T=180 C/T=84

min min min min min min min
Uptime = Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Uptime= Uptime = Uptime =
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min
avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail.

Cut drill
connections 3C
5 days
2

C/T
= 337.5 min
Uptime =
100%
480 min
avail.

Initial GMAW Final 47B Load and Finish

Cut main 77B 35B 16B 10B 49B Pre erecting Pre erecting 236
Bolting 236
Drilling Cleaning Paint connections
Plumbing connections Permanent
Assembly
frame partframe parts Welding assembly Transport S Columns 13B N Columns 13B Connections
17.2 days 7.8 days 3.6 days 2.3 days 11.1 days 10.6 days Connections
3 days 3 days
15 days 15 days
1 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 4 4 3 5 4

C/T=37.5 C/T=43.5 C/T=40.5 C/T=72 C/T= 36 C/T=31.5 C/T= 22.5 C/T= 150 C/T= 60 C/T= 60 C/T=8.13 C/T=960 C/T=
min min min min min min min min min min min min 10.17 min
Uptime= Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime= Uptime= Uptime= Uptime=
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min
avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail.

Pre erecting Pre erecting Pre erecting

Cut drill 32Br
S Beams 2C N Beams Braces
connections 16B 4.4 days 15 days
3.6 days 4 4 4
1

C/T= 17 C/T= 17 C/T= 15

C/T=37.5 min min min
min Uptime = Uptime= Uptime=
Uptime = 100% 100% 100%
100% 480 min 480 min 480 min
480 min avail. avail. avail.
avail.

40Br 50Br Assembly 3Br

Cutting Drilling Paint
and Weld
18.8 days 14.1 days 1.4 days

1 1 1 1

C/T=23.4 C/T=11.25 C/T=78.75 C/T= 22.5 Total Lead Time=

min min min min 109.2 days
Uptime= Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Value Added Time=
100% 100% 100% 100%
480 min
5.4 days
480 min 480 min 480 min
avail. avail. avail. avail.
Value Ratio 4.94%

17.2 days 12.3 days 5 days 7 days 13.8 days 13.5 days 0 0 3 days 4.4 days 3 days 15 days – 15 days

C/T= 135 min C/T= 180 min C/T= 300 min C/T= 240 min C/T= 180 min C/T= 180 min C/T= 84 min C/T= 150 min C/T= 60 min C/T= 17 min C/T= 60 min C/T= 17 min C/T= 15 min C/T=960 min C/T=10.17 min
Pre-fabricated

building
projects
steel frames in

the erection processes

of the production and
Figure 3.
The current state map
ECAM focused maintenance used through grouping resources of the erection process with
the aim of working proactively to achieve regular and incremental improvements. As
a result, the PSF components are erected by three groups of workers as follows: the
first group for selecting appropriate components and directing tower crane to lift
them; the second group for moving components into accurate location and erecting
them by temporary connections; and the third group for fixing temporary erected
components by permanent connections to meet specification requirements. Moreover,
using quality maintenance, we tried to detect and minimize the wastes and defects of
erection equipment. Besides that due to the implementation of the erection process in
two parts, which include the erection of southern and northern areas, some activities
in the northern area have been performed simultaneously with the southern area in
order to improve the rate of resource utilization and reduce the idle time. As a result,
the bolting activities in the southern area start simultaneously with the pre-erecting
activities in the northern area based on the continuous flow technique.
4.2.4 Developing future state map. After drawing the current state map of production and
erection processes, non-value-added activities of production and erection processes are identified
through using the VSM technique. Then, by correcting the current state map is tried to improve
and integrate the production and erection stream by JIT, TPM and continuous flow techniques.
Figure 4 shows the future state map of integrated production and erection processes.
As shown in Figure 4, five supermarkets are placed through the production line of columns
and beams, and three supermarkets are placed through the production line of braces based on
JIT technique. Placing supermarkets between the stations is based on the ability to move
resources between the production stations. After placing supermarkets between production
stations and drawing future state map, the production flow is regulated by speeding up the
slow activities and slowing down the fast activities; in a supermarket, the quantity of
produced components do not overshoot the predetermined amount. When the predetermined
amount of components is produced, resources should move to the downstream stations to
speed up the slower stations. In the production stage, before the loading process, a
supermarket is placed that its capacity is determined based on the requirement of the erection
process. This supermarket transmits the obtained information on the erection process to other
supermarkets. Thus, the production flow is adjusted according to the needs of the erection
process. As a result, the production and erection processes of PSFs are integrated.
4.2.5 Assessing the performance improvement. The application of DES is known as one
of the most popular simulation tools, due to the ease of modeling discrete event processes as
well as the ability to bring the simulated model into as much reality as possible by applying
details (Caro and Moller, 2016). Simulation results are recognized reliable and capable to
anticipate the simulated model (Marvel and Standridge, 2009; Abdulmalek and Rajgopal,
2007; Detty and Yingling, 2000). The use of simulation, especially DES, can be more effective
in some cases as follows: when problems are categorized by uncertainty; when problems are
technically or methodically complex; when repetition is evident; and when an integrated
solution is required (AbouRizk, 2010).
Due to repetitive processes of production and erection of PSFs as well as, proposed an
integrated solution, the use of DES is the most appropriate option. Thus, in this step, with
the aim of evaluating and comparing the integrated production and erection processes of
PSFs, using simulation software, the production and erection processes are simulated in two
initial and lean modes. DES differs from Monte Carlo simulation mainly in that it models the
evolution of a system over time. In order to collect the information to create the DES of initial
and lean modes, in addition to several on-site observations of the factory and erection site,
some interviews were conducted with the technical manager. As a result, due to the direct
observation of the production and erection processes, as well as the repetitive nature of the
 Production
Control
30-day Order MRP 30-day Order
Supplier: Zob Customer:
Ahan Esfahan Weekly Schedule Eng.
Cut main Initial Final
Bozorgani
SMAW 2C 1C
frame Parts assembly Drilling Cleaning Paint
Assembly Welding
3 days 17 days

1 4 1 2 1 2 1

C/T=135 C/T=180 C/T=300 C/T= 240 C/T=180 C/T=180 C/T=84

min min min min min min min
Uptime= Uptime= Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime =
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min
avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail.

Cut drill
connecions 2C
3 days
2

C/T
= 337.5 min
Uptime =
100%
480 min
avail.

Cut main Initial GMAW 5B Final Load and Structure Finish

14B Pre erecting Pre erecting 143 236
Drilling Cleaning Paint 13B connections Bolting connections Permanent
frame Parts Assembly Welding assembly Transport S Columns N Columns 13B Plumbing
1.1 days 3.2 days Connections
3 days 3 days
9 days 15 days
1 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 4 4 3 5 4

C/T=37.5 C/T=43.5 C/T=40.5 C/T=72 C/T=36 C/T=31.5 C/T= 22.5 C/T= 150 C/T= 60 C/T= 60 C/T= 8.13 C/T=960 C/T=
min min min min min min min min min min min min 10.17 min
Uptime= Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime = Uptime= Uptime= Uptime= Uptime=
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min 480 min
avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail. avail.

Pre erecting Pre erecting Pre erecting

Cut drill 32Br
S Beams 2C N Beams Braces
connecions 5B 15 days
4.4 days
1.1 days
4 4 4
1

C/T= 17 C/T= 17 C/T= 15

C/T= 37.5 min min min
min Uptime= Uptime= Uptime=
Uptime = 100% 100% 100%
100% 480 min 480 min 480 min
480 min avail. avail. avail.
avail.

Assembly 3Br
Cutting Drilling Paint
and Weld 1.3 days

1 1 1 1

C/T=23.4 C/T=11.25 C/T=78.75 C/T=22.5 Total Lead Time =

min min min min 61.2 days
Uptime= Uptime= Uptime = Uptime = Value Added Time=
100% 100% 100% 100%
480 min
5.4 days
480 min 480 min 480 min
avail. avail. avail. avail.
Value Ratio 8.81%

5.8 days 4 days 3 days 3.2 days 3 days 1.8 days 0 0 3 days 4.4 days 3 days 15 days – 15 days

C/T= 135 min C/T= 180 min C/T= 300 min C/T= 240 min C/T= 180 min C/T= 180 min C/T= 84 min C/T= 150 min C/T= 60 min C/T= 17 min C/T= 60 min C/T= 17 min C/T= 15 min C/T=960 min C/T= 10.17 min
Pre-fabricated

building
projects
steel frames in

of production and
Figure 4.
The future state map

erection processes
ECAM manufacturing and erection processes, we tried to define the duration of production and
erection processes as a fixed value (Figure 5).
As shown in Figure 5, the duration of production and erection processes is defined as
fixed values.
Figures 6 and 7 show DES of production and erection processes in lean mode,
respectively, which is simulated by ARENA software.
Figures 6 and 7 represent the simulated model of production and erection processes in the
lean mode. As shown in Figure 6, there are six supermarkets placed between production
stations. The way supermarkets are placed is based on the ability to move the resources
between the adjacent stations. Figure 6 also shows that the production stage conforms to the
condition of the erection stage. Accordingly, the process of producing the components is

Figure 5.
Run setup of
ARENA software

Initial SMAW Assign Assign C

Create Supermarket Cut main Supermarket Supermarket
assembly welding #C Weld order
column part
1 7 0
0 0
Final
Create minor Cut and Drill Assign C 1 7
Supermarket Assign C Final assembly
component Batch C
C part #Weld order assembly validating
1 7 form
0 0
0 0
C comp
Cleaning Cleaning 1 4
modify Drilling Supermarket Supermarket Painting
validating
0 0 0 0
C clean
3
modify
Assign C end
If last pro Batch col
#C pro time 0
Col 2nd stage
Figure 6. Depot till
Loading
0 needed
Simulation of the
Batch col Hold first Start 1st stage
production process 1st stage stage col erection
 Transporting Separate e 1 7 Pre erection # Connected
C Temp C temp
Pre-fabricated
Erect col
columns to Col to col _time
cnct end T connected
17
steel frames in
0 0
C 1st Phase building
Transporting
beams
Separate
to beam
Pre erection # Connected
Col
end
projects
Erect beam Temp
0 1 34 0 time connect End B temp
T connected
If 1st 1 3 4
# Connect 256 Hold till 1st B 1st Phase
Connection connect
S created pack Phase connect end T
47 2
2 16 Bolting
Batch Bolt place
Hold till B connections end T
0
temp
0
End of
Hold till
Plumbing Separate 4 7 2 Permanent # Finished If Last 1
installation Figure 7.
Br temp connects connection connects connect
Simulation of the
Install end 4 72
0 0
4 71 time
erection process

organized in such a way that they are produced into two stages and at the required time in
accordance with the condition of the erection stage. Moreover, as shown in Figure 7, a
continuous flow in the erection stage is by simultaneous implementation of the bolting
activities of the southern part with pre-erecting activities of the northern part. Finally, the DES
model of the lean mode is designed in order to investigate the effects of lean techniques that
are implemented to reduce the wastes and integrate the production and erection processes.
Using DES, Tables II–IV show improvement in the lead time of production and erection
processes after employing phased lean management which is mostly improved by
implementing JIT, TPM and continuous flow techniques.
Table II shows the lead time of initial and lean modes (after implementing the second
lean phase).
Table III shows the improvement in idle time of production and erection processes.
Table IV shows the improvement in total time of project after employing phased
lean management.

Initial mode First lean Second lean

(min) phase (min) phase (min)
Process Production Erection Production Erection Production Erection Improvement (%)

Cutting 197 – 189 – 189 – 4

Initial assembly 303 – 232 – 232 – 23
SMAW welding 300 – 180 – 180 – 40
GMAW welding 40 – 30 – 30 – 25
Sectioning 428 – 428 – 428 – 0
Final assembly 312 – 312 – 312 – 0
Drilling 227 – 170 – 170 – 25
Cleaning 212 – 141 – 141 – 33
Painting 130 – 130 – 130 – 0
Loading – 60 – 60 – 60 0
Transporting – 90 – 90 – 90 0
Pre-erecting – 77 – 77 – 62 19
Bolting – 8 – 8 – 5 38
Erecting braces – 15 – 15 – 14 7 Table II.
Plumbing – 960 – 960 – 630 34 Calculating the lead
Permanent – 10 – 10 – 7 30 time of production
connection and erection processes
ECAM Initial mode First lean Second lean
(day) phase (day) phase (day)
Process Production Erection Production Erection Production Erection Improvement (%)

Cutting 49 – 19 – 19 – 62
Initial assembly 20 – 7 – 7 – 65
SMAW welding 5 – 3 – 2 – 60
GMAW welding 4 – 1 – 1 – 75
Sectioning 9 – 4 – 2 – 78
Final assembly 11 – 6 – 6 – 45
Drilling 39 – 15 – 15 – 61
Cleaning 24 – 3 – 5 – 79
Painting 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Loading – 0 – 0 – 0 0
Transporting – 0 – 0 – 0 0
Pre-erecting – 25 – 25 – 25 0
Bolting – 0 – 0 – 0 0
Table III. Erecting braces – 0 – 0 – 0 0
Calculating the idle Plumbing – 15 – 15 – 15 0
time of production Permanent – 0 – 0 – 0 0
and erection processes connection

Production Erection Whole project

Duration Improvement Duration Improvement Duration Improvement
Mode (day) (%) (day) (%) (day) (%)

Initial mode 22 – 29 – 51 –
First lean phase 16 27 26 11 37* 27
Second lean 16 27 18 38 29* 43
Table IV. phase
Total improvement in Note: *By integrating production and erection processes, the total duration of production and erection
each lean phase processes is improved (i.e. 16+26 W37; and 16+18W29)

As shown in Table IV, after implementing the first lean phase, durations of production and
erection processes are reduced by six days and three days, respectively. However, by
integrating production and erection processes, the total duration of production and erection
processes is reduced to 57 percent of the initial mode. The results show the advantage of
integrating the production and erection processes of PSF projects.
Time improvement of the production and erection processes is as follows (Tables II–IV ):
• Implementing JIT technique: after placing supermarkets between production stations
and between production and erection stages, production and erection processes
showed 27 and 11 percent improvement, respectively.
• Implementing TPM and continuous flow techniques: after implementing
TPM and continuous flow techniques, production process did not show considerable
improvement. However, the erection process showed 31 percent improvement.
• Lean mode compared with the initial mode: eventually, the total time of the project
showed 43 percent improvement in comparison to initial mode. Also, the rate of
value-added time is improved from 5.4 to 8.8 percent (Figures 3 and 4).
Figures 8 and 9 show the project schedules before and after the implementation of phased
lean management techniques, respectively.
 Pre-fabricated
steel frames in
building
projects

Figure 8.
Time scheduling in
the initial mode

Figure 9.
Time scheduling
in the lean mode

As shown in Figures 8 and 9, by implementing the phased lean management techniques, the
duration of the project is reduced by 13 days.
Table V shows the costs of production and erection processes in the initial, first lean
phase and the second lean phase.
According to Table V, the cost improvements to the production and erection processes
are as follows:
• Implementing JIT technique: after placing supermarkets throughout production stations
and between production and erection stages, production process showed 17 percent
improvement in costs and erection process showed 4 percent improvement in costs.
• Implementing TPM and continuous flow techniques: after implementing TPM and
continuous flow techniques, production cost increases slightly compared to the first
lean phase due to adding extra welders and a hand rectifier. Erection cost reduced
15 percent compared to the first lean phase due to implementing TPM and
continuous flow techniques.
• Lean mode compared to initial mode: the cost of a project in lean mode is reduced by
17 percent compared to the initial mode.
Figure 10 shows the trends of working, ready to work, and total costs in the initial, first, and
second lean phases.
ECAM Working Ready to Total Cost per
Process costs ($) work costs ($) costs ($) kilogram ($)

Production processes
Initial mode 21,756 7,681 29,439 0.263
First phase mode 21,753 2,721 24,474 0.218
Improvement ( first) (%) 0 65 17 17
Second phase 21,758 2,845 24,603 0.219
Improvement (second) (%) 0 43 0 0
Total improvement (%) 0 63 16 16
Erection processes
Initial mode 8,400 2,823 10,962 0.1
First phase mode 8,400 2,352 10,752 0.09
Improvement ( first) (%) 0 17 4 4
Second phase 7,203 1,893 9,096 0.08
Improvement (second) (%) 14 20 15 15
Total improvement (%) 14 32.9 17 17
Whole project
Initial mode 30,156 10,503 40,659 0.363
Table V. First phase mode 30,153 5,073 35,226 0.314
Comparing the cost of Improvement ( first) (%) 0 52 13 13
resources in the initial, Second phase 28,961 4,738 33,699 0.329
first lean phase and Improvement (second) (%) 4 7 4 4
second lean phase Whole of project (%) 4 55 17 17

50,000
Ready to work costs ($) Working costs ($) Total costs ($)
40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

Initial mode First phase Second phase

First lean Second lean

Costs Initial mode Trend
phase phase

Ready to work costs ($) 10,503 5,073 4,738

Figure 10.
Cost reduction Working costs ($) 30,156 30,153 28,961
in the first and
second lean phases
Total costs ($) 40,659 35,226 33,699

Table VI shows the rates of resource utilization of equipment in production and erection
processes in the initial, first, and second lean phases.
Improvement in the rate of resource utilization of the production and the erection stages
is as follows (Table VI):
• Implementing JIT technique: after placing supermarkets, the rates of resource
utilization in production and erection processes are improved by 37 and 12 percent,
respectively.
 Initial mode (%) First phase mode (%) Second phase mode (%) Total (%)
Resources Production Erection Production Erection Improvement Production Erection Improvement Improvement

GMAW rectifiers 51 – 69 – 37 71 – 3 41
Ordinary welders 67 – 91 – 37 85 – –6 28
Painter 56 – 76 – 37 78 – 3 41
SMAW rectifier 67 – 91 – 37 85 −6 28
Skilled welders 51 – 69 – 37 71 – 3 41
Skilled workers 60 – 83 – 37 85 – 2 41
Welding machines 48 – 66 – 37 68 – 3 41
Bolting workers – 28 – 31 12 – 29 -6 5
Crane group – 24 – 27 12 – 31 15 28
Lift truck – 4 – 4 12 – 6 50 60
Elevator – 7 – 8 12 – 11 38 52
Impact spanner – 35 – 39 12 – 36 −8 4
Erection foreman – 73 – 81 12 – 85 5 17
Erection worker – 56 – 63 12 – 58 −8 4
Ordinary worker – 4 – 4 12 – 6 50 60
Trailer – 3 – 3 12 – 5 66 60
Pre-fabricated

building
projects
steel frames in

Comparing the rate of

production and
resource utilization in
Table VI.

erection processes
ECAM • Implementing TPM and Continuous flow: after implementing JIT and continuous
flow techniques, the rates of resource utilization in production and erection processes
are improved by 4 and 17 percent, respectively.
• Lean mode compared to initial mode: in the lean mode, the rates of resource utilization
in the production and erection processes are on average improved 41 and 29 percent,
respectively, in comparison to the initial mode.
4.2.6 Verifying and validating the results. In this step after verifying the results of DES
by comparing the outputs, inputs and the simulation model with the actual processes
carried out in the production factory and erection site, the results are validated by
comparing with the results of previous studies. Table VII shows the results of some
previous related research.
As depicted in Table VII, all previous studies used VSM to identify the hidden wastes of
different construction systems and made some recommendations to implement lean
techniques such as 5S, FIFO and Kaizen in the construction processes. In addition, they
concluded that the use of lean techniques needs an overview of the whole project rather than
improving the productivity of each station; as a result, in the present study, we tried to
investigate the integrated production and erection processes of PSFs, whereas in previous
studies effeorts were only made to investigate production process (Heravi and Firoozi, 2016;
Sakka et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2011) or erection process (Arbulu and Tommelein, 2002).

5. Conclusions
According to the multi-stage nature of construction processes, creating an integrated
stream of workflow can cause improvement in total time and cost of the project. The
present research intended to evaluate the effects of integrating producing and erecting
processes of PSFs by implementing phased lean management. The case study included
production and erection processes of PSF components for an eight-story residential
building in Tehran, Iran. In the first step, after choosing the product family and by
drawing current state map, non-value-added activities of production and erection
processes were determined. In the next step, with correcting current state map and by
implementing JIT as first lean phase, and TPM and continuous flow as second lean phase,

Country Study area Tool Results

Arbulu and USA The supply chain for Value stream analysis They showed that 96% of
Tommelein pipeline supports (VSA) supply chain time is
(2002) non-value-added
Yu et al. USA The production process of 5S, TAKT time They showed that the use of
(2009) pre-fabricated planning, standardized lean techniques has a positive
components and modular work, variation effect on modular construction
construction management, and VSM
Nahmens USA Production stage of Safety and lean 26% improvement in an overall
and Ikuma Modular construction integrated Kaizen lifetime
(2012) (SILK Kaizen)
Sakka et al. USA The production process of VSM and Kaizen 50.6% reduction in production
(2016) precast concrete pre-slabs lead time
Heravi and Iran The production process of VSM and DES 34% improvement in time and
Firoozi (2016) pre-fabricated steel frame 16% improvement in costs
Table VII. Present Iran The production and VSM, JIT, TPM, 43% improvement in time and
Comparing the results study erection of pre-fabricated continuous flow, and 17% improvement in costs and
of the current study steel frame DES rate of value-added time
and previous research improved from 5.4% up to 8.8%
we tried to improve whole of the project and drew future state map by eliminating wastes Pre-fabricated
and reducing overproductions and depots. steel frames in
In order to evaluate the improvements, DES has been implemented. The results indicate building
that the total time and cost of project improve 43 and 17 percent, respectively, due to the use
of phased lean management. The integrated production and erection processes have been projects
caused further improvements that show the advantage of the integrated construction. Also,
the results indicate that improving production and erection processes as an integrated
stream creates the capability for further improvement compared to improving production
and erection processes individually.
Given the growing need of the building industry to apply innovative techniques,
implementing lean methods like VSM, JIT, TPM and continuous flow with the aim of
integrating production and erection processes can comprise considerable economic effects
and more improvement compared to conventional construction methods. The results of this
research indicate a practical application of using simultaneous lean techniques that can be
used by organizations to achieve more favorable performance. In addition, considering the
results of this study and identifying the capabilities and the effects of simultaneous use of
different lean techniques, studying the effects of simultaneous implementation of lean
techniques in the other areas of construction industry can be suggested for further research.
The assessment of the environmental impacts of the simultaneous implementation of
various lean techniques in the production and erection processes of the PSF components of
building projects should be studied as an option for future research.

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About the authors

Dr Gholamreza Heravi, PhD, PE, is Associate Professor at the School of Civil Engineering, College of
Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. He has 26 years of experience in construction
engineering and management. As a professional engineer, he has been Project Manager, Project
Technical and Planning Manager, and Technical Office Manager on some national construction
projects. Since 2008, several MSc and PhD students at the School of Civil Engineering, University of
Tehran have graduated under his supervision. Dr Heravi has published several journal and conference
papers and his research interests are project cost, time, risk, quality and safety management;
construction sustainability; and lean construction. Dr Gholamreza Heravi is the corresponding author
and can be contacted at: heravi@ut.ac.ir
Majid Fazeli Kebria, MSc, received the BS degree in civil engineering from Sharif University of
Technology, Tehran, Iran, and the MSc degree in construction engineering and management from the
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. He has presented one conference paper. His main areas of research
interest are lean management and sustainable development in construction projects.
Milad Rostami, BS, received the BS degree in civil engineering from Iran University of Science and
Technology, Tehran, Iran. He started his MSc study in construction engineering and management at
the University of Tehran since 2017. He has presented one conference paper. His main areas of research
interest are innovative construction methods, lean management and sustainable development in
construction projects.

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