Uncertainty and Buffer Management - III

Anandit Sachdev
 Introduction to Buffering
•
Buffering Strategies in Construction
•
Critical Chain Project Management
Effects of Uncertainty
According to Hopp and Spearman (2000) three basic kinds of buffers in
manufacturing systems emerge: Inventory, Capacity, and Time.
CAPACITY INVENTORY TIME
 EXCESSIVE BUFFER

OPTIMAL BUFFERS (LEAN)

INADEQUATE BUFFERS (ANOREXIC)

more time than needed more inventory or work in process
than required
Buffering Strategies in Construction
 Buffers can serve at least three functions related to shielding
production performance in construction (Howell and Ballard, 1994):

1. They compensate for the variable average rates of

consumption and supply between two processes.

2. They compensate for the [foreseen] uncertainty

in the actual rates of consumption and supply.

3. They allow for the re-arrangement of work sequences

within supplier and the succeeding activities.
 The classic types of buffer

1. Time Buffer: In the form of slack time that is an

overestimated duration in scheduling.

2. Capacity Buffer: In construction, capacity buffers are

presented in the form of excess allocation of labour or equipment.

3. Inventory buffer:
Two forms of inventory buffers are more frequently used in
construction: excess materials and work in process.
 Plan and schedule buffers

Ballard and Howell (1995) emphasised the importance of workflow

management. Accordingly, they suggest two main categories of
buffer usage in construction:

The classic buffering approach :

They are designed at the scheduling stage.

Plan Buffer:
Construction schedules do not provide sufficiently stable
coordination of flows. The available workable backlogs can be used
as a type of buffer during the project execution called a plan buffer.
(Last Planner)
 Technical Information Buffer (TIB)

Aims to use the gained experiences in the design and

planning phases in order to reduce uncertainty and make
better and earlier decisions.

TIB stores Information and Knowledge since the early stages

of project development using information technologies such
as Building Information Modelling (BIM).
 Active/Passive buffers
Alves and Tommelein (2003) suggested another perspective
about categorizing buffers:

Passive buffers are related to the flow of the products and

services. They can be implemented in the form of material,
semifinished parts, information, space, time, and money.

Active buffers are located in the operations flow.

Resources interact with the products in the process flow
Responsiveness of the different types of buffers
(Horman, 2000)
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
 Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is a
scheduling method that extensively discusses the
time buffers.

It is developed based on Theory of Constraints

(TOC), by E. M. Goldratt
There is a constraint in the system (Goldratt, 1996; 1997):

…if you don’t impact the constraint, you have no effect…

 THANK YOU!

Uncertainty and Buffer Management - III

Anandit Sachdev