Grant: Alliance Grants

The manufacturing sector has made notable improvements to manufacturing operations through the development of advanced production planning and control strategies. The construction industry, however, has struggled to implement these advanced production planning, control, and automation technologies into construction practice both in Canada and internationally. Advanced planning and control strategies employed in manufacturing, such as digital twinning and Industry 4.0, depend on the seamless integration and analysis of data across multiple focus areas (e.g., cost, schedule, risk, and sustainability). However, the development of planning and control strategies in construction has traditionally focused on improving one or two focus areas in isolation with no consideration of the impact on other focus areas. As such, a primary barrier to the adoption of advanced manufacturing strategies in construction is the lack of an integrated multi-dimensional approach capable of simultaneously managing multiple focus areas. This research will leverage the diverse expertise and the long-standing industrial partnerships of our research team to develop an integrated multi-dimensional approach for enhanced construction planning and control. Outcomes of this research are expected to not only improve the performance of our partner organizations, but are also expected to create a foundation that will facilitate the implementation of advanced planning, control, and automation technologies into construction practice. These discoveries are anticipated to contribute to the realization of digital twinning and Industrial 4.0 in construction, in turn increasing the competitiveness of the Canadian construction sector.