Public defence in civil engineering, Zhao Jianyu, M.Sc.

Revealing and evaluating operations management problems in construction using real-time monitoring system.

The overall objective of the research is to improve production control in construction by estimating workers’ presence on-site at the project and task levels to support task progress monitoring and to assess task workflow and material management practice.

First, this thesis has illustrated how a real-time tracking system based on BLE technology can be implemented in different types of indoor construction projects, more specifically in apartment plumbing renovation, residential buildings, and office buildings. The data accuracy and coverage of the tracking system were tested, developed, and discussed. Heuristics based on gateway location were developed to improve system coverage and data accuracy. Second, the thesis has demonstrated how the proposed BLE technology-based real-time tracking system can be implemented in construction sites to detect task start and finish times based on dependencies and task schedules. The results suggested that only an average of 34.42% of presence was needed to complete the tasks based on task PIs, and up to 66.17% of the task schedule could be compressed if the optimal workflow was reached, which shows great improvement potential in construction planning and control. Third, the thesis has also illustrated how the proposed real-time tracking system could be applied to the automated detection and analysis of time-matching levels of material kits and workers based on their uninterrupted presence. New KPIs were developed that can be measured in real time and offered opportunities to improve material and labor flows for kitting logistics solutions based on the proposed metrics.

From the research perspective, it becomes possible to measure the impact of construction management or digitalization interventions on the long-term presence of workers and materials in work locations. From a practical standpoint, presence information can be used by managers to compare efficiency in different projects. For project management, the daily measurement of presence in work locations could identify problems that are currently unknown to the management or highlight the impact of problems, for example, to address the productivity impacts of delays.

Opponent: PhD Jochen Teizer, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark 

Custos: Professor Olli Seppänen, Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering

Contact information of the doctoral student: Zhao Jianyu, [email protected]

The public defence will be organised on campus (auditorium U3, Otakaari 1).

The thesis is publicly displayed 10 days before the defence in the publication archive Aaltodoc of Aalto University.

Electronic thesis