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CHAPTER 4 REPETITIVE SCHEDULING METHOD (RSM) 1 Introduction: Construction contractors are often faced with projects containing multiple units wherein activities repeat unit to unit such as floors in multistoried uildings! houses in housing projects! meters in pipelines! or stations in highwa"s# Activities that repeat unit to unit create a ver" important need for a construction schedule that facilitates the uninterrupted flow of resources ! wor$ crews% from one unit to the ne&t! ecause it is often this element that esta lishes activit" starting times and determines the '' project duration# Hence! uninterrupted resource utili(ation ecomes e&tremel" important issue# The critical path method )CP*% cannot assure this re+uirement as onl" the technical precedence and resource availa ilit" constraints e&plicitl" shown in CP* networ$# The need for the utili(ation of resources from an activit" in one unit to same )repeating% activit" in the ne&t unit is e&plicitl" recogni(ed " ,inear -cheduling methodologies that have een availa le for man" "ears " different names# .or projects with discrete units! such as floors! ! apartments! stores or offices! names that have een used include ,ine of /alance" )01!12!03% "Construction Planning Techni+ue" )Peer 1974; 1980); "4ertical Production *ethod" )12!13%! "Time ,ocation *atri& i0odel" )5%6 "Time -pace -cheduling *ethod" )-tradel and Cacha 0351%6 7istur ance -cheduling" )8hiteman and 'rwig 0355% or "Hori(ontal and lertical ,ogic scheduling for *ulti store" Projects" )15%# .or highwa"s! pipelines! tunnels etc#! where progress is measured in erms of hori(ontal length! the names used are9 "Time 4erses 7istance %iagram" ):orman 03;1%6 ",inear /alance Charts" )0<%6 "4elocit" 7iagrams" 7ressler 035<%6 or ",inear -cheduling *ethod" )0;!1;%# Although each of these methods was developed to meet its own particular o jectives! all of them are essentiall" ali$e in that the" schedule the wor$ in the project " plotting the progress of repeating activities against lime# The repetitive scheduling method )R-*%! recogni(es the technical constraints of CP* and also indicates additional resource continuit" constraints to ensure continuous resource usage# R-* is a scheduling methodolog" that simplifies and generali(es various multi procedures previousl" proposed " several authors# #
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The repetitive scheduling method )R-*% )03% integrates the a ove methods into one generali(ed and simplified model# 't also ensures continuous resource utili(ation and is applica le to oth vertical and hori(ontal construction# An R-* schedule is presented graphicall" as an => 4 plot of a series of production lines! each of which represent

a repetitive activit"! and introduces the control point as a new concept for positioning successive production lines that
ma" either diverge or converge! depending upon their relative slopes# R-* also introduces the controlling se+uence of activities as a new concept for the determination of the project duration# 4#1 RSM Schedu e Re!re"ent#tion In contr#"t to the co$! e% CPM net&or' (or "chedu in) $u ti*unit !ro+ect", # RSM "chedu e i" !re"ented )r#!hic# - #" #n .*V ! ot &here one axis re!re"ent" unit" #nd the other ti$e/ The re!etiti0e unit" $#- 1e #""i)ned to either #%i" o( the ! ot, the !#rticu #r #""i)n$ent 1ein) cho"en (or con0enience #nd to c e#r - co$$unic#te the "chedu e in(or$#tion/ 2or 0ertic# con"truction !ro+ect", the re!etiti0e unit" #re t-!ic# "ho&n # on) the 3*#%i" #nd ti$e i" "ho&n # on) the .*#%i" to corre #te &ith hori4ont# #nd 0ertic# ch#rt", &hi e ti$e i" "ho&n # on) the 3*#%i"/ The repetitive units of the project must e arranged in some logical se+uence along the chosen a&is to define their pattern of repetition# This se+uence ma" e accepted as a natural occurrence or ma" e esta lished to suit some production need# .or e&ample! uilding floors must naturall" e constructed one upon another! ut housing construction might e planned to follow in the order of their projected sale# -imilarl"! stations along a highwa" ma" follow in the natural numeral order from project start to project finish! or ma" e planned to recogni(e particular site or traffic conditions# 4#? RSM 5cti0it- Lo)ic In #ddition to e"t#1 i"hin) the !#ttern 1- &hich re!etiti0e unit" (o o& each other, it i" nece""#r- to identi(- the !recedence con"tr#int" #$on) the activities in each# .or this a CP* precedence networ$ is prepared for each t"pical repetitive unit! or if necessar"! for each non>t"pical unit# These diagrams are similar to those shown for each unit in fig )4#0%# The num er of activities in the networ$ for repetitive units is not particularl" important and is determined " the nature of the unit# Resource considerations are temporaril" ignored while preparing this diagram# 4#4 Re"ource Con"ider#tion" *ost activities re+uire that several resources e emplo"ed together )e#g#! a piece of e+uipment needs an operator%# R-* assumes that onl" the most signif@cant resource is associated with an activit" and! that all activities have een defined using this assumption# 't is also assumed that the same resources will e used for li$e activities in successive repeating units such that each resource activit" must e consistent from unit to unit# There are two important and often confused production rates associated with each activit"9 0# Resource Production Rate 1# Anit Production Rate
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The resource production rate for an activit"! A! rprA! is the amount of wor$ that can e accomplished " the resource in one time period# 'n e+uation form we can write it as
f rprAB

CAiD Tai

8here rprABresource production rate CAiB+uantit" of wor$ in activit" A in an" repeating unit! i

T Ai=time needed to complete activity A in unit i; The above equation is most often used to estimate the activity ,
1

, duration, T Ai in as much as the quantity of work, QAi, is taken from the plans i and specifications and a standardi(ed resource production rate rprA for the selected resource and method is ta$en from compan" data ase or from an" of several construction guides in common use in the construction industr"# The unit production rate is the num er of repetitive units that can e accomplished " a resource during a unit of

time! i! the unit production rate! I uprAi can e e&pressed as '

uprAi=1 IT Ai

where

I I T Ai=time needed to complete the unit#

0

@ The unit production rate )and not the resource production rate% is the slope
!

of a production line in an R-* diagram#

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Eliminating T Ai and solving the two e+uations as a ove! the following

e+uation is o tained

' 6#

upr AiBrpr ADCAi

The resource production rate is an attri ute of the resource and thus remains constant in an" unit involving the same activit" )i#e#! the same crew
,

will wor$ at the same rate in ever" repeating unit regardless of the +uantit"

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of the wor$ in the unit%# Thus! uprAi ma" change from unit to unit as a

function of +uantit" of wor$! QAi, though rprA does not -ometimes the +uantit" of wor$ in activities that repeat from unit to unit is not the same in ever" unit )e#g#! "Carpeting for floor1" ma" e twice as much as "Carpeting for floor 0 "%# 'n such instances! the unit production rates will var" depending upon the amount of the wor$ in each unit# .or e&ample! let Activities C 0! C1! and C? represent a case wherein the wor$ +uantit" )e#g#! the amount of carpet to e laid on each floor of a multistore" project% in Anit 1 is twice that in Anit 0! and the +uantit" in Anit ? is one>half that of Anit 0# 'n e+uation form
CC0#B Cc1D1 B 1Cc?

The unit production rates are then 0D1 unit per da" )uDd% for activit" C0! 0D4uDd for C1 and 0 uDd for C?! or
AprC0 B1uprC1B0D1uprC?

This means that the production line for the C activities consists of three segments! one of each unit! each having a different slope given " the corresponding uprC0#