Contributors to lead time in construction supply chains: case of pipe supports used in power plants

This paper describes process models that characterize the design phase in the supply chain of pipe supports used in power plants. The models are used to study how production system design factors such as batching, uncertainty, and multitasking throughout this phase hamper supply chain performance. These factors all cause an increase in lead time. The models build on the STROBOSCOPE discrete-event simulation engine and illustrate several deterministic and probabilistic simulation scenarios including different batch sizes, uncertainty levels, and allocation percentages of shared resources. Based on the analysis of the simulation results, this paper recommends performance improvement opportunities that apply not only to the supply chain of pipe supports but generally to the delivery of capital projects.