ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Construction Management
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1621337
Examining the Impact of Advanced Work Packaging and WorkFace Planning on Direct Work Rates of On-Site Construction Workers: A Comparative Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, United States
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Efficiency in on-site construction has long been a pursuit for project stakeholders, with a focus on enhancing direct-work rates-the time spent by craft workers on installation activities. However, despite the promising potential of methodologies such as Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) and WorkFace Planning (WFP) in being associated with enhancing these rates, there is limited officially published evidence, with much of the available data derived from narrow datasets. This study addresses this research gap by investigating the impact of AWP and WFP implementation on direct-work rates using two distinct datasets spanning from 2015 to 2023. The first dataset comprises 61 projects from a productivity consultant, while the second dataset consists of 23 projects sourced from a large engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm, covering a diverse range of global projects. The findings indicate that projects employing AWP and WFP are correlated with significantly higher direct-work rates and demonstrate improved predictability of direct-work rates compared to those that do not implement these methodologies. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by emphasizing the value of AWP and, more broadly, the significance of systemic management interventions in both frontend and on-site planning. In addition to the specific findings about AWP and WFP, this paper also demonstrates probability-based methods to assess predictability from work sampling data, a novel application for exploring construction productivity.
Keywords: Advanced work packaging (AWP), workface planning (wfp), Work sampling, time on tools, Wrench time, Direct-work rate, productivity
Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Porwal, O'Brien and Borcherding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Vishal Porwal, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, United States
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