(Photo by Guy Lawrence for ENR)

The advancement of 3-D and 4-D construction modeling is opening new scheduling possibilities, and vendors are reaching for them. Graphisoft, the maker of the object-based design modeler ArchiCAD, which came out with a construction modeling product in January, is now completing purchase of a Finnish resource-based scheduling system called DynaProject. It uses construction models as a platform for balancing the day-to-day work locations of crews on jobs and across projects.

The scheduler breaks jobs into physical areas where work can continue independently and then experiments with timing across the whole job to minimize crew overlap and interruptions to optimize efficiency, while maintaining the necessary order of construction. Space-critical tasks, which have to be done with no other crews present, are given priority. A tool called "Line of Balance" displays the sequences of planned operations and the available equipment and materials resources. It then shows the projected efficiency gains when the pace is coordinated across multiple locations and crews. In some cases it may be more efficient to reduce resources for one crew and slow it down, for instance, to better dovetail its production with the rest of the project. "The goal is to keep up crew momentum, to avoid stops and starts and adjust resources to maximize efficiency," says Dominic Gallello, CEO of Budapest, Hungary-based Graphisoft.

"We are looking at it seriously because it fits in with a lot of the tools we’re putting into place for vertical construction," says Dan Gonzales, director of design and construction technology at Roger Quinn Construction Inc., Bonsall, Calif. Gonzales has already started training with Graphisoft for using the software. He says RQ will begin testing it on construction of an Air Force operations building at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tuscon, Ariz., this year.