Operations planning and scheduling in off-site construction supply chain management: Scope definition and future directions

Abstract

Efficient planning and scheduling of operations within the offsite construction supply chain is critical for the successful completion of projects. Despite significant efforts and the application of various approaches to improve planning and scheduling practices, the existing literature in this field lacks coherence and a comprehensive review that establishes the scope, boundaries, and categorization of planning and scheduling in supply chain operations remains unexplored. To address this research gap, this paper presents a structured framework for supply chain management that encompasses strategic planning, master planning and scheduling, and detailed planning and scheduling. Through an analysis of the literature, this paper identifies areas that have received insufficient attention from the research community, specifically strategic planning, the procurement stage, and logistics operations. To advance the field, future research should focus on the development of integrated planning and scheduling models that simultaneously consider multiple operations and incorporate realistic features of transportation and onsite tasks.