RESEARCH ARTICLE
Success Factors and Barriers of Last Planner System Implementation in the Gaza Strip Construction Industry
Bassam A. Tayeh1, *, Khalid Al Hallaq1, Abdulla H. Al Faqawi1, Wesam S. Alaloul2, Soo Y. Kim3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2018Volume: 12
First Page: 389
Last Page: 403
Publisher ID: TOBCTJ-12-389
DOI: 10.2174/1874836801812010389
Article History:
Received Date: 21/07/2018Revision Received Date: 12/09/2018
Acceptance Date: 25/11/2018
Electronic publication date: 21/12/2018
Collection year: 2018
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Plan unreliability is a serious issue in the construction industry. Since the industry is fragmented and every project is unique, time overrun is a chronic problem. In this context, Last Planner Concept (LPC) has been considered as a valuable approach for the management of the construction process.
Objective:
This study contributes to a better knowledge of the lean construction and last planner concept, and therefore the efficiency of their implementation. The aim of this paper is to determine the main factors supporting the applicability of Last Planner Concept (LPC) and to determine its challenges/barriers in the Gaza Strip construction industry.
Methods:
At first, all the relevant literature was systematically reviewed. At this stage, 17 critical success factors and 18 barriers for LPC were identified. After that, a survey was conducted through a questionnaire to collect the data from 98 contractors. A Likert scale data were analyzed to rank the success factors and the barriers using Relative Importance Index (RII).
Results and Conclusion:
The results showed that “Close relationship with subcontractors" and "Top management support” are the main factors that affect the successful application of LPC. Moreover, “lack of skills, training, and experience” and “lack of the training program for the managers” were deliberated as the key obstructs of the LPC implementation. It is recommended to choose the subcontractor based on his previous expertise and competence such as workers, tools, and machinery. The subcontractor should support all parties to address the project problems to make the right decisions for project objectives achievement.
