Resource optimisation in line of balance scheduling

The Critical Path Method (CPM) has failed practically for scheduling repetitive projects and Line Of Balance (LOB) has emerged as an alternative for scheduling such projects. Because of the size of most repetitive projects, efficient resource management plays a vital role in their successful implementation. However, resource levelling and allocation have not been formally investigated in repetitive projects. Heuristic methods and optimization techniques have been traditionally used to solve resource scheduling problems like the latter. Although heuristic methods can handle large-size projects, they do not guarantee optimal solutions. In this paper, resource levelling and allocation problems under LOB scheme are modelled as an optimization problem that guarantees optimal solutions. Resource continuity and logical dependency between activities are maintained where constant activity progress rate is assumed. An example project is used to demonstrate the details of model formulation. A complete solution for the range of feasible project durations is obtained as a Time-Resource Trade-Off curve. A pipeline project is used to validate the developed model revealing that the developed model is superior. The proposed model provides contractors with a complete picture for resource usage along with the range of feasible project durations from which the optimal alternative can be selected.