2. Productivity
By popular definition productivity simply refers to the general
efficiency of an organization or individual
The output of any aspect of production per unit of input
Economic measure of output of a worker, machine, or an entire
national economy in the creation of goods and services to produce
wealth
In the business world, productivity measures investment in capital,
such as buildings, machines, raw materials & in labour against the
profits from the sale of the product
3. Productivity A company that most minimizes input and maximizes output has the
highest productivity
A total concept that addresses the key elements of competition i.e.
innovation, cost, quality and delivery
Should be viewed as value adding in addition to optimizing
Construction is a labour intensive process
Manpower is one of the productive resources in construction
Construction productivity largely depends upon human performance
Reliable measures of productivity is output per work-hour being
achieved by workers
4. Why is Productivity Important?
Extremely vital performance measurement tool within the
construction industry
Due to size of construction industry productivity trends
carry immense consequences for the economy as a
whole
Productivity growth is important to an individual
enterprise, an industry or an economy
Construction industry accounts for 3 – 8% of the GDP in
most countries
5. Why is Productivity Important?
Productivity improvement in construction industry may
have a significant impact on improving GDP
Productivity growth is the key determinant of
international competitiveness in the long term
Improving relative productivity growth improves a
country’s competitive position
The construction industry – most challenging and
demanding still many opportunities for productivity
improvement
6. Factors Affecting Construction Labour Productivity
Project uniqueness
Technology
Management
Labour organization
Real wage trends
Construction training
7. Factors having adverse effect on productivity
Overtime and or Fatigue
Errors and omissions in plans and specifications
Multitude of change orders
Design complexity and Design completeness
Stacking of trades
Dilution of supervision
High accident rate
Jurisdictional disputes
Work rules and restrictive work practices
Availability of skilled labour
Reassignment of manpower from task to task
Material location – above ground level/above floor level
Adverse temperature or weather
Inadequate lighting
8. Regulations of various types
High absenteeism
High turnover
Material shortages
Ground water level
Attitude of the workforce
Crew size and composition
Economic conditions & level of unemployment
Size and duration of the project
Timeliness of decisions
Impractical QA / QC tolerances
Uncontrolled breaks
Time of the day & day of the week
Inadequate temporary facilities: parking, change / rest rooms etc
9. Quality and Productivity
Folklore True Relationship
Outmoded relationship Modern view of Relationship
Quality
Quantity
Quality
Quantity
Improvement of Process – TQM
Leads to greater uniformity of
product
Reduces mistakes and rework
Reduces waste of manpower,
machine,time and materals
Increases output with lowered cost
Other Benefits
Better competitive position
Happier people on the job
More jobs
Improved morale
10. Quality and Productivity
Deming’s Quality Chain Reaction
Quality
Customer
Satisfaction
Market Share
Productivity
Prices
Costs
Profits
Improve Quality Costs decrease because of less rework,
fewer mistakes, delays, snags, better
use of machine, time and materials
Productivity
improves
11. Productivity and Safety
Worldwide – construction industry produces more injuries than other
industries
Construction industry – often criticized for poor performance (low
productivity, waste, health and safety problems)
Strongest relations exist between work organizational factors,
working conditions & health & absenteeism
Research shows that occupational safety and health improved (less
health complaints and less accidents) when working conditions and
work organization ameliorated
Improving safety improves productivity
12. Methods of Improving Productivity
The following factors can lead to the improvement in productivity:
Training programs for labour
Incentives in contract for good performance
Enough tools in working place and proper planning
Optimizing site facilities
Availability of resources
Competition between crews, areas or shifts
Good supervision and optimum manpower
Short interval scheduling
Innovative materials and equipment
Time lapse film analysis for critical activities
Cost reporting and work sampling of critical activities
13. Time and motion studies to improve efficiency, reduce
fatigue and work smarter
Safety programs
Use of precast and prestressing concrete elements
Critical path method of planning, scheduling and control
Value engineering
Worker motivation programs
Constructability review of design
Standardization
Preplanning activities
Effective utilization of sub-contractors
15. Models of Productivity
Economic Model
TFP = Total Value of Output / Total Value of Input
= Output (Rs) / Input (Rs)
Where TFP is the total factor productivity and
Input = Labour + Material + Equipment + Energy + Capital
Project Specific Model (Construction)
Productivity = Output (Activity unit) / Input (Rs) = Sq. mts / Rupees
16. Activity Oriented Model
Measured in terms of Labour Productivity
Can be measured in two ways:
a) Output / Input or b) Input / Output
Input can be in terms of Cost or Man hours and
Output can be in terms of Unit of work performed
Generally the second model i.e. Input / Output is
used to measure the productivity but again the
choice depends on the monitoring party
17. Input and output being the same the productivity
comparison depends on the following factors
Size of the Job
Material Availability
Schedule of Activities
Connection or interlinking of activities
Support operations
Location
Therefore a comparison of productivity can only
be made if the conditions are similar and also
the activities are similar.
18. Major causes leading to poor productivity
Congestion
Sequencing
Lack of materials
A high variability in the unit productivity value is
an indication of poor productivity and a low
variability indicates good productivity
19. Productivity Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a systematic process of searching for the best
practices, innovative ideas and highly effective operating
procedures that lead to superior performance
Purpose of Benchmarking
a) Analyze the operations to
- Identify the critical cost components and areas for improvement
- Reduction in the cycle time of activities
b) To get knowledge of the competition & industry leaders
c) To incorporate the best of the best – learn & emulate the best
d) To gain superiority over competitors
20. Types of Benchmarking
Internal
- Comparison among similar operations within
one’s own organization
Competitive
- This is comparison to the best of the direct
competitors
Functional
- Comparison of the methods with the companies
with similar processes in the same function
outside one’s country
21. Types of Benchmarking
Generic
- Comparison of work processes to others who
have innovative, exemplar work processes
Cooperative
- Contacting the best in class firms and asking
them for knowledge sharing
Collaborative
- A group of firms sharing knowledge about a
particular activity
22. Benchmarking Roadmap
Determine what to
Benchmark
Determine Key Factors to
be measured
Develop Data Collection
Methodology
Collect Data
Identify Foremost Practices
Within and Outside Companies
Identify Performance Gap
and Reasons for it
Develop Action Plan to
Meet And Exceed
Integrate Plan into
Business Practices
Improvement
24. Performance Indicators
Benchmarking is essentially for continuous
improvement of any organization
Parameter for benchmarking should be based
on Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
There can be many KPI’s in the construction
industry to measure the job performances
25. Key Performance Indicators
A few major ones are listed below
Cost
Scheduled Duration
Quality
Scope of work
Procurement
Construction
Planning
Engineering Design
Operational Health & Safety
Sub-contracts
Labour
Productivity
Rework
Material Wastage
Equipment
Activities at
planned rate
26. Labour Productivity Study
The study focused on evolving a framework for
benchmarking Labour Productivity for building projects in
India
Data were collected from 39 sites through questionnaire
and from 12 buildings project through personal
interviews
The sites were located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai,
Hyderabad and Delhi
Labour productivity for these activities is benchmarked
by comparing productivity levels both within and among
the regions
Observed productivity at national level is compared with
the international levels
27. Benchmarking in Context of Construction Industry
Major portion of buildings project cost consists of
the following activities
Concreting
Formwork
Masonry
Reinforcements
Labour productivity can be benchmarked very
well based on these four activities
28. Concrete productivity in various regions in India
Regions Productivity (cum/manday)
Mumbai 2.97
Bangalore 0.85
Chennai 0.79
Hyderabad 0.99
Delhi 0.49
India Mean
Productivity cum/manday 1.22
29. Comparison of Concrete Productivity with
International Standards
Country M’hr/cum cum/M’day
US 1.00 8.02
England 1.50 5.35
China 3.69 2.17
Netherlands 1.24 6.47
Japan 1.29 6.22
Korea 1.26 6.36
Saudi Arabia 1.88 4.27
Turkey 2.32 3.44
India 2.69 2.97
30. Labour Productivity for Formwork
Depends on factors like:
- Type of Formwork system used
- Quantity of formwork used
- Type of Structure
- Shifting methods
- Labour skills
- Resource availability
- Safety and other issues
31. Formwork productivity in various regions in
India
Regions Productivity (Sqm/Manday)
Mumbai 1.42
Bangalore 1.90
Chennai 2.19
Hyderabad 1.65
Delhi 1.10
India Mean
Productivity Sqm/Manday 1.7
32. Formwork productivity in various countries
Country M’hr/Sqm Sqm/M’day
US 0.82 9.79
England 1.23 6.53
China 3.02 2.65
Netherlands 1.01 7.90
Japan 1.05 7.59
Korea 1.53 7.77
Saudi Arabia 1.54 5.21
Turkey 1.90 4.20
India 4.71 1.70
33. Labour Productivity for Masonry
Depends on factors like
- Size of Block
- Method of shifting
- Lead and shift
- Labour skill
- Type of Structure
- Safety and other issues
34. Brick masonry productivity in various
countries
Country M’hr/cum cum/M’day
US 2.35 3.40
England 3.53 2.27
China 8.70 0.92
Netherlands 2.92 2.74
Japan 3.03 2.64
Korea 2.96 2.7
Saudi Arabia 4.42 1.81
Turkey 5.48 1.46
India 6.35 1.26
35. Labour Productivity for Reinforcement
• Depends on the factors like
• Diameter of bar
• Bar bending schedule
• Quantity of reinforcement
• Method of transport
• Availability of bar bending and cutting machine
• Skill of labour
• Type of Structure
• Safety
36. Reinforcement productivity in various regions in
India
Regions Productivity (Kg / Man Day)
Mumbai 108
Bangalore 86
Chennai 82
Hyderabad 79
Delhi 56
India 90.5 (Mean)
37. Conclusions
Construction productivity levels in India are low
compared to international levels
The reasons identified for low productivity
included less degree of mechanization,
conventional practices, lack or training and low
focus on productivity by management
The data used in the study is from large
companies executing large building projects.
There is a need to study the productivity levels in
other types of projects
