Browsing by Author "Jayatilaka, PR"

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    Appropriateness of lean production system for the construction industry
    (2012-06) Vilasini, N; Neitzert, TR; Jayatilaka, PR; Senaratne, S; Sandanayake, YG
    The manufacturing industry has been a constant reference point and a source of innovation for construction over many decades. The lean concept is one of such strategies adopted by the construction industry from the manufacturing industry to improve performance. In order to take benefit of lean techniques developed in the manufacturing industries, it is important to identify which categories of manufacturing systems are best applicable to construction. Many research studies have identified construction as a lean resistant industry because it differs from manufacturing due to site production, temporary multi-organisation and one-of-a-kind nature projects. The main objective of this study is to find different characteristics of construction processes and how lean techniques can be adopted to them. The method used for this study is a practice oriented research approach where it compares the characteristics of two construction processes with manufacturing process characteristics. In the attempt of visualising the existing process, value stream mapping techniques were used. It is identified that the construction process is a combination of fabrication and assembly processes with different characteristics such as layout, material flow, information flow, and work element. It can be concluded that certain construction techniques like pre-fabrication soften the construction peculiarities.
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    Incorporating sustainable concepts for product design, development and manufacturing
    (2013-11-08) Ekanayake, EARS; Jayatilaka, PR; Kulatunga, AK
    In the general product design and development process, only the increment of economical benefits has been considered but the effectiveness on the environment or society has not been considered. The responsibility of the manufacture should be focused on a successful product design and development process in order to avoid or minimize harmful or bad ecological, social, and economical effects. Past researches such as Re-considering product design: a practical “road-map” for integration of sustainability issues, Design for sustainability a step by step (Sissel A. Waage, 2006) approach, gives pathways for designers and business decision makers and presents the effectiveness of the world production with the key elements of sustainability. However, these sustainable concepts have not been considered at the right stages of the product design and development process in order to increase the overall sustainability of any manufacturing firm while increasing financial benefits. In order to bridge the gap, this research focuses on incorporating all applicable sustainability concepts at each phase of the product design and development process and other relevant sub functions of manufacturing planning and control namely process planning, facility location, plant layout design etc. The relevant sustainability impacts were identified at each of these stages initially. Later a flow chart was developed for the whole process. Two folded approach was used for validation of the proposed methodology. First, selected household consumer products were manufactured at the faculty workshops to observe adapted sustainability methodology and compared with the existing products in the market. Later several manufacturing industries were selected to study the current product design and development processes and manufacturing processes (Life cycle of the products) and data were collected by conducting a field survey. SimaPro software was used to analyse quantitative effects of the process along with proposed methodology to analyse qualitative information. The worst phase of product lifecycle was identified by eco indicator 99 of SimaPro. It was found that eco indicator 99 of SimaPro only highlights environmental impacts at macro scale and proposed methodology highlights environmental impacts at micro and macro levels and two other bottom lines of sustainability: social and economical aspects. Furthermore, it can be found that all industries considered for this research are at the zero level of sustainability in manufacturing.