Towards design productivity improvement

Abstract

The Dutch construction industry is rising again. The economical crisis has had a major impact on the infrastructure sector, as the sector has experienced many cutbacks. Even though the economy is recovering, the consequences of these cutbacks are still present. According to the Economisch Instituut voor de Bouw (2016), the Dutch infrastructure task for the period of 2015- 2030 amounts to almost €245 billion. In response to the major infrastructure task, the Ministers of Economic Affairs, Housing & Public Services, and Infrastructure & Mobility initiated 'De Bouwagenda' late 2016. The aim of De Bouwagenda is to strengthen the construction sector and to offer solutions to the encountered challenges, as it is not feasible to realise the urgent task within the current system. One of the three concrete objectives that result from the initiative is a productivity increase of at least 10% in the construction industry by 2025. This exploratory research project focuses on improving the design productivity, which can be defined as "the efficiency of the production of a design solution, that is effective to the overall requirements and customer needs". The aim of this research is to discover which (combination of) design method(s) contributes to the enhancement of the design productivity of Dutch infrastructure projects, in order to contribute to the productivity objective of De Bouwagenda at a meta-level. In order to do so, this research identifies the factors that affect the current design process of infrastructure projects, also referred to as waste, and explores design methods that address these wastes...