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Roberto J. Arbulu
Roberto has over twenty years of experience in the delivery and optimization of capital projects, and since he joined SPS in 2002, Arbulu has worked with numerous owner operators and service providers in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. He is the author of numerous technical publications in journals and conference proceedings that focus on the optimization of project delivery processes including the use of Lean Production and Virtual Design & Construction (VDC) methods. Arbulu has participated for many years as VDC instructor and technical advisor at Stanford University’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering. He earned a Civil Engineering Degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, a Master of Engineering Degree in Construction Engineering & Management from the University of California, Berkeley.
Articles By This Author
The Construction Industry is in Crisis. The Root Cause and a Better Way Forward
The engineering and construction industry is in crisis, with over $1.6 trillion wasted annually due to capital projects not being delivered on time or on budget. Massive project cost overruns, schedule delays and claims are so commonplace they have become ‘normalized'.
The Illusion of Being in Control
Many professionals in the engineering and construction industry operate under the illusion of being in control of their capital projects, until it is too late. For many, the recipe for being in control has a few key ingredients including, but not limited to, a baseline schedule so progress can be measured.
The Batching Frenzy
You may be thinking that the goal should be to reduce batches to the minimum possible, meaning one unit at a time, a concept popularized by the phrase “single-piece flow”, however, this is not always economical or in many cases, not even technically doable.
Are Schedules and Project Production Systems the Same?
About a hundred years have passed since the construction industry started exploring the use of Gantt-type charts, copying what manufacturing was doing then. To date, the construction industry has expanded the use of Gantt-type charts (schedules) and established them as must-haves for projects.
Are Resources and Capacity the Same?
If you are involved in the delivery of capital projects, there is a good chance that you may have heard, or even used, expressions such as, “We have a resource-loaded schedule,” “We are behind schedule, so let’s add more resources,” or “We need to increase our capacity.”