Reliable Delivery Order for Improving Workflow in the Construction Supply Chain

Achieving reliable workflow on-site has long been a priority in the lean construction community, particularly as construction projects become more complex and uncertain.A reliable supply chain between an external supplier and on-site contractor becomes even more critical to project success as the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry increasingly adopts prefabrication and off-site construction.This paper addresses the increasing need for a reliable supply chain by focusing on ensuring the reliability of delivery orders.Recent studies on construction supply chains have attested that demand uncertainty leads to diminished reliability in the product flow of the supply chain, more so when external suppliers are not shielded against the uncertainty in the delivery due date.This paper introduces a systematic approach to enhancing delivery order reliability by applying the Last Planner to the order-releasing process.In this paper, we present a set of strategies to improve delivery order reliability, including organizational and contractual structures at the organizational level, supplier involvement in construction scheduling at the project level, and ensuring high-quality delivery orders at the process level.Moreover, we introduce three key quality criteria to enhance delivery order reliability as well as a set of metrics to measure delivery order reliability effectively, specifically DOR(%) and DOR() as a probabilistic distribution.