The influence of design-production management at the pre-production stage for major international projects in Korea

Construction projects are increasing in size, scale, and complexity. Large scale construction projects (LSP) in Korea use international joint venture design teams (JVDT), which results in another layer of complexity into project delivery. Contractors experience unexpected design-production interface problems throughout the production stage that requires fast resolution to ensure the project meets completion deadlines. Korean contractors engaged on LSPs carry responsibility for both the design and production under the Korean regulatory system; hence design management at the bid and pre-production stage is used to manage the interface between design and production. Design management has focused upon the design stage to co-ordinate and control the design sequence there is a need for the contractor to have more practical and production-oriented design management, which could be implemented from the contractor’s perspective through the production stage. The research considers how design-production management can help as a system in the pre-production stage of LSP in Korea and set out considering that any international arrangement adds complexity because of the different cultures and technologies and joint venture agreements make the organisation of the project and more complex. Based on these insights, complexity theory was adopted as an underpinning theory of this research to develop a contractor-led design-production process map (DMPM), which highlights the interface management between design and production activities using system dynamics modelling and simulations. In the procedure of developing the DMPM, 43 design-production management (DM) factors obtained by questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews (pilot survey) are analysed using statistical methods. With factor analysis, all DM factors were categorised into 6 factor groups (Information management, Design coordination, International JVDT, Support production stage, Large-scale project, and Korean feature). The importance-priority analysis, preference, and interrelationships of the DM factors are analysed and causal loop diagram and system dynamics modelling was undertaken. According to importance value and interrelationships of DM factors, system dynamics modelling was formulated and explicit performances were presented by graphic from and numeric values. After different model verifications including suitability and compatibility tests, DMPM was developed based on the optimal modelling and simulation result of system dynamics. Research was carried out in order to reduce contractors’ design-related risk during production stage in international LSPs in Korea. With the insight that complex interconnected project components between design and production should be managed integrative, developed DMPM should be implemented from early pre-production stage from the contractors’ perspective. Thereby, contractors can estimate suitable bid amounts and reduce design risks caused by design errors and changes, more practically, can manage different design-related issues such as diversified construction standards, various building codes, cultural gap, and different working processes from early pre-production stage