Abstract:
While manufacturing industry has generally been capable to apply new concepts successfully,
construction industry still appears failing to apply them. Although these two industries differ significantly
from each other, there is no obvious reason why construction industry should not be able to take advantage
applying new concepts, and reject its denounced traditionalism. The new trends have been represented by
concepts like mathematical modeling, operations research, lean production techniques, total quality
management and just-in-time production. This paper is thus intended to highlight the various scenarios in the
life-cycle of construction projects, where statistical methods can be used to overcome the drawbacks of
traditional construction. Time studies have been conducted on various grades of manpower and equipments in
Indian construction to measure their actual productivity. The application of statistical methods in construction
provides construction managers and other decision makers the opportunity of experiencing and responding to
various factors which are responsible for loss of productivity, and hence eliminating them.
