An Application of Lean Concepts and Simulation for Drainage Operations Maintenance Crews

The City of Edmonton’s Drainage Operations Branch oversees the inspection, maintenance, and repair of the city’s drainage network of over an area of 700 km to serve a population of over 600, 000. The maintenance activities consume a large amount of funding and, therefore, are sensitive to any improvement in the maintenance crew’s productivity. The study focused on selected drainage maintenance crews. The application of the industrial engineering philosophy of work measurement, lean production theory, and simulation analysis was used to capture current work methods, generate and test alternative methods, and develop new standards. As an example, this paper will focus on the methodology utilized for the Service Line Rodding maintenance crews.