Bringing Lean Construction to Life: Developing Leaders, Consultants, Coaches, Facilitators, Trainers & Instructors (original) (raw)

Applying lean in construction - cornerstones for implementation

2012

The majority of lean transformations fail to meet their initial expectations and end up as disappointments. Excessive focus on specific tools and failure to understand the philosophy or to motivate people in continuous improvement are often blamed for this. This research explores the cornerstones for successful lean implementation in the construction business. Research results based on 39 semi-structured interviews conducted in Finland and California suggest that managers should pay attention to the following aspects: building trust, motivation, ensuring skills and competence, developing and selecting the right people, and providing leadership. In general, lean should be embraced as a comprehensive management philosophy which requires a long-term viewpoint in order to achieve competitive advantage. In construction, it is important to pay attention to the way people are recruited, emphasize their social skills, and develop them through training. Building trust and constructing project teams based on participants' suitability and competence will help to move the industry forward, but managers should also learn to take advantage of crises, when organizations are at their most receptive.

Implementing lean construction: understanding and action

Proc. 6 th Ann. Conf. Intl. Group for …, 1998

Lean thinking is a new way to manage construction. Born in manufacturing, the goals demand a new way to coordinate action, one that is applicable to industries far removed from manufacturing. Implementation requires action be shaped by a deeper understanding of the goals and techniques. This paper explains the implications of the goals and key production principles, and how when taken together they result in a different way to manage construction. Implementing lean in construction then becomes a matter of developing and acting on this new knowledge. Advice on implementation is offered.

A Strategy for Overcoming Barriers to the Successful Implementation of Lean Construction in the UK

Lean construction efforts could prove to be highly rewarding for the construction industry. Although various countries gained large benefits by adopting the lean concepts, there seems to be a scarce implementation of lean in the UK construction industry over the last two decades even after the publication of the Egan report. Building upon the methodologies and conceptual frameworks used in earlier work in the UK (Common et al., 2000), the Netherlands (Johansen et al., 2002), and Germany (Johansen & Walter, 2007), this study carried out a similar survey to evaluate lean construction as practiced in the UK, and identify the barriers to its successful implementation. A theoretical framework was adopted and modified by the author to keep up with the vast developments made among the lean construction community since previous studies were carried out; and it formed the basis for a questionnaire survey. The data obtained was then subject to secondary analysis on top of quantitative and qualitative systematic evaluation. Six different classifications were established and analysed during secondary stage. This allowed trends and contrasting views to be determined, and thus more comprehensive findings to be concluded. After completing the results they were informed further by undertaking interviews with a number of professionals from the UK construction industry. It was found that the majority of the construction organisations do not yet have a holistic view of the full potentials of lean; and that there is still a significant lack of understanding of how to successfully apply lean principles to construction processes and activities. The study concluded the significant barriers to the successful implementation of lean construction in the UK; and proposed a strategy for overcoming the barriers identified.

Preparing contractor organizations for implementing lean construction

2 nd Specialty Conference …, 2006

On behalf of all the members of the organizing and scientific committees, let me welcome you to the 2 nd Specialty Conference on Leadership and Management in Construction. Building on the momentum of the 2004 Hilton Head conference, the 2006 conference has expanded significantly. We are pleased to have CIB joining us as an official sponsor in addition to our ASCE sponsorship. The global focus of this year's conference is truly represented by delegates from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. We are looking forward to great presentations, opportunities for discussion both formal in the conference and informal during afternoons on the beach. Our conference format is once again focused on providing maximum presentation, discussion, and interaction time.

A Mentoring Approach to Implement Lean Construction

2014

This study was motivated by the need to implement lean construction in a concrete division recently established by a general contracting firm that has been an advocate of lean for several years. After observing difficulties to implement lean in the first project undertaken by this concrete division, the research team decided to adopt an alternative approach focused on mentoring and continuous improvement. The objective of the study was to support the concrete team in its development of desired lean behaviors, i.e., focus on process improvement based on continuous cycles of revealing problems and discussing root causes, brainstorming solutions, learning, and changing current practices. The method used in this study was action research, with the researcher being an active participant in the team. The implementation was carried out based on three strategies: (a) lean training, (b) adoption of the Last PlannerTM System, and (c) continuous improvement workshops. The team then assessed th...

The Evolution of Lean Construction Education (Part 2 of 2): At US-Based Companies

26th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction, 2018

The benefits of lean projects such as reduced schedules and budgets are well documented; construction organizations accomplish lean project delivery through the practices of project teams, yet the backgrounds of many participants have relatively little involvement with lean methodology due to its relative newness. Many participants in the lean movement such as members of the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) attribute project success to the training that is typically conducted to create an awareness and capability among participants and align the team with the priorities of the project. A study of leading firms was undertaken to examine this linkage by reviewing how training is provided for project teams, including the work force. A cross-section of established construction firms, design firms, and consultants were surveyed to determine the best practices that are currently in use. These organizations are all members of LCI or the Associated General Contractors (AGC). Many important lessons were learned, including: the successful approaches taken by AGC to provide industry training; the best practices of the companies surveyed; and future opportunities for improvement in lean training at the industry level. Notably, some of the approaches used in academia such as simulations, were used, but some companies were developing their own training, emphasizing leadership over tools.

Lean Construction Principles, Prerequisites, and Strategies for Implementation

2009

The construction industry’s inefficiencies and need for improvement are well documented. Research has pointed to an incidence of waste in the vicinity of 30%, due to a variety of losses including workforce underutilization, cost overruns, late delivery, safety-related incidents, and construction defects. As the annual value of construction worldwide is approximately US$4.0 trillion, the potential for savings in that industry is indeed great. Several researchers (Howell, Ballard, O’Brien et al) have shown that lean construction techniques reduce supply chain losses, reduce construction costs and shorten project delivery schedules. This paper addresses lean principles, the prerequisites for a lean construction environment, and provides specific strategies for successful lean projects. It will explain how these strategies improve projects in terms of cost, schedule, safety, and quality.

Critical Success Factors for Lean Construction Intervention

Despite the successful application of lean thinking across a wide range of industries, and a number of UK Government funded programmes such as the Construction Lean Improvement Programme and Constructing Excellence, the construction sector lags behind other sectors as highlighted in the Egan Report (1998) and more recently in Sir John Egan’s speech to the House of Commons in 2008 which gave the construction industry “four out of ten – for trying.” This led to the research question: What are the critical success factors for lean construction interventions? The emergence of lean production as a concept and the contributions of its key historic influencers are explored. Differences between construction and manufacturing are compared and discussed, and it is concluded that there is no practical reason why lean production cannot be successfully applied to construction operations. However, the issue of buildings being “rooted-in-place” is a potential barrier to true global competition. Progress was made towards a satisfactory definition of lean construction, a term hitherto ill-defined. Nineteen potential critical success factors (CSF) were identified in a literature review. A pilot study conducted with senior construction staff experienced in lean construction identified a further seven potential critical success factors and discounted three derived from the literature. Face-to-face interviews with thirty-one construction staff that had attempted lean construction interventions were conducted to examine the significance of each factor. Of the interventions, twenty-six were successful and six were failures. Statistical analysis compared the failure and success groups and of a total of twenty-three factors examined, thirteen were critical, two important, seven not critical and one unknown. Some of the most cited lean critical success factors, for example “There must be a crisis”, were shown to be not significantly important for the construction sector. Interdependencies between the statistically significant factors were explored and it was concluded that a wide concern with “getting buy-in” exists. Three factors appeared to possess a greater ability to influence all the others: the capability of management; client influence; and the right facilitator. KEY WORDS Lean Construction, Critical Success Factors, Intervention, Definition

Lean Construction: From Theory to Implementation

Journal of Management in Engineering, 2006

This article compares the techniques developed for lean construction with those developed for lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing and lean construction techniques share many common elements despite the obvious differences in their assembly environments and processes. Manufacturing plants and construction sites are different in many ways that might explain why lean production theories and practices do not fully fit the construction industry. Though many lean construction tools and elements are still in an embryonic state, lean construction techniques are gaining popularity because they can affect the bottom line of projects. Additionally, this paper presents a study of a construction project in which specific lean construction elements were tested. Each technique was evaluated in terms of its impact on the performance of the project. Based on the findings of the study, a new "lean assessment tool" is proposed to quantify the results of lean implementations. The assessment tool evaluates six lean construction elements: last planner, increased visualization, huddle meetings, first-run studies, five S's, and fail safe for quality. This paper provides a simple and comprehensive approach that is transferable to any construction project.