What is Lean Construction?

Lean construction is a way to design production systems in the construction environment to decrease time, effort, and the waste of materials. The origin of Lean construction came from the Toyota Production System after World War II. It is a different approach to project delivery from traditional construction methods.

The processes in Lean construction that help deliver the value stream:

• Eliminating Waste

In lean construction, waste is cut out. There are eight major types of waste, resulting in downtime.

D- Defects. This is any process that is not done correctly the first time. It usually results in the work having to be redone. If this occurs, time is waste due to repairs and materials needed to correct the work.

O – Overproduction. This type of waste is when a task is completed faster than scheduled or before the next task is ready to begin.

W – Waiting. This is wasted time where workers are stuck waiting for materials to be delivered. This results in workers waiting to do their work, and the workflow is disrupted.

N – Not Utilizing Talent. The right person with the right skills and expertise should be used. If not, time and resources are wasted.

T – Transport. This deals with the transportation of equipment, materials, and works to a site before they are needed.

I – Inventory. In the lean construction process, you should have just in time inventory instead of just in case. Anything else is a waste.

M – Motion. Any unnecessary movement that could be eliminated in the process. This means excess movements of having to go across the site to acquire materials wastes time.

E – Excess Processing. This is usually generated when dealing with too many instances of waste in other areas, like inventory or defects. When the process has to continuously be checked, or there are extra processes, this waste creates additional waste from the over-processing.

• The Flow of Work Processes

A continuous, uninterrupted workflow that is predictable and reliable is the ideal state, following all sequences as they are planned.

• Pull Planning and Scheduling

The team collaborates and communicates closely to determine the schedule of tasks outlined from the creation of reliable workflows and recognizing the best people to do the job.

• Continuous Improvement

Opportunities for improvement are identified and acted upon throughout the project and then applied to future projects.

What does Lean construction stand for?

Continuously improving processes and eliminating waste is the focal point of the Lean philosophy. Lean construction’s main goal is to maximize value and minimize costs throughout the construction project maintenance, design, planning, and activation. This occurs through effective construction project management. Lean construction focuses on customer value – not just what you’re building, but why. It’s about understanding everything from the customer’s point of view, establishing trust early in the planning phase.

There are a few benefits of Lean construction. Lean construction techniques add to increased productivity, improved quality, improved and continuous flows, reduced operating costs, workflow standardization, and an emphasis on working cohesively as a team. Lean construction management helps to implement these techniques for successful projects.

Implementing Lean Construction

If you’re thinking about utilizing Lean thinking in construction, it’s best to start from the beginning. The Lean Construction Institute is the best place to find out how to implement Lean construction, get a better understanding of Lean construction technology, and find support for future Lean construction ideas. A Lean construction guide helps point firms and individuals in the right direction to ensure you have the most up-to-date information on changes and additions to Lean implementation in construction strategies.

Examples in Lean Construction

In an effort to reduce waste, there are quite a few firms that have pivoted to become a Lean construction organization. Organizations that have adopted Lean construction and key planning like pull planning and critical flow.

Skender is an exemplary adopter of Lean construction along with utilizing the features in the Lean construction management software, Touchplan. There are a few differing opinions on what the most important critical flow of the process is. For some, the critical flow unit during construction is people. For others, it’s the actual process. Here are a few examples of how Lean construction has helped firms with their projects.

Lean construction examples are all around, including outstanding projects that Touchplan helped facilitate. Case studies showing the benefits to Lean construction through Touchplan  show teams using Lean construction principles to manage projects, including:

• PPC pull planning during the design and construction phases
• The Last Planner® System
• Heavy emphasis on handoff work planning
• Takt time and location-based scheduling

Touchplan has supported over $40 billion of work using Lean project delivery to support on-budget and on-schedule projects. Touchplan focuses on developing a scalable, sustainable Lean construction process across organizations, resulting in a more fluid construction process, the elimination of variability within jobs, higher-quality project work, a lessened amount of resources on rework due to miscommunication, and higher overall efficiency.

Educational Resources for Lean Construction

Firms implementing Lean construction techniques can go through a Lean construction certification class to find out what they need to know and how to effectively implement the process which can be obtained by the Lean Construction Institute. The program includes Lean construction articles, self-instruction through a Lean construction PPT format where students also learn from the Lean construction principles PDF, and the Lean construction techniques PDF.

Another route is to partner with solutions like Touchplan where Lean construction is inherently built into the process and outcomes. While specific powerpoints and documentation can be helpful, for a vast majority of the construction industry, learning happens by doing.

There are many Lean construction articles and information that can be obtained from the following resources:

• Lean principles PDF
• Benefits of Lean construction PDF
• Lean construction management PDF
• Lean construction PDF
• Lean construction books PDF
• Lean construction management PPT

Utilizing these resources offered through the Lean Construction Institute and other organizations can help firms and their teams better understand the efficiencies gained through adopting the Lean construction principles and processes. As technology continues to advance this concept and the traditional ways of construction are revamped, Lean construction, its reliability, and predictability are poised to become the go-to method for efficient projects.