LEAN CONSTRUCTION IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

LEAN CONSTRUCTION IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Lean Construction History

The need for shelter to fulfill the basic necessity of human being has made construction very important. The culture and methods of the construction industry have their roots in periods before scientific analysis. However, after the Second World War, there have been several attempts to understand construction, its challenges and to develop sustainable solutions and improvement methods. Different strategy have been used which include: computer integrated construction, industrialization and total quality management. Different operational and tactical techniques such as organizational method, project planning and control tools, productivity improvement method and project success factors have also risen (Dao and Follestad, 2009; Koskela 1992). After the second world war II around 1950s Eiji Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno invent the concept of lean production at the Toyota Motor Company in Toyota City. Lean production concept quickly became the strength of the Japanese motor-vehicle because it was able to eliminate waste. Half of the resources, half of the manufacturing space, half of the investment tools, half of the engineering hours, and half of the new product development time than that of mass production (Lehman and Reiser, 2004).

Lean production makes Toyota to gain market revitalize and also share the automotive industry. This revitalization and increased market share of Toyota makes other automobile manufacturers around the world to become interested in Toyota’s methods of production. Because they wanted to learn their techniques, thus, the International Motor Vehicle Programme (IMVP) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was introduced in 1985 therefore the research and learning of the fundamentals of lean production techniques started. Lean principles include teamwork, efficient use of resources, elimination of waste, communication and stressed the importance of continuous improvement (Lehman and Reiser, 2004). As the principles of lean were studied, other improving principles were included such by the IMVP team such as Kaizen (a continuous, incremental improvement process) and Value Engineering (VE) techniques so as to achieve target costing, Total Quality Control (TQC), Statistical Process Control (SPC), and Computer Aided Design (CAD) were also considered (Lehman and Reiser, 2000).

Lean Construction in construction industry is to a great extent an adaptation and implementation of the Japanese manufacturing principles within the construction process and in doing this, Lean Construction assumes that construction is a kind of special production (Bertelson, 2004). Though the guiding principles were not formulated until after nearly ten years of work by Koskela (2000), the guiding principles was formulated in more detail by Ballard et al. in 2001, it can be easily deduce that they were used from the beginning while delivering the project to maximize the value for the client and minimize the waste (Bertelson, 2004). Koskela (2000), based on the proposed development of manufacturing theories over more than a hundred years the Transformation-Flow-Value (T-F-V) understanding of construction. Koskela and Howell (2002) suggested that more attention in construction management should be given to the flow aspect instead of the current overemphasis on the transformation aspect. The production theory for the proposed construction by Koskela is not the least concept of production as a flow showed almost immediately the usefulnessof the concept by practitioners rethinking the construction management methods (Bertelsen, 2004; Ballard, 2000; Bertelsen and Koskela, 2002).

Flow management concept was taken further by making use of the methods introduced by Jim Womack and it was further developed by the Lean Enterprise Institute (Bertelsen, 2004). During the same time that Koskela proposed the manufacturing–inspired T-F-V theory, issues were raised that the construction process might be more complex and that it should be understood in a completely new way as well. In 1996 Gidado presented a study of project complexity and suggested a numeric method of analyzing the complexity. Radosavljevic and Horner (2002), establish fact about complex variability in construction in which they found comparism to the pattern found in complex, dynamic or chaotic–systems, also Howell and Koskela (2000) at the 8th annual conference of International Group discuss a similar topic for Lean Construction without much attention from the audience. Inspired by this discussion, Bertelsen (2002) repeatedly discuss the idea that construction must be understood as a dynamic and complex system and later presented a broader study of construction complexity (Bertelsen, 2003).

 Lean Construction Definition

Lean construction offer effective strategy to waste minimization/elimination and it deliver significant and a sustainable improvement. Many definitions has been given to lean construction from past researchers;

Ballard (2004) defines lean construction as an added value by eliminating waste, enhancing effectiveness of workforce, being responsive to change and focusing on quality. Typically, 90% of all lead time are non–value added”. Ballard & Howell (2004) defined lean as a temporary production system that delivers the product with minimum waste and maximum value. In 2003 the lean construction institute defines lean construction as a production management based strategy to project delivery. Lean production management has caused revolution in manufacturing design, supply and assembly. According toReiser (2000) lean construction is a project delivery system based on the lean production management process, originally developed by the Toyota Motor Company which is aimed at increasing value by satisfying customer needs and improving performance”.

 Impact of Lean Construction  

The key benefit provided by lean construction according to ( Arbulu et al., 2006; Reiser et al., 2000), are as follows:

1. Lean construction delivers more value to the client with less waste of resources and time.
2. Lean construction helps contractors improve work processes and overall project delivery.
3. Through improved planning lean construction improve productivity.
4. Lean construction helps to accommodate change.
5. Lean construction accelerates project delivery, reduce cost, and improves both quality and safety.
6. Timely delivery of products and services within budget.
7. Lean construction brings certainty, reliability, accountability, and honesty into the project environment.
8. Lean construction helps to reduce system noise.
9. Lean construction promotes continuous improvement in project delivery methods through lessons learned.