Lean Construction: Maximizing Value and Reducing Waste in the Construction Industry

This article discusses Lean Construction, a methodology that aims to maximize value and reduce waste in the construction industry. It explores the challenges facing the industry and how Lean Construction can help improve safety standards, productivity, and profits while reducing project schedules. The article also covers the building blocks of Lean Construction and how it can be applied in the construction industry.

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Lean Construction
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Introduction
The good thing about lean methodologies is how they can be applied in different
industries. The Toyota production system first used this methodology. They aimed at
eliminating waste at manufacturing system. However, lean is a new concept in the
construction industry. For a very long time, the construction industry has greatly suffered
because of lack of system improvement and innovation (Pasternack, 2008). One of the
significant challenges facing the construction industry is the delay and lack of higher costs.
This has made the productivity of the construction industry to be falling behind at a worrying
rate. Safety standards are said to have gone down as many injuries and death are reported to
occur at different construction sites globally which have been associated with the design
process (Pasternack, 2008). Labor efficiency has also decreased. Thus most of the executives
in the construction industry feel that there is a need for the implementation of lean
methodologies to solve some of these problems. The lean method can be used to improve,
streamline and transform processes in the construction industry.
Lack of improvement in this industry may have been caused by various reasons
including craft-oriented culture. Poor possess innovation, poor safety standards, increased
regulation, industry fragmentation, and lack of mutual trust between those who are involved
in it. Thus many of the organization are now turning to lean methodology to look for
solutions to these issues (Conte, 2002). Applying lean methods in construction has so far
assisted in:
 Improving safety standards
 High productivity
 High profits at a reduced cost
 Proper risk management

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 Reduced project schedule
What is LEAN?
Lean happens to be a methodology aiming at maximizing value and reducing waste
and cost in a production process. It was first developed by the Toyota Company when it was
looking for a way in which it would have competed effectively with its western competitors.
Toyota came up with different practices which were named the Toyota production system.
The practices were aiming at maximizing the value created and minimizing waste. Through
this principles, Toyota was able to compete effectively with its competitors. Lean
methodology became well known after different manufacturing organization started adopting
the Toyota manufacturing practices. However, organization that tried to copy this practices
without understanding them failed terribly. However, those company that holistically applied
lean methodologies saw a significant improvement in productivity, quality, customer
satisfaction, and safety
After many years other types of methodologies emerged from the lean method. They
included lean six- sigma, the theory of constraints, just in time and quality management.
Because of its effectiveness lean is used in manufacturing industries. It is usually viewed as a
cost-cutting measure. However, the primary goal of lean methodology is not to cut cost but
coming up with a general process by which an organization can improve profits and create
value
Businesses in different industries use the lean methodology to reduce cost, streamline
their workflow, and to improve quality and mainly in software developments teams.
How to apply lean in construction industries

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Just like the automotive industry in the mid-twentieth century, the construction industry is
ready for significant changes (Locatelli, Mancini & Romano, 2013). However, the
construction industry faces some very specials challenges that make the application of lean
methodology in this industry different from other` industries. Many of the construction
projects tend to be varied and complex. They also need to be completed in unclear
environments, at given time and with a lot of pressure (Locatelli, Mancini & Romano, 2013).
Thus many organizations are looking at how they can use the lean methodology to improve
how practices, processes, and people are tailored together to complete a construction project
effectively.
However, in construction projects, primary goals and priorities are always the same.
They include reducing costs by performing tasks based on the schedule, improving workflow
reliability, reducing the inventory of tools and material (Conte, 2002). However, there is
different variation in the construction industry. These are inventory issues, inaccurate plans,
inclement weather, and change of requirements.
However, the primary aim of the lean construction is not to get rid of this differences
because that cannot be an attainable or realistic goal (Pinch, 2005). However leans aims at
making sure that in every project there is an opportunity to reduce the effects caused by this
variability (Picchi &Granja, 2004). Thus lean methodology helps people to recognize the
different areas of improvement which they can act upon in a conductive, valuable and
measurable manner (Locatelli, Mancini & Romano, 2013). Lean methodology needs to be
seen as a replacement to the traditional methods. Thus lean construction helps the people
involved to know how information, people and materials, can be used appropriately to give
high-quality results according to the budget and time
Lean construction building blocks

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Companies implement lean methodologies differently. However lean construction is based on
the following ideas
 Continuous improvement- practices in different processes should always be improved
for optimization
 Optimize the whole- Improvement efforts need to be done for the whole process not
just some of its parts
 Process first- variation should be reduced by aiming at standardizing processes.
This is as shown by the following diagram.

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Continuous improvement
In any learn practice continuous improvement is significant for optimization. It is
based on the fact that perfection is achieved through improvements and that companies
should always be learning to test and growing their ideas (Picchi &Granja, 2004). It is
through continuous enhancements that construction individuals can be able to deliver
economic, efficient and effective projects (Höök,& Stehn, 2008). However in knowledge-
based tasks it more comfortable to notice some improvement opportunities but that is not the
case in construction industries. In construction projects, the cycle time happens to belong
because the value stream is also complicated. Any changes to the plan can bring about
adverse changes in the whole process (Locatelli, Mancini & Romano, 2013). Thus changes in
such projects should be keenly though about and communicated all the participants in the
project.
To keep progressing in construction projects, continuous improvement must adhere to
a strict cycle of planning and control (Salem& Zimmer, 2005). Planning entails coming up
with ways and strategies to succeed while control entails making the events follow the plan
(Salem& Zimmer,2005). Those controlling and planning makes the individual in lean
construction to be based on the schedule while still ensuring improvements in the processes
Optimize the whole
Initially, many construction and management methodologies concentrated more on
optimizing activities on individual levels (Höök,& Stehn, 2008). For example many were
trying to reduce the time roofers, builders spend doing the work (Salem et al., 2005).
However, this is not effective when it comes to considering the whole process. It might
promote more waste in the process (Salem& Zimmer,2005). The waste created in any

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originations system usually originates from problems and issues that arise in the process
(Höök,& Stehn, 2008). Lean methodology acts as a challenge to all the stakeholders for them
to come up with effective means of managing the construction process (Locatelli, Mancini &
Romano, 2013). This is necessary because it is only by understanding how information and
materials flow in the different activities that construction individual can be able to optimize
processes.
Coming up with a production system that can be able to deliver a valuable project
based on the time and budget requires the unity of all the participants especially at the
beginning of the project (Salem et al., 2005). In lean construction, collaboration is beyond
contractual arrangement or contractibility reviews (Pinch, 2005). Thus every stakeholder is
given a chance to influence and affect plans right from the begging of a project. Thus
providing a opportunity to the entire system to handle variability earlier.
Optimizing the whole process may further mean allowing value to flow by being able
to eliminate hindrances of value creation and other parts of the process that do not add any
value to the end product (Locatelli& Mancini,2012). For stakeholders to be able to do this,
they must first understand how value flows through the process and thus eliminate any other
thing that is not part of that process. This usually is possible through a process known as the
value stream mapping
Process First
However construction individuals must know how to manage materials flows while
still managing the spatial flow of workstation as the project continues (Pinch, 2005).
However, the work environment in the construction industry keeps on changing making it
difficult to come up with measures of layout planning and visual control (Locatelli, Mancini

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& Romano, 2013). The decentralized production also makes it problematic to come up with
improvement activities and to benchmark. All these variations are said to contribute to a lot
of waste in the construction industry (Picchi &Granja, 2004). The main aim of lean
construction principle is to assist stakeholder's identify the different courses of variation thus
also eliminating adverse side effect brought about by these variations (Locatelli.,& Mancini,
2010). Variations have an adverse side effect on the workflow and production operations.
Even small alteration by one of the crew members can cause disruptions and delays for
people in the downstream.
Why I would recommend the lean methodology to construction companies
When implemented effectively lean construction helps to reduce waste and also improves
efficiency. However, there are various other benefits associated with the lean methods which
include:
 High-quality work
Lean projects depend heavy on trust and respect of the people involved. It helps in making
value-driven decisions earlier before the projects begin. Thus ensuring high-quality work is
performed.
 Increases employees collaboration and accountability
Lean construction depends on how the entire team relates to each other. It also includes
encouraging the whole team (Locatelli.,& Mancini, 2010). One of the different ways to
ensure collaboration is by using technology (Picchi &Granja, 2004). One of the most
commonly used software in construction projects is construction collaboration software
(Locatelli, Mancini & Romano, 2013)

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 Greater project satisfaction
Lean construction benefits call on everyone to align with the owner's goals and objectives
(Höök,& Stehn, 2008). When owners discover that their interests are the base of decisions
made on the project, issues are always solved quickly allowing the project to be finished on
time and meeting all the customers' requirements
 Increases ROI
Through the application of lean construction management principles companies are said to
have increased productivity by applying lean construction management principles
(Locatelli& Mancini, 2012).
Conclusion
For those organization that has implemented the lean construction approach it has
become more of a culture rather than just a set of some principles, whether you want to refer
to it as a methodology, philosophy or movement, lean construction is slowly taking hold
(Locatelli& Mancini,2012). Many businesses and firms are known for using lean construction
principles

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List of references
Pinch, L. (2005), "Lean construction: eliminating the waste," Construction Executive (online)
Vol. 11, pp. 34-37. Available at:http://www.academicpub.org/fce/paperInfo.aspx?
paperid=4985 Accessed on (18th September 2018)
Pasternack, R. (2008), "Building information modeling and lean construction," (online) vol.
12pp 40-47 available at http://www.rebeccapasternack.com/files/ pdf/IIEpaper.pdf (18th
September 2018)
Picchi, F. A. &Granja, A. D. (2004), "Construction sites: using lean principles to seek
broader implementations," Paper presented at the 11th annual conference of the international
group for lean construction, Blacksburg, Virginia.
Conte, A. S. (2002), "Lean construction: from theory to practice," (online) 10th Conference
of the International Group for Lean Construction. Accessed at:
http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/178 (18th September 2018)
Höök, M& Stehn, L. (2008), "Lean principles in industrialized housing production: the need
for a cultural change," Lean Construction Journal (online) Vol. 2, pp. 20-33. Accessed From:
https://www.leanconstruction.org/media/docs/ktll-add-read/Lean_principles_in_industrialized
_housing_production_The_need_for_a_cultural_change.pdf (18th September 2018)
Locatelli, G.,& Mancini, M. (2010), "Risk management in a mega-project: the Universal
EXPO 2015 case", International Journal of Project Organisation and Management(online)
Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 236-253. Accessed From:

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250309286_Risk_management_in_a_mega-
project_the_Universal_EXPO_2015_case (18th September 2018)
Locatelli, G. & Mancini, M. (2012), "Looking back to see the future: building nuclear power
plants in Europe," Construction Management and Economics (online) Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 623-
637. Accessed From:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254252323_Looking_back_to_see_the_future_Buil
ding_nuclear_power_plants_in_Europe (18th September 2018)
Locatelli, G., Mancini, M. & Romano, E. (2013), "Systems Engineering to improve the
governance in complex project environments," International Journal of Project Management
– IN PRESS, (online) vol 33. Pp 6-10 Accessed From
http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/91141/1/Accepted%20version.pdf (18th September 2018)
Salem, O., Solomon, J., Genaidy, A., Luegring, M. (2005), "Site implementation and
assessment of lean construction techniques," Lean Construction Journal (online )Vol.2 No.2,
pp. 1-21. Accessed From: https://www.leanconstruction.org/learning/publications/lean-
construction-journal/lcj-back-issues/volume-2-issue-2-october-2005/ (18th September 2018)
Salem, O.&, Zimmer, E. (2005), "Application of lean manufacturing principles to
construction," Lean Construction Journal (online)Vol.2 No.2, 51-54 Accessed from
https://experts.syr.edu/en/publications/application-of-lean-manufacturing-principles-to-
construction (18th September 2018)