Unlocking the Power of Lean Construction

👋 Hey, Kyle here! Welcome to The Influential Project Manager, a weekly newsletter covering the essentials of successful project leadership.

Today’s Overview:

• Lean Construction is an approach to project management and construction that emphasizes the reduction of waste, optimization of resources, and maximization of project value.

• Learn proven strategies and tactics for construction project managers to seamlessly integrate Lean philosophies into their projects.

• Unlock the power of Lean Construction to enhance efficiency, collaboration, and continuous improvement for successful project outcomes.

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🏗️ Unlocking the Power of Lean Construction

Filed under: Lean Tools & Tactics

Photo by Marek Minor

“My company is adopting lean, which has so many definitions that I find it confusing. What does this mean? What's the definition and why can’t all these lean experts agree?”

Great question, and indeed hard to answer. Let’s start at the very beginning with a bit of background so we all have a shared understanding of the concept.

The term “lean” was coined in the mid-eighties to describe a set of manufacturing techniques discovered in the Japanese automotive industry, mainly at Toyota, by opposition to mass production.

Mass production is a business system developed early in the 20th century to organize and manage the production of standardized products in substantial quantities usually by machinery.

Lean production is a business system, pioneered by Toyota after World War II, for organizing and managing product development, operations, suppliers, and customer relations that requires less human effort, less space, less capital, less material, and less time to make products with fewer defects to precise customer desires, compared with the previous system of mass production.

That’s where the first concept of “lean” originated.

Fast forward to today, lean thinking and concepts have been adopted with much success in several industries and service-provider organizations.

Lean can be best defined as:

1. A set of techniques to identify and eliminate waste from operations.

2. A system of organization principles to maximize value and eliminate waste.

3. A competitiveness strategy based on satisfying customers by ever better products by developing deeper understanding and greater teamwork from every employee.

The construction industry has since recognized its need for improvement to keep pace with the ever-growing complexity of the built environment, and to make progress toward the same efficiency gains other business sectors have achieved.

Many (including myself) believe Lean Construction is the way.

In this article, I will do my best to define Lean Construction so you can unlock the results coming from this new project delivery process.

The goal is to promote a shared understanding of the concept and encourage its adoption, so we can collectively drive improvements in the construction industry.

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The Rise of Lean Construction

The principles of Lean Construction were adapted from lean manufacturing concepts to address the unique challenges and complexities of the construction industry.

In the 1990s, the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) was founded to promote and develop these principles within the construction sector.

Construction industry studies have shown 50% or more of the effort required to deliver a construction project is non-value added effort, or waste in the eyes of the customer.

The effectiveness of a labor hour has not improved in the last 50 years, while other industries have seen significant advancements.

The 4 main reasons for the rise of Lean Construction are:

1. Waste reduction: Lean Construction aims to minimize waste in all forms, including materials, time, labor, and financial resources. By identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities, project managers can streamline processes and ensure that resources are used efficiently.

2. Enhanced collaboration: Lean Construction promotes a collaborative working environment by encouraging communication and cooperation among all project stakeholders. This approach helps to break down traditional silos between project participants, fostering a culture of shared responsibility and teamwork.

3. Improved predictability and control: Lean Construction principles emphasize the importance of reliable and transparent project planning, execution, and control. By implementing Lean practices, project managers can improve the predictability of project outcomes and better manage risks associated with schedule delays and cost overruns.

4. Continuous improvement: Lean Construction is based on the concept of continuous improvement, encouraging project teams to identify and address areas for improvement throughout the project lifecycle. This approach fosters a culture of learning and innovation, leading to better project outcomes and overall performance.

Projects have grown more complex and challenging over time with tighter timelines, regulations and budgets. These factors are often layered with new materials, intricate processes, and customization requests. It all has the potential to add up to high costs, inefficiencies, and waste. 

Thankfully, there is a way for construction companies to stay competitive and profitable while maximizing value and minimizing waste.

Lean Construction management principles allow companies to do more with less while delivering high-quality output to customers. 

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How does Lean Construction work?

Lean Construction is a respect and relationship oriented production management based approach to project delivery - a new and transformational way to design and build facilities.

Lean Construction changes the way work is done throughout the project delivery process. It requires a different approach which looks a lot like this:

1. Define value from the customer's perspective: Understand and prioritize the needs and expectations of the client to deliver projects that truly meet their requirements.

2. Identify and map the value stream: Analyze the sequence of processes and activities to identify value-adding and non-value-adding steps. Eliminate or minimize non-value-adding steps to streamline the construction process.

3. Establish flow: Optimize the flow of materials, information, and resources to ensure seamless and efficient project execution.

4. Implement pull scheduling: Plan and coordinate project activities based on actual progress and demand, rather than relying on predetermined schedules, to minimize waiting times and reduce the risk of delays.

5. Pursue perfection through continuous improvement: Encourage project teams to constantly evaluate their performance, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes to enhance efficiency and value delivery.

As you can see, it requires a significant shift in the trust that each stakeholder places on another.

The adversarial relationship that has existed in the industry between contractors and design teams over many centuries is challenged, with all stakeholders having to align with goals and objectives.

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The Lean Construction Philosophy

The Lean philosophy is simple:

1. Respect for people

2. Maximizing value

3. Eliminate waste

4. Continuous improvement

5. Focus on flow

6. Optimize the whole

Respect for people

Respect for people is the cornerstone of Lean thinking. People transform ideas and materials into final useful value. Respecting the contribution of each individual is necessary to tap this resource.

Furthermore, by placing people at the center of Lean Construction, we are reminded to prioritize Respect for People and avoid generating the “8th waste”, which is “Unused/Underutilized Talent.”

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Minimize Waste, Maximize Value

The goal of any design and construction project is ultimately to generate the most value for the customer or stakeholder.

Lean thinking encourages practitioners to look for and remove waste. Waste is defined as anything that doesn’t directly create value; waste can be thought of as the antithesis to value. The Lean Construction Institute has identified eight different kinds of waste that occur during projects.

The 8 Deadly Wastes:

1. Over/Under Production

2. Waiting

3. Unnecessary Transportation

4. Over/Under Processing

5. Excess Inventory

6. Unnecessary Motion

7. Defects

8. Underutilized Talent of Team Members

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Continuous Improvement

Lean thinking demands a mindset of continuous improvement. Leaders must create an environment where experimentation is encouraged and small manageable failure is acceptable if the goal is to improve continuously. This atmosphere can drive innovation that will benefit the entire value stream through value creation.

An overarching concept of Lean thinking is to optimize the whole. Value stream optimization encourages projects to look beyond the local and individual efforts and study the overall outcome.

This concept is counterintuitive to those trained to specialize in one area and maximize that value. Traditional construction industry contracts force a siloed optimization for each individual firm to be successful. Lean thinking attempts to reverse that concept.

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Unlock The Power of Lean Construction on Your Projects

In conclusion, Lean Construction is a transformative approach to project management that emphasizes efficiency, collaboration, continuous improvement, and value delivery.

By understanding and implementing Lean principles, construction leaders can significantly reduce waste, optimize resources, and enhance project outcomes.

To start unlocking the power of Lean Construction on your projects, project leaders should:

1. Embrace a Lean mindset and cultivate a culture of continuous improvement.

2. Value Stream Mapping: Identifying and mapping the flow of work processes and resources in order to identify inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement.

3. Last Planner System: Using a collaborative planning system to improve project predictability, increase team communication, and reduce delays.

4. 5S: Implementing a system of organization and cleanliness in the worksite and office space to reduce waste, improve productivity, and maintain safety.

5. Visual Management: Using visual aids to communicate project status, progress, and potential issues to project teams, stakeholders, and clients.

6. Continuous Improvement: Encouraging a culture of continuous improvement by measuring performance and adapting processes based on lessons learned and feedback.

7. Leverage technology to improve efficiency, coordination, and communication.

8. Share success stories and learn from past experiences to promote a culture of knowledge sharing and growth.

By adopting these strategies, project leaders can unlock the full potential of Lean Construction, leading to increased efficiency, improved project outcomes, and greater client satisfaction.

As the construction industry continues to evolve, Lean Construction principles will play an increasingly important role in shaping the future of project management and delivering value to all stakeholders.

I'd love to hear from you:

• What new actions or ideas that you learned today can you take back to your project?

Until next week,

Kyle Nitchen

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