Chapter 12 - Lean Principles in Construction

Abstract

There is an ongoing trend in the development of lean culture and the implementation of lean principles within the construction industry. The term “lean” was borrowed and developed from a range of industries and converted to a suitable form for use in the construction industry. Lean construction relies on the production management principles inspired by the Toyota Production System. The principle of lean is mainly aimed at eliminating waste in process activities in order to reduce process cycles, improve quality, and increase efficiency. In the lean context, waste includes all forms of overproduction, overprocessing, delay, excess inventory and motions, failure, and defects. Lean construction is a philosophy based on lean manufacturing concepts. The application of lean production principles to construction is based on the transformation (T), flow (F), and value generation (V) theory of production management. The TFV theory identifies transformation (achieved by resources, equipment, workers), materials flow, and customer focus as three independent angles to production. Lean construction emerged due to the failure of the traditional project management approach and results in significant improvements in terms of management and project deliverables. The emerging concept of lean construction is concerned with the application of lean thinking to the construction industry. The ideas of lean thinking within the UK construction industry seem to be predominantly targeted to improving quality and efficiency.