Abstract
Lean manufacturing first emerged in the automotive industry. However, low productivity and low efficiency in production are major problems for the majority of industries relying on a heavy workforce. Being one of these, the construction industry suffers from low productivity rates along with inefficient work practices. To prevent those, the industry has shifted its focus from the traditional approach to a more innovative one, which is called Lean construction. Lean construction aims to maximize value while minimizing waste. Therefore, it intends to create safer, smoother, and more efficient processes to eliminate waste. This chapter focuses on Lean construction and highlights the generic Lean tools and techniques practiced in the construction industry indicating its historical journey from Lean manufacturing. The chapter aims to raise awareness towards the efficiency of Lean methods in the construction industry with respect to practices observed in manufacturing.
Highlights
The foundation of Lean thinking dates back to the 1900s, when Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, came up with an entire production process relying on interchangeable parts with standard work and moving conveyance for creating a flow production [1]
Even though Lean manufacturing has first found its roots at Ford, it was later investigated by Toyota Motor Company
This chapter presented the historical evolution of Lean management and how Lean is adopted in the construction industry
Summary
The foundation of Lean thinking dates back to the 1900s, when Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, came up with an entire production process relying on interchangeable parts with standard work and moving conveyance for creating a flow production [1]. Taiichi Ohno hired Shigeo Shingo to work on the setup reduction problem at Toyota Shingo later named this successful process the famous Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) system. Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell, the two construction practitioners who first considered Lean in construction projects, started the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) in 1997 to provide and share information about the management of construction projects in the most effective way They observed that only 50% of the tasks on weekly work plans in construction projects are completed on time by foremen in a given week [13–15]. They proposed that construction practitioners can avoid these problems with active management of variability, starting with the structuring of the project (temporary production system) and continuing through its operation and improvement” [16]. The chapter mentions how Lean methods in production have changed when they are being implemented in the construction industry
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