Implementation of Lean Management: Sustainability in the Construction Industry: The Case of Brazilian Companies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is the development of a conceptual framework for integration of practices of the lean management philosophy in the construction industry, known as lean construction, with the lean tools that contribute to sustainability and their deployment phases. A mixed research strategy was used: at the qualitative phase, a systematic review of the literature was conducted correlating lean, construction, and sustainability; at the quantitative phase, 140 professionals involved with the civil construction sector of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were interviewed between September and December 2015, and 60 responses were obtained. The results showed that most of the respondents have more than 20 years of market experience, 51.7% with graduate degrees. Despite this, only 43.3% of the companies know the concept of lean construction and only 28.8% adopt it, which reinforces the importance of dissemination of lean construction and sustainability themes in technical schools, universities, and in the labor market. The practical and academic implications of this study are the diffusion of both themes among the construction industry. The study is also useful for researchers, who can explore several gaps from the results found, in particular the lack of information which unfolds on slow technological diffusion. The originality of this study is the integration of practices of lean construction, with the lean tools that contribute to sustainability and their deployment phases.