Lean Construction Overview
Provided by George Zettel with Turner Construction
Lean Construction is a project delivery method that starts with a management culture and adds tools to maximize value and eliminate waste from scope definition, design, and the construction process. Lean is not an acronym. It originated in the automotive, bio-pharmaceutical, healthcare, and aerospace industries where businesses have applied “lean principles” to both operations and capital projects.
There are four main parts supported by documents, tools and a lot more detail:
- Clear definition of owner’s operation, business case and space needs. Owner uses “Value Stream Mapping” and other methods to ensure Owner’s business processes and root cause driving the need for the project are clear and stated in a proforma or business case. End-Users, Designers, Contractors, Subcontractors and other specialists are engaged early and co-locate. These specialists collaborate to “validate” and reconcile the project scope, budget, schedule, to meet the business case. A “target cost” is established.
- Collaborative contract agreements that properly share risk and offer incentives for improving total project performance. These contracts are cost plus fixed fee and are called “Integrated Project Delivery”, “Relational Contracting” or “Consensus Docs”.
- Extensive use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) with its benefits of improved construction document quality, elimination of re-drawing design documents for shop and erection drawings, improved design coordination, maximization of prefabrication and strategies for just-in-time delivery.
- Collaborative scheduling technique called "pull planning" and a tool called "Last Planner System"(LPS). The important concept is that a project is a "network of commitments" (buy-in all the way to foreman level about sequence of work and reliable hand-off between trades).
Contractors Using Elements of Lean: Messer; Boldt; Neenan; Alberici; Linbeck; Walbridge Aldinger, Barton Malow; Baker Concrete; Sundt; Weitz; Skanska, Swinerton, McCarthy, DPR, Boldt, Whiting-Turner, Southland Industries, Turner Construction; other firms are added each month as word gets out and more owner's request use of Lean principles.
These firms report higher volume with same staff/volume, safer projects, better risk management and improved value to their clients. Lean challenges the belief that there must always be a trade-off between time, cost, and quality.
Designers: NBBJ, HGA, HKS, Burt Hill, Albert Kahn, Ghafari.
Owners: Boeing, GE, GM, Toyota, Bristol Myers Squibb, Chiron, Mass. General Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Ascension Health, Sutter Health, GSA, Haworth, Johnson& Johnson, Merk and countless others. From January 2005 to December 2007, approximately 30 Requests For Qualifications have requested Turner to describe our lean experience. In 2003, Sutter Health its arhctiects, designers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers to use Lean on their approximately $7B facility program in No. CA. Turner’s portion of that work has been $1.2B.
The Lean Construction Institute, CII, AIA, SMACNA, and CURT are all involved.
As of December 2007, Turner has had nine projects which used the Last Planner System (tm) lean scheduling and production planning process that have been closed-out totaling $122M volume. These projects have varied from $4MM renovations to a $30MM parking garage. Sixteen other projects are underway representing $1.8B volume in MIA, CIN, OAK and SAC.
Turner is member of www.leanconstruction.org
Turner’s Lean Construction champion is George Zettel - gzettel@tcco.com
Lean Construction Institute
Lean Construction Institute
Files to download
Lean Construction Wiki
Lean Construction Wiki
IPD - Chuck Thomsen and Michael Perry
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In 1998, the GCCP and the Treasury's Procurement Group commissioned Bath University to examine the UK government's performance as a client of the construction industry. The study identified failings in six main areas, which demonstrated a performance gap between government and best practice clients.
These were:
At the same time, and focusing on the central government clients, the Treasury initiated its benchmarking studies of performance on a sample of construction projects. The first study was published in October 1998 and found that 73% of contracts exceeded the tender price and 70% exceeded time estimates. The second study, in 1999, showed that more than 50% of contracts still exceeded the pre-tender budget and 66% exceeded the time estimates. These studies highlighted the huge potential for savings.
- poor management – evident in a lack of true leadership
- a risk-averse culture stifling innovation
- a lack of integration in the supply chain
- poor project flow – caused by financial and decision-making delays
- an approach to procurement that was not oriented to achieving value for money
- misinterpretations of the need for public accountability, such as a fear of longer-term relationships or partnering with suppliers.
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Risk is defined by HM Treasury as uncertainty of outcome, whether positive opportunity or negative impact. Some amount of risk-taking is inevitable, whatever the project. There has to be a deliberate acceptance of some degree of risk because the value to the business makes it worthwhile. Risk management includes all activities required to identify and control the risks relating to the preferred project option.
Successful risk management requires senior management commitment, ownership and understanding of the process, and an active risk management regime reviewed regularly in a constructive ‘no-blame’ culture. Attitudes to risk have a significant effect on the success of the project. An objective of ‘not failing’ will have a very low tolerance of risks of any kind. Conversely, an objective of ‘succeeding’ will encourage participants to be more innovative, to take more risk where appropriate and to make more effort to monitor and manage the recognised risks.
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Partnering involves the integrated project team working together to improve performance through agreeing mutual objectives, devising a way for resolving any disputes and committing themselves to continuous improvement, measuring progress and sharing the gains. All the parties have a shared goal of completing the project in a cost-effective and timely way that is mutually beneficial. Partnering can be a ‘one-off’ for individual projects or a repeat process with the same team for a number of projects: project partneringinvolves the integrated supply team and the client organisation working together on a single project, usually following a competitive procurement. Project partnering can achieve savings of 2-10% in the cost of construction strategic partnering involves the integrated supply team and the client organisation working together on a series of construction projects to promote continuous improvement.
Strategic partnering can deliver significant savings, of up to 30% in the cost of construction. With this kind of arrangement a contract or framework agreement is awarded to an integrated supply team for a specified period of time; the team prices individual projects within the contractual arrangement.
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Swinerton on Lean and VDC/BIM - Dan Gonzales
Swinerton Incorporated VD&C AIA 7-24-07.pdf
Swinerton Lean Basics.pdf
A website providing links to several Lean and Agile resources.
A case study by Informedesign - www.informedesign.umn.edu
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