|
May 8, 2001
It worked for Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. It was adapted by
American industry giants, Ford Motor Co. and The Boeing Co. Now Greg Howell
and Glenn Ballard, co-founders of the Lean Construction Institute (LCI), are
applying Lean production to capital project design and construction.
Howell and Ballard foresee a full-scale revolution in project management.
Lean production theory and LCI's tools revolutionize the way work is done
throughout the capital project delivery process. The goal, borne out in
early results, is improving productivity at each level of the construction
process-worker, crew, firm and completed project. The Lean Project Delivery
System™ (LPDS) reduces project duration and cost, maximizing value for the
project's end user. Lean construction challenges the belief that there is
always a trade off between time, cost and quality. LPDS will fundamentally
change construction from its emphasis on central control and activity
monitoring, to a production management system based on decentralized
decision-making and workflow.
"Lean project delivery changes the job site concept of reliability,
eliminating the 'systemic lying' that pervades traditional project
management, " Ballard says. "With Lean, control means insuring outcomes
starting at the crew level. A project is truly under control when you do
what you say you're going to do and minimize project disruptions." Howell
adds, "Understanding the reliable work flow imperative in Lean production
runs counter to the construction industry's 'can do' culture. But we must
move beyond the deep cultural aspects of that mentality and create a system
that cultivates judgement and reliability. We'll never trust each other if
we don't become more reliable."
Founded in 1997, LCI immediately attracted notice from innovative design
and contracting firms and fellow academics. "LCI is the main construction
organization seriously analyzing project management with the goal of moving
it forward. Their approach represents a whole new system to manage and
improve productivity," says Martin Fischer, Ph.D., Associate Professor at
Stanford University and director of the Center for Integrated Facilities
Engineering. "Ultimately, productivity improvements are what will get owners
and contractors the value the Lean approach promises." The LPDS focus is on
improving performance, not controlling performance. Lean construction
emphasizes the reliable and speedy delivery of value.
Derived from the Toyota Production System popularized in The Machine that
Changed the World, by authors, Dr. James Womack and Dr. Daniel Jones, the
LPDS is centered on production-management based thinking and has proven
beneficial to construction management practice. Lean means using less of
everything-people, time and resources. LCI continues to develop concepts,
principles, and techniques for application in the management of capital
construction projects. With Lean, the emphasis in design and construction
planning is shifted from specific tasks to the interdependence of
activities.
"Lean lowers the 'hair-on-fire' index on our jobs," says one
early-adapter. A handful of Lean construction converts across the country
have generated "radical and compelling case studies," according to Howell.
Users say Lean's emphasis on improved planning generates buy-in and
participation from all project team levels. Other benefits include not
having as much inventory on site, manpower leveling, lower stress and
earlier identification of constraints with greater participation in finding
solutions. Lean's approach to project management puts the general contractor
into a facilitator role.
The Boldt Company, a national provider of construction, consulting and
maintenance services is a recent Lean convert. Boldt has an annual sales
volume of $400-million and is based in Appleton, Wisconsin. Paul Reiser,
Boldt's vice president for production process innovation, was looking for a
productivity improvement program when he landed at an LCI-sponsored,
"Introduction to Lean Construction" seminar. A 20-year industry veteran,
Reiser was attracted to Lean's principles for three reasons, "First, Lean is
simply systematically applied common sense. Second, it is counterintuitive.
Unlike anything I've seen before, it causes us to rethink how we manage
work. And, finally we saw it as an opportunity to deliver high value
facilities to the marketplace in shorter time."
Starting in November of 1999, Boldt made a decision to employ Lean
project management tools. Today, Lean production planning and control is
becoming standard operating procedure on all the firm's major projects. "It
is a challenge to change construction industry paradigms," says Reiser.
"Fortunately, we have some Lean thinkers leading our company. We are
starting to see some great results." Reiser continues, "Trends indicate Lean
implementation helps to reduce project schedules, preserve client
contingencies, and improve productivity. We are providing facilities to our
customers faster and at less cost. That's a wonderful relationship-building
tool."
Reiser says Boldt has developed a rigorous implementation procedure for
LCI's two initial tools, Last Planner™ and percentage of plan complete.
"While Lean tools can be applied on any project, the potential is really
maximized in design-build projects," Reiser notes. "The ultimate value of
Lean construction is in turning high value projects to the market faster,
providing customers with facilities faster."
Lean construction, "validates everything I've learned in this industry
over the past 30 years, " says George Vavrek, senior vice president and
project manager for Linbeck Construction Corporation, based in Houston. The
firm views Lean project management as a means to achieve crisis-free job
sites, recognize and resolve conflicts quickly, maximize resources and
deliver more value to clients. Vavrek uses Lean construction's tools in
training the firm's less senior project managers. He says the tools are more
like "learning 'em rather than training 'em in more traditional techniques.
Lean is really about educating your people to do their jobs better."
Linbeck's approach to implementing Lean construction has been to define what
is valuable to the client, plan a sequence of activities required to deliver
the defined value, achieve an efficient flow of work and perform work only
to advance these values.
Based on its initial project successes, LCI's founders see the LPDS as a
timely solution in an industry ripe for revolution. "I believe we need a
whole new operating system for managing construction projects, " says
Howell, "and Lean thinking will dictate that new system." Ballard is even
more emphatic, "When Lean practitioners become the dominant forces in their
markets, which we believe is a near-term reality, the revolution will
achieve critical mass as other firms attempt to catch up."
Meanwhile, Howell and Ballard continue promoting their Lean construction
revolution with an extensive research agenda, introductory seminars, and
research and implementation summits. In addition, they are actively forging
industry alliances with other construction- and research-focused groups.
Both founders believe the construction industry is in the midst of what
amounts to a second industrial revolution, "The Lean production revolution
is changing the way things are designed and made. Coupled with the advances
in computer technology," Howell predicts, "this revolution could well result
in greater change than the first." |
Email
comments about this site.