Why Projects Excel – Great Design Enabled by Lean

Building on the success of the 2016 LCI-sponsored owner study, which focused on why projects excel and the owner business case for Lean construction, LCI sponsored a follow-up study focused on the design professional. The study used a similar methodology of comparing best vs. typical projects, as well as design firm-relevant metrics to establish a benchmark of performance and reveal the impact of Lean methods. Click here for a summary of the results

The three-minute video below is a reflection by several LCI members in the design community created at the time the study was released at the LCI Congress event in October, 2017. The four designers include Robert Bostwick, Bostwick Design Partnership; Stan Chiu, HGA; Michael Murray, The Beck Group; and Andrea Sponsel, HKS with Bevan Mace, Balfour Beatty US, introducing the research method used. Each reflects on:

• Why this research is important to them
• What outcome from this research resonates most
• What outcome they hope will come from this study based on research revealing why projects excel

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR LEAN IN DESIGN

How Satisfied, Really Satisfied, Are Owners?

The 2016 research results provide evidence that Lean construction correlates to better project outcomes. The videos below summarize the findings of the two LCI-funded research studies performed by Dodge Data & Analytics and the University of Minnesota (the latter was co-sponsored with Canada’s Integrated Project Delivery Alliance.) The research team collectively examined 162 projects across the U.S. to learn from the good to the great and understand why some projects excel. This research advances LCI’s primary goal of increasing owner and supply chain satisfaction with design and construction delivery.

Owner Success Stories

The videos below are unscripted response by several owners who participated in the University of Minnesota case studies. They were simply asked to describe how the use of Lean and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) have affected their project participants, their results on the project studied, and their organizations as a whole. We hope you will find the responses both stimulating and encouraging as a ratification of the findings embodied in the research itself. If LCI can be of assistance to you in embarking on your own Lean journey, please let us hear from you.

The Business Case for Lean

Policy on Overhead Cost Limits in Connection with LCI-Funded Research
The Lean Construction Institute has established a “not to exceed” overhead policy of 20% for academic work in educational institutions funded by LCI. We are a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization with a limited annual budget for research-type initiatives. As such, we are responsible to our board, our members and the industry as a whole to ensure our limited funding is devoted as much as possible to the generation of worthwhile research rather than large overhead costs. We also maintain a policy of prompt payment to universities with which we contract in order to help reduce their administrative costs and any overhead burden of monitoring and collecting on invoices generated in connection with research we fund. We also take seriously our mandate to promote lean practices by making our proposal process for scoping and awarding projects as brief and succinct as possible, further eliminating wasted effort and OH costs to our academic institution partners.

LCI Practitioners Guide to Essential Lean Research

The newly developed LCI Research Map that helps practitioners locate and frame seminal research relevant to questions they face. Many academic articles can be helpful to inform specific decisions in the field, but these papers can be hard to find and are not written with industry partners in mind. This map categorizes essential articles and tags them with descriptions and keywords. Covering research from the past, current research it also includes topics that will be critical to the future of building industry such as virtual reality and automation.

Practitioners Guide