How to implement Lean Construction effectively ?

In construction industry, there is very little effort so far to train and certify workers at the worker level and supervisory level.

Any unskilled worker who has been a helper or assistant to a skilled worker for a few months or days, claims himself to be a good skilled worker. And when they gain entry to the work force, they play havoc with quality as well as output. The work suffers, along with the reputation of the builder. Lot of bad blood is created between the builder/contractor and the client.

Large companies in the field of construction will do a great service to the industry if they plan systematic training to staff at the lowest level.

Some work has been initiated in this field by India Chapter of American Concrete Institute towards training and certification. This needs to be augmented.

- h k prabhakar, Ex-GM, UP Projects Corporation, Lucknow.

Industrial Engineering is the foundation on which Lean Manufacturing techniques were built in the Auto industry. It would be worthwhile to imbibe the basic concepts of IE for construction engineers. Concepts such as Time & motion study, process reengineering, value engineering, value stream mapping,life cycle costing etc. Being a Civil Engineer with PG qualification in Industrial Engineering and extensive experience in all types of manufacturing indutries, i dont find anything different in construction industry that IE principles can't be applied.   

Confidence building and Team work is very essentila while introducing new concepts

By controlling the Quality of construction we will implement lean construction effectively. By giving the quality in construction we can made a good image .

Lean design is the best starting point for Lean Construction. Reducing waste in all phases of project life cycle depends to a large extent on the quality of design. Value engineering at design stage can increase use value at minimum cost. Problems of constructability, operability and maintainability can be foreseen during value engineering leading to Lean design. Modular concepts in design can also reduce construction waste as well improve construction productivity. Design for manufacturability, design for reliability and design for maintainability are widely used concepts in manufacturing sector. Design engineers and Architects can react on the feasibility of using these concepts in construction under the umbrella of Lean design.  

Hi,

  In my opinion, the best way to try lean concepts is to apply them in a project. We are currently providing lean consulting services at a project and are writing about our experiences.  If interested, please read athttp://www.nadhi.in/2010/05/from-the-trenches-despatch-ii/

Construction industry in India merely revolves around contracts and more contracts. The association of owners and contractors is limited to contracts and there is no focus on the values of the project.

It is high time that we Indians realize the importance of lean construction and start implementing its tools. It has been established that most of the project faliures occur because of improper planning. We invest too heavily in planning the project first and we lack alternative approaches which we may require during the execution. All construction projects are unique and then how can we use their data to plan the project comprehensively at the beginning?

Western world has taken to lean construction in a big way and is reaping its rewards. We need to implement the Last Planner System and start focussing on the entire construction process rather than only the activities. To successfully reduce cost and increase efficiency the wastes of construction process must be done away with. Comprehensive weekly plans should be developed taking inputs from the last planners (those who will actually execute the project). Failures to stick to the weekly work plans should be investigated and thus they will be prevented in the future.