Lean Logistics

Analyzing the difference between value and waste and value-added and nonvalue-added processes is crucial to understanding Lean. Sometimes it is not easy to discern the difference when looking at the entire supply chain. The best way is to look at the components of the supply chain and to apply Lean thinking in order to determine how to link the processes and reduce waste. In this paper special emphasis will be put on the coverage of methods and techniques and understanding of the philosophy of eliminating any wastes in the enterprise. Similarities between Six Sigma and Lean led to the connection of these concepts, so today there is Lean Sigma concept.

Buffers are often used in Construction to prevent the negative impact of Variability and Uncertainty on projects. Inventories of materials, budget contingencies, time float, and excess of equipment capacity are examples of the type of Buffers found in construction. However, usually the design and management of Buffers is based mostly on intuition and performed informally. New production philosophies such as Lean Production, Lean Construction and Theory of Constraints allow a more systematic and rigorous approach to the Design and Management of Buffers. This paper discusses the role of production management philosophies in the Design and Management of Buffers, and how selected IT tools can support this process.  The paper also provides some guidelines for the design of Buffers in repetitive construction projects using a proposed conceptual model.

Even though there is now recognition that the Venice Arsenal with its floating flow production line for boats (1500s) and Henry Ford (Model T production line 1920s) both did it, the idea of lean production didn’t become popular until the publication of The Machine that Changed the World in 1990.  Six years later the more general idea of lean thinking received considerable publicity.  In 1998 the Egan committee commended the UK construction industry to study and learn from colleagues in other sectors who were already applying lean. 

In parallel Lauri Koskela coined the term lean construction in 1992 and from 1993 the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) has met annually to discuss applications of lean to the end-to-end construction process (see www.iglc.net).

Following a brief review of the definition of lean construction, this essay explores some of the reasons why there has not been more implementation of lean in UK construction over the decade since Egan and includes reference to experience elsewhere. 

Drawing extensively on anecdote, this essay is the start of a research process that I’d love others with the time & the resources to complete to pick up.  It concludes with a preliminary hypothesis and suggestions for rigorous research.

Construction is primarily an assembly process.  This will remain the case as the industry moves to offsite manufacturing of sub-assemblies.  Unlike automotive assembly, it is an example of one-off project-based production more akin to film-making or ship-building.  Every project—road, school, hospital, even home—is a prototype.  Each is unique.  Yes, there are repetitions within the construction process, but the totality is unique.

In construction, value is created when elements are correctly assembled.  In order for that to happen a number of resource flows need to converge simultaneously at the workface – operatives, information, plant, tools as well as materials.  If we are to deliver our projects faster and with fewer defects, these critical flows along with space management (for safe operations) and the completion of prior assembly work need more systematic management than they generally receive.

This essay challenges the narrow (movement of materials) focus of most current construction logistics and suggests that there are significant benefits for clients and constructors from a broader definition.  Realising the full range of benefits requires significant changes at design stage.