SCC Lean Construction Programme
WHAT IS LEAN THINKING?
In the early 1980s, the American car manufacturing industry realised that the Japanese were producing cars at lower cost and better quality than any other country in the world. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the foremost American research institutes, was commissioned to undertake a five year $5m research programme to find out why. Their findings are chronicled in the seminal book by Womack, Jones and Roos, "The Machine that Changed the World"(1). They discovered that, after making allowance for differences in different models, the Japanese could build cars in half the time, using half the space and with fewer than half the defects than their American counterparts. Of course, the $64 000 question was why? In a nutshell, the answer lay in the elimination of waste, or "muda". Womack, Jones and Roos coined the term "lean" as the antithesis of the "fat" that lean thinking strives to eliminate. But underlying this simple notion lay a whole philosophy, developed principally by Eiji Toyoda, the production director of Toyota and his colleagues, Ohno and Shigeo, and known in its original form as the Toyota Production System.
Lean thinking is about removing waste or muda in all its forms, in all parts of the process: in design, in production, in operation and maintenance, and even in eventual disposal. There are three types of waste: first there is the waste which arises by doing activities which are not needed at all; second, there is the waste that arises from activities which are apparently necessary for the process to be successful, but which add no customer value; and third, there is the waste which arises through doing necessary activities at less than optimum efficiency. A set of "Lean Tools"(2) is available to help the practical implementation of lean thinking.
WHY IS LEAN THINKING IMPORTANT?
Lean thinking is important because it can cause a significant improvement in company and project performance. Improvements in site productivity of over 30% have been reported, whilst the time for office tasks has been reduced by 80%. Lean thinking can improve customer satisfaction, encourage collaborative working throughout the supply chain, and reduce the variability that is so often a characteristic of the construction industry. Its adoption was recommended in the Egan Report "Rethinking Construction".
EXAMPLES OF APPLYING LEAN THINKING
There are many examples of the success (and failure) of lean thinking. Many are reported in the references provided in the "Where can I find out more?" section. Amongst the most accessible are those to be found at the following websites:
http://www.bre.co.uk/page.jsp?id=355
http://www.leanconstruction.org/
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?
- 1 Womack JP, Jones DT, Roos D, (1990) The Machine that Changed the World, Rawson Associates, New York
- 2 Horner R M W, and Duff A R, (2001) More for less - A contractor's guide to improving productivity in construction, CIRIA , London
- 3 Bicheno J (200)) The Lean Toolbox PICSIE Books, Buckingham
REGULATORY SIGNIFICANCE
Although there is no regulatory requirement to apply lean thinking, Treasury Guidance Note number 7 requires the public sector to procure on the basis of best whole life value, and the various Egan reports links whole life value to lean thinking.
http://www.strategicforum.org.uk/pdf/report_sept02.pdf
EVENTS
The Scottish Construction Centre is planning a series of awareness-raising events to explore the strength of interest in a comprehensive training and support programme to help companies embed lean thinking in their own organisations in a way that is best suited to their needs.
FURTHER INFORMATION AND COMMENTS
For further information, please contact Professor Malcolm Horner
Tel: 0044 (0) 1382 384350
who will also be pleased to receive any comments you may have or feedback on the usefulness of this web page.
