Lean Principle - Understanding Lean Construciton

Lean is a body of knowledge dating back hundreds of years focused on sustainably growing an organization.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
D. Brown Management
August 14, 2018 2 minute read
field productivity lean construction
Share

During the last 20 years the construction industry has been rapidly adopting some of these tools to improve productivity.  

Field Productivity: What is Lean Construction? Maximize customer value while minimizing waste by leveraging people.

Major advancements were made by Henry Ford and during WWII with the Training Within Industry (TWI) program.  

Toyota made major contributions to the body of knowledge from 1948-1975. 

The term “lean” was only coined 30 years ago in 1988 by John Krafcik with Greg Howell and Glen Ballard starting to apply the concepts to construction around 1995.  

The core concept of lean is maximizing customer value by minimizing waste and leveraging people.  

The book Lean for Dummies elegantly defines value-add to the customer as having to meet 3 criteria:  

  1. The customer must be willing to pay for it.
  2. It must transform the raw materials (inputs) in some way.
  3. It must be done correctly the first time.

Learn to identify and eliminate your waste

Workshop

This Series (10 of 60)
Two Key Results for Project Planning Be Specific About Problems Lean Principle - Understanding Lean Construciton Lean Principle - Value Stream Lean Principle - Value Add vs. Non Value Add
This Series (10 of 60)
Two Key Results for Project Planning Be Specific About Problems Lean Principle - Understanding Lean Construciton Lean Principle - Value Stream Lean Principle - Value Add vs. Non Value Add
More from D. Brown Management
Leadership and Management of Details
Building a great contracting business requires the right balance of leadership and management. While it is possible to separate them the truth is that many of the top leaders are relentlessly disciplined managers.
Related Article
The Leadership Vibrancy Curve
Leaders must navigate (1) the stages of contractor growth, (2) the phases of management team development, and (3) the arc of their own career and life. Maintaining the right levels of leadership vibrancy leads to sustainable scaling and succession.
Related Article
Thriving with a Difficult Manager
In the ideal situation, everyone would have a great manager - both internally and externally. In the real world, we will all have to work for someone we consider a difficult manager. Learn to thrive in these situations.
Related Article