A preliminary literature review into lean construction implementation

Abstract

Although all activities expend cost and consume time, Lean Principles state that only conversion activities add value and these should be made more efficient, whereas non value adding flow activities should be reduced or eliminated. Research into these lean principles in construction has found that considerable waste lies in flow processes of construction. By eliminating waste activities, processes can become ‘lean’ which provide ‘more with less’ resources. These flow wastes are recognised as a major weakness, which hinder performance and efficiency in the Construction Industry. Previous studies conclude that the construction industry workforce is ignorant of these flow activities that create waste and hinder construction performance. However, the industry lacks an implementation framework to implement lean principles into the construction processes. This research aims to develop such an implementation framework through action research study for Sri Lankan construction contractors and achieve long-term sustainable benefits by becoming lean. The research is in its initial stage and the aim of this paper was to explore the literature on how LC is implemented in different contexts in construction industries in the world. The findings reveal several benefits when applying lean principles in construction such as reduce sharing of non-value adding activities increase the output value through systematic construction of customer requirement and reduce process variability. The paper finally identifies the few barriers for implementing lean principles and provides some guidelines on how to overcome the identified barriers for effective implementation of lean principles.