Lean Construction as Production Theory

The Theory of Lean Construction

Radosavljevic and Bennett’s theory of construction management (CM, discussed in this post) as a series of interactions between teams under internal and external constraints is a different approach to CM. Indeed, outside the lean construction (LC) movement there has been limited interest in a, or any, theory of production as applied to the construction industry. That said, LC can be also be thought of as a philosophy, as can be seen in many of the publications its founder Lauri Koskela. His Editorial in a 2008 Special Issue of Building Research and Information on theories of the built environment that did not include CM is a good example.

In the evolution of Koskela’s ideas since the 1992 publication of his “Application of the New Production Philosophy to Construction”, production theory developed into the Transformation-Flow-Value (TFV) theory. This is a theory that draws on the management literature and history as its base, with the roots of LC in lean production pioneered in the Toyota Production System clear. Koskela and his colleagues argued that:

What is needed is a production theory and related tools that fully integrate the transformation, flow and value concepts. As a first step toward such integration we can conceptualise production simultaneously from these three points of view … however, the ultimate goal should be to create a unified conception of production instead. (Koskela et al. 2002: 214).

The TFV theory combines three points of view and is built on the insight that there are three fundamental phenomena in production that should be managed simultaneously. The ideas of LC started with site operations but have been progressively applied to the supply chain, design and cost management and project delivery. These elements are brought together in the Lean Project Delivery System (LPDS, Ballard et al. 2002), below.

For the construction industry, the ideas and methods of LC offer an alternative to mainstream management theories. There are three reasons, apart from the usefulness of conceptualising production processes in a discipline traditionally preoccupied with practical matters. First, LC was, prior to Radosavljevic and Bennett, the only theory of production to have been developed specifically for the construction industry. Therefore, it provides insights into the range of processes that are involved, based on theory, that lead to propositions that can be tested by application to building and construction projects. The many case studies that have been published at the LC conferences over the years are all tests of the theory and practice of LC. These tests now add to a substantial body of evidence for the effectiveness of LC in a wide range of settings.

Second, the Lean Project Delivery System is an integrated approach to managing all the participants and stages of a project, from initiation to operation. Other approaches, such as value management, design management and indeed project management, typically only cover certain stages or a specific stage in the progress from conception to operation of a building, facility or structure. The LPDS is a framework starting from the project life-cycle, not adding bits on to achieve a comprehensive looking project plan.

Thirdly, drawing on LC theory and the LPDS as an application of that theory, the way building and construction projects are managed can be reconceptualised using the tools and techniques of lean construction. From the new management methods that LC engenders (for example, the activity definition model and set based design), efficiency and productivity gains that have proved to be so elusive under traditional project management in the construction industry might be realised.

These efficiency and productivity gains are also what Radosavljevic and Bennett are seeking. Their book puts forward a coherent model of CM and contains an abundance of propositions (25) that are intended as guidance in decision making, that one assumes would also improve performance. It is notable that they present the Japanese construction industry as the most advanced in terms of their theory (in providing a total service), and that LC is founded on the Toyota production system and the development of lean production in Japan. Lean is all about management, as Womack, Jones and Roos (1990) keep reminding us, and has now become the dominant manufacturing philosophy.

While the underlying vision of LC is an industrialised process of delivering construction projects, what LC is focused on is managing processes to deliver better outcomes. Clearly there is some relationship between these two theories of CM and LC.

Ballard, G., Tommelein, I., Koskela, L. and Howell, G. 2002, Lean construction tools and techniques, in Best, R. and de Valence, G. (eds.) Building in Value: Design and Construction, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 227-255.

Koskela, L. 1992. Application of the new production philosophy to construction, Technical Report No. 72, Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering, Dept.  of Civil Engineering, Stanford University, CA, September 1992

Koskela, L. 2000. An exploration towards a production theory and its application to construction, Espoo, VTT Building Technology. VTT Publication 408.

Koskela, L., Howell, G., Ballard, G. and Tommelein, I. 2002. The foundations of lean construction, in Best, R. and de Valence, G. (eds.) Building in Value: Design and Construction, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 211-225

Koskela, L. 2008. Is a theory of the built environment needed? Building Research and Information, 36 (3), 211-15.

Radosavljevic, M. and Bennett, J. 2012. Construction Management Strategies: A Theory of Construction Management, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell.

Womack, J.P., Jones, D.T. and Roos, D. 1990. The machine that changed the world: Based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5-million dollar 5-year study on the Future of the Automobile, Rawson Associates, Toronto, Collier Macmillan.