Advantages And Disadvantages Of Lean Construction Method

Keeping a construction project on track determines wheather a project will finish on time and make profit, or not. That’s where Lean construction scheduling plays an important role. The concept of Lean is a project delivery method used to design processes and procedures to minimize waste in the workplace to maximize value. Schedules detail each construction activity for the project team and how long it should take to complete each one. Lean construction scheduling is vital to all parts of the daily management and reporting process of a project’s status. It helps reduce all forms of “muda” in the construction process.

Muda a term used in Lean, in japanese means waste or futility and can be eliminated immediately. There is always a risk of waste during a construction project so using lean construction scheduling helps organizations plan to avoid waste of money, resources and manpower. There are 7 types of wastes (muda) which Lean focuses on reducing:

• time — looking for things, ordering materials, etc.
• transport — materials handling, deliveries, etc.
• staff downtime — waiting for instructions, information and deliveries, etc.
• rework and corrections — correcting poor or incorrect work and updating plans.
• overproduction — producing more than ordered.
• inventory — too much or too little stock on hand.
• over processing — doing more than the client can pay for.

Benefits of lean construction scheduling

Using lean construction scheduling adds value to the process of constructing a building. It will also help to uncover where there is wasted time and staff potential in the process. Benefits of lean construction scheduling are as follows:

• Lean reduces the wastes or sometimes even eradicate the wastes completely. Lean uses lesser materials which greatly reduces wastes, means low overall costs and more profit. However, the goal is to provide customer satisfaction as end result with the reduced cost.
• Lean scheduling makes it possible to move a project through the critical path of activities of the construction process. It is easy to change priorities for activities and resources when the need arises. This reduces the peak demand for resources. It eliminates standing down other resources and bringing them back later at an extra cost.
• Showing clear team goals and milestones. It also shows the path of how to meet them on time. A schedule defines the sequence of activities to let project managers what to plan for. The schedule will give the team a pathway to follow to achieve those milestones on time.
• Providing dates for material deliveries and monitoring the progress of work activities as well as those of subcontractors and suppliers.
• Providing subcontractors and suppliers with schedules at the time of the tender and contract sign-off prevents misunderstandings and disputes down the track.
• Allowing for planning what resources you need where and when. The last thing you need is too many or too few people on the job to get it done on time.

Following are some of the Disadvantages of Lean:

• For the Lean process to work, everyone involved in construction should follow its methodology ranging from owner, engineer to the workers. Each worker should get along with one another or else there will be no teamwork and hence, less productivity. There should be unity amongst themselves. If anyone of them doesn’t follow then there will emerge a weak link and hence decreases the productivity.
• Lean delivery method takes some time to bear fruit as immediate results are very rare. Training the employees requires a lot of time and resources with all the new policies and procedures. Frustrations of managers are very common when applying this method as it takes some time and dedication.
• If a company is in the middle of a project and application of Lean occurs, then the current project will suffer.
• Management should stay strong with this procedure and eliminate all the issues as a breakdown can occur easily.
• All the distributors and suppliers should be informed about the change which could cause havoc.
• It isn’t easy to convince everyone in the company to get onboard with the process as some people might not be alright with the change. Because of the change in policy, there will be a decrease in morale amongst the employees.

Lean is a Project delivery method which concentrates on customer satisfaction rather than procedure while eliminating the wastes along the path. The concept of eliminating the wastes is very important in my opinion as everyone will concentrate on the actual cost when there are several hidden costs which are also very high. Also, new types of project delivery methods are arising which can compete with Lean like IPD (Integrated Project Delivery Method). Lean Management is also a solution to several information flow problems, and by completely eradicating the information flow problems will improve the mental and physical health of the managers and employees which in turn will improve the overall productivity. Lean construction project scheduling is a tool a project manager uses to systematically manage all parts of a construction project. This includes assigning the relevant skilled human resources to get the work done. The schedule can be regularly reviewed using a good task software to check actual outcomes against the plan. There is no room for mistakes in lean construction scheduling. Mistakes cost time, money and your reputation. Using good planning strategies and software will keep your construction projects on track.