Classical lean constructs and their transferability to the construction industry

Lean production, a new production philosophy first demonstrated in the car industry, has been acclaimed as a novel performance improvement method by many in the construction industry. First implementation attempts of lean principles were documented as early as 1992. Many attempts have been made since then to implement it on a wider scale. While some argue that construction theory can only develop through successful implementation strategies, others disagree and suggest that theory building is more fundamental. Whoever is right, surely clear and concise definitions and terms are needed to initiate a debate on lean implementation protocols and processes. A coherent definition of the term lean is notable by its absence. Nevertheless, there are two dominant definitions of lean in current usage and notwithstanding the lack of concise terminology, these two perspectives on lean require closer examination. The first is based on the Toyota production philosophy whereas the other, which is termed the abstraction of lean, focuses on the elimination of waste. This paper scrutinizes both of these approaches and concludes that, while Toyota's approach is deemed to fail in construction, the abstraction of lean is no new philosophy but just good old project management.