Tommelein, I D (2015) Journey toward lean construction: Pursuing a paradigm shift in the AEC industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 141(6): 04015005, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This paper presents a personal historic view on lean construction, referring to the application of lean thinking to the delivery of capital projects in the architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) industry. Lean construction has caused a paradigm shift: it offers a new way of thinking to those involved in designing and managing AEC projects. The systems thinking that lean promotes began to develop in the AEC industry 20-some years ago and was spurred by the recognition that the then-current thinking about the delivery of projects was incongruent in many ways. The writer first offers conceptual underpinnings to frame this new way of thinking, and then describes her journey of discovery of incongruences in construction project management theory and practice. Along the way, the writer offers several partial yet complementary definitions of lean construction while giving examples and illustrations of the underlying lean thinking. The writer's thesis is that lean thinking helps eliminate much self-inflicted, unwanted complexity from systems, so that people can accomplish more using simpler systems. Readers may not necessarily agree with this thesis, but are challenged to at least consider that lean thinking offers a new paradigm for the AEC industry, and that it is worth pursuing.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | action research; capital project delivery; complex systems; construction engineering and management; design science; industry forum; lean construction; lean production; paradigm shift; project management; sense-making |
| Index terms: | complex system, project management, construction project management, paradigm, capital project, construction engineering, lean production, science, action research, systems thinking, lean construction, complexity |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, specialized education, analytical methods, strategic project management, manufacturing engineering, education and knowledge transfer, engineering methods, project management theory and practice, building construction, systems engineering |
| Topics: | Site Management, Education, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here