Sarhan, J G; Xia, B; Fawzia, S and Karim, A (2017) Lean construction implementation in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. Construction Economics and Building, 17(1), pp. 46-69. ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has witnessed a huge increase in construction during the last two decades. However, many projects experienced time delays, cost overruns and the generation of massive amounts of waste. To address these challenges, lean construction has been introduced into the Saudi construction industry; however, it is still in its infancy. This study therefore investigates the current state of lean construction implementation in the construction industry in the KSA. The objectives are to identify: the types of construction waste, level of use of tools that support the implementation of lean construction, stages of application of lean methods, and the benefits of lean construction. To achieve these objectives, a structured questionnaire survey of 282 construction professionals was carried out. After the analysis of the collected data using mean score and Anova test, the following conclusions were made. In the construction industry in the KSA, waiting is the most common type of waste, while Computer Aided Design (CAD) is the conventional tool supporting the implementation of lean construction. Furthermore, the data suggests that lean construction is most commonly used in the construction stage of projects while customer satisfaction is the main benefit derived from lean construction practices. This study concludes that the level of implementation of lean construction in the KSA construction industry is increasing. The results will help benchmark the current state of lean construction implementation, which will enable the construction industry to identify strategies to implement lean construction in Saudi Arabia in accordance with their needs and project goals, to achieve better productivity.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction waste; Saudi arabian construction industry; lean construction; lean construction tools |
| Index terms: | productivity, construction industry, level of use, implementation, cost overrun, strategy, survey, construction waste, lean construction, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, time delay, construction professional, Saudi Arabia, customer satisfaction, computer aided design, questionnaire |
| Subjects: | waste management, Geography, service delivery, professional development, data collection methods, management, computational design, performance management, industry analysis, contractual arrangements, financial and cost management, project controls, building construction |
| Topics: | Procurement, Sustainability, Stakeholder Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Site Management, Time Control, Quality Management, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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