The potential effectiveness of lean construction principles in reducing construction process waste: an input-output model

Abstract

With the spread of a culture of waste reduction in the construction industry, the traditional management system has become insufficient, so it has become crucial to implement more innovative techniques to improve the performance of this sector. In response to this need, Lean Construction (LC), which is the global reference of a production system with the minimum of waste generation, has attracted several construction companies all over the world. However, previous studies indicate that are several implementation scenarios that differ from one company to another according to their own understanding of the Lean Construction concept.  In this paper, the authors attempt to fill this gap by proposing an original input-output model that aims at clarifying the main conceptual basis of  Lean Construction philosophy, as well as establishing interactions between the main principles of this concept and all sources of wastes that exist in the construction industry. The proposed model shows nine main principles: customer focus, supply, continuous improvement, waste elimination, people involvement, planning and scheduling, quality, standardization and transparency. In addition, the practical relationships between those principles and nine sources of waste (transportation, motion, inventory, waiting, overproduction, defects, over-processing, unused employee creativity, and work Accidents) have been analysed.