September 12, 2005 Vol. 1 Issue 4

Building Efficiency with Lean Construction

How do you build faster than everyone else?

"Simple. Build smarter." Says Irving Zeringue, Workstage's Director of Construction.

RCCL - First Glazing Installation

A 35-year veteran of the construction industry, Zeringue admits most of the industry isn't exactly on the forefront of innovation and efficiency. “Typically construction sites have materials and workers sitting idle for hours or days.” Those kinds of inefficiencies can cost money and time or compromise the quality of the materials. But Zeringue thinks things are changing for the better with the gradual adoption of the auto industry’s lean production process.

Lean production has been around the auto industry since World War II when Taichii Ohno, a Toyota engineer, introduced a new manufacturing method based on reducing waste and increasing value to the customer. Traditionally, production was based on the amount of output a factory could produce. Ohno’s system is focused on quality, reducing the amount of waste, eliminating rework and reducing work-in progress.

In the early nineties, auto’s lean production process was introduced to the construction industry by the International Group for Lean Construction. Spearheading the effort in the U.S. is the Lean Construction Institute (LCI), who introduced the Lean Project Delivery System™ in an effort to improve the way design and construction projects were implemented.

Similar to Ohno’s process, lean delivery creates a pull system. A project is worked through in the reverse order, looking from the desired result and developing the steps and milestones necessary for successful completion. Irving explains, "Simply put (this process) has the philosophy that you can't manage resources just-in-time if you don't know what time it is."

RCCL - Roof deck in place

Along with good process controls, lean construction leverages teamwork. As with all Workstage projects, cross-team meetings are held at RCCL to review progress, identify problems and set action steps to eliminate the causes.

“Having all of the contractors in one room making progress promises and working through the problems creates a camaraderie approach,” explains Zeringue. “I’ve got subs excited about it and working together. They are involved with setting milestones, specifying handoffs and measuring performance.”

Workstage is implementing lean construction on every project. The most recent implementation was a new satellite campus for Vatterott College in Omaha, Nebraska. A project’s efficiency is calculated by Percent Plan Complete (PPC), a gauge measuring completed activities to planned activities. At Vatterott, Zeringue estimates that they had a nearly 70% PPC (traditional projects can be almost half that effective). Zeringue attributes this success to the fact that a majority of the contractors participated in the program.

Vatterott College

There are major advantages to the lean system. First, it minimizes waste - reducing excess materials, eliminating inventories and the need for “staging” areas. It maximizes value to the client by a faster turnover, enhancement of the quality through a collaborative approach, and eliminates the cost of wasted materials. As Zeringue puts it, “it gets all the fat out of project that costs owners additional dollars.”

In an industry well-known for its traditional mentality, lean construction is still taking a while to catch on. Cultural change of this magnitude, according to research firm Rubicon Associates, usually can take anywhere from 3 to 5 years.

Workstage was founded on the principles of improving efficiencies throughout the entire design and construction process. By creating a Kit of Parts that flatten the value chain and leverage lean process, Workstage has been “reducing fat” in the process for over 5 years.

	While others lag in their adoption of lean process, Zeringue is optimistic that the construction industry will soon catch on. “It’s time the industry caught up with the rest of the world, even if it takes one organization at a time. After 35 years in this industry; I’ve been waiting for a change of this magnitude.”
Irving Zeringue, Workstage Director of Construction

Related Links
Lean Construction Institute

International Group for Lean Construction

Construction Cruising KVAL 14 News