How Lean is your Project?

The adoption of Lean principles and practices can be applied to any project. The level of performance improvement will be dependent upon the level of team integration and how well the team collaborates and implements lean methods and strategies.

Through a workshop process led by Professor Paolo Tombesi, Chair of Construction at the University of Melbourne and Markku Allison, resource architect for AIA, they determined key markers that define a lean and fully Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) team.  They organized the characteristics into Markers unique to IPD projects and the key strategies employed and published these in an  IPD Case Study 

They are as follows:

IPD Markers

• Relational Contracts 
• Protection from litigation 
• Aligned project goals (Jointly Developed Project Target Criteria) 
• Informed and balanced decision-making (Collaborative Decision Making) 
• Open Communication 
• Risks Identified and Accepted Early 

IPD Strategies

• Key Participants Bound Together as Equals (Multi-party Agreement) 
• Budget & create team for design intensive work 
• Early contribution of expertise (Early Involvement of Key Participants) 
• Pre-existing relationships between parties 
• Champion/ Facilitator (Leadership by All) 
• Shared Financial Risk and Reward Based on Project Outcome 
• Liability Waivers between Key Participants 
• Fiscal Transparency between Key Participants 
• BIM - virtual rehearsal of construction and ongoing constructibility reviews 
• Lean Construction processes 
• Co-location 

They also studied the motivations for selecting Lean Project Delivery:

• Market advantage:  IPD may give the firms valuable experience upon which to market themselves as industry leaders. 
• Cost predictability: All projects would like to meet budget, however, for some the predictability of cost is a notably driving factor. 
• Schedule predictability: Similar to cost, all projects share the goal of meeting their planned schedule, but for some projects this is a major factor. 
• Risk Management: Reducing or managing risk can be tied with cost or schedule, but also may include transactional risk inherent to project type, site or other conditions. If risk management is a critical factor, the increased communication in IPD may be of particular advantage. 
• Technical Complexity: A high degree of complexity will usually demand integration of expertise and require a level of coordination that is achievable in an IPD environment. 

Collaboration and integration can occur with any project delivery method, however, IPD sets up structures that make it more likely to occur than not.  

For more information on Lean Project Delivery, you can arrange for a work shop or take a course at LEAN LAB .  If you would like help implementing lean on your project, Integrated Designs can join your team as a facilitator.

Murray Guy @Lean_tobe_Green
Mguiy@i-designs.ca

Lean Lab | Integrated Designs | EcoSmart