Leveraging Technology

for Lean Construction

Going Lean to Reduce Waste and Increase Profits
 How Software Creates Greater Productivity for Industrial Contractors

What’s Inside
3 Introduction

4 What are Lean Business Principles?

5 How Does Lean Construction Work?

7 What are the Benefits of Lean Construction?

8 What Technology Works Best for Lean Construction?

10 Conclusions

2
Introduction
Lean business techniques can be applied to any industry and the construction industry
has the opportunity to reap many rewards from embracing it. Yet, the work required to
implement core lean business practices, such as the 5S system or Value Stream Mapping,
has long deterred the construction industry from jumping on the bandwagon. Only now
is lean construction starting to blossom, thanks to the work of the Lean Construction
Institute (LCI) and other industry leaders. Improvements in construction technology are
driving part of this surge in interest as new tools arrive to make it even easier to put lean
practices to work.

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 How Software Creates Greater Productivity for Industrial Contractors

What are Lean

Business Principles?
While lean business principles must be adapted for each industry, many of the concepts apply
universally. The history of lean thinking is still guiding lean construction today, so explore the
roots of the philosophy first before jumping straight into the system.

A Better Approach to Business The Needs of the Construction Industry

The origins of lean manufacturing date
back to the 1950s and the Toyota Motor
Corporation in Japan. After exploring the
automation processes that revolutionized
Ford’s manufacturing process in the US,
Eiji Toyoda created his Toyota Production
System, which inspired the eventual lean
manufacturing system.1 The Just-in-Time
inventory management concept dates
back to this original system and is still used
in lean construction today.
There’s never been a better time than
today for implementing lean principles
in the construction industry. With global
construction waste projected to nearly
double by 2025, it’s clearly time for an
intervention to reduce lost material
expenses and labor costs.2 Globally, rework
costs average 5% of total construction
costs, which adds up to a loss of billions of
dollars in potential profit from preventable
mistakes.3 Lean construction can reduce
waste, prevent rework and eliminate losses
across the worksite.

4
How Does Lean
Construction Work?
Lean construction shares the same five guiding principles as lean manufacturing:

1. Identifying value

2. Mapping the value stream from beginning to end

3. Creating greater flow and fewer bottlenecks

4. Establishing a pull planning system to direct each step

5. Seeking perfection and constantly adjusting the previous four processes.

Applying each principle to construction’s biggest routine challenges results in happier

workers, fewer mistakes and higher total profits.

Embracing Increasing Complexity Defining the Value Stream

The rapidly increasing complexity of
construction processes and projects is
making technology adoption mandatory
for many firms. It’s no longer possible to
manage the thousands of documents
and pieces of information necessary
for completing even relatively basic
residential and commercial projects. Lean
construction techniques break down the
most complex bidding, change requests
and design processes into manageable
steps that are easily optimized. For
example, the 5S approach to organization
gives construction firms five actionable
steps to apply to their workflows.4 From
eliminating unnecessary information during
the first stage to sustaining the practices
through the fifth stage, 5S philosophies
scale with the growing complexity of
modern construction.
Many construction firms spend years or
even decades jumping from project to
project without taking the time to
consider and optimize their workflow
methods. Value Stream Mapping is a|
lean manufacturing concept that is
easily applied to construction. By
approaching the project from the
customer’s point of view, the firm can
identify how they’re providing value and
map the optimal approach for maximizing
it. Outlining the value stream simplifies
planning for every stage of a construction
project, from initial design and engineering
work all the way to handover. Necessary
materials, labor and other supplies are
identified before each stage of work begins
rather than during the fray or only after
bottlenecks create delays.

5
 How Software Creates Greater Productivity for Industrial Contractors

Targeting Waste Last Planner System

Annual production of construction waste
on a global scale is expected to rise above
2 billion tons within the next six years.2 Not
only will all that waste generate plenty of
landfill and recycling fees, it also represents
a lamentable quantity of materials that
were purchased and not used. Lean
construction techniques reduce multiple
types of waste like:5
• Excessive inventory ordered “just
in case,” rather than according
to Just-in-Time principles.
• Extra processing of materials, such
as cutting of dimensional lumber
or assembly of trusses, which
are never used in the project.
The Last Planner System (LPS) is easily
applied to the construction workflow with
the right technology. Pull planning focuses
on starting with a coordinated plan for
each phase of a construction project rather
than addressing the steps of the work only
after beginning a phase. Construction
software helps identify which parts of
the project require the next round of
work requests to keep everything flowing
smoothly. Construction projects that
finish on time also tend to come in under
budget, resulting in a greater profit for the
company responsible for the work.

• Unnecessary transportation of
materials, workers or equipment
to a job site before the right time
or when not needed at all.

• Defects due to a lack of skilled labor,

poor training, outdated project
files and many other causes.

• Wasted motion and energy lost due

to unnecessary distances between
work site locations, poor storage
access and similar inefficiencies.

If waste can’t be prevented or reduced,

lean construction techniques will focus on
reclaiming the end products to generate a
secondary source of income. Closing the
loop on wasteful construction techniques
doesn’t just generate savings for the
construction firm, it also protects the
environment and improves the company’s
public image.

6
What are the Benefits
of Lean Construction?
In addition to offering a healthier profit margin and higher return on investment (ROI) for
the construction firm, lean construction techniques provide quite a few other benefits. These
secondary benefits may outweigh sheer profit alone as more than enough reason to embrace
lean techniques.

Higher Quality Work Improved Risk Management Processes

By identifying errors and mistakes as early
as possible, lean construction techniques
such as the LPS or A3 Problem-Solving
Practices result in higher quality work.
Being able to send back designs for
revisions before materials are ordered
and building systems are installed reduces
rework, increases worker job satisfaction
and improves their future work. This
positive cycle reinforces itself with only
minimal effort required to implement the
lean construction techniques.
Finally, advanced pull planning
techniques provide plenty of
opportunities for extra risk management.
Planning out the risks and rewards of
a construction project is essential on
projects financed by a construction firm,
but client-funded projects also deserve a
close inspection. Getting involved with a
project that is destined to fail will waste
the company’s time and reduce the total
profit, putting the firm at risk of loss even
on small projects.

Easier Time Attracting New

Generation of Workers
Since lean business principles are also
built around a strong respect for people,
construction firms embracing lean
methods find it easier to attract new
managers and skilled workers.
Well-educated workers fresh out of
university training programs for
business and construction management
are on the lookout for employers who use
cutting-edge technology and
management systems.

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 How Software Creates Greater Productivity for Industrial Contractors

What Technology
Works Best for Lean
Construction?
Practically any construction technology or tool that improves workflow efficiency and assists
in pull planning will work with lean construction philosophies. However, some tools are a better
fit than others. To assist a construction firm to adopt the lean mindset, build a collection that
includes at least one app for each of the following four categories.

Planning and Document Management Communication Apps

Document management software is the
fastest way to standardize workflows.
This improvement is essential for the
construction industry since higher-level
professionals report spending over a third
of their time on non-essential planning
tasks.6 PlanGrid minimizes time spent on
routine updates and change requests,
leaving project engineers and managers
free to focus on more important details.
Eliminating delays in communication
between team members is easy with the
right technology. Whether a firm prefers
chat apps, message boards or internal
email systems, there are plenty of tools
to fit every team size and budget. Some
document management tools like PlanGrid
streamline communication-heavy process
like RFIs and change orders, so there’s no
need to add a second app to the system.
Minimizing complications by reducing
the number of apps a team uses accords
perfectly with lean construction principles.

8
Just-in-Time Tools
Construction benefits from the Just-in-Time
(JIT) inventory principle just as much as
manufacturing because wasted materials
account for a large percentage of total
project costs. Ordering only exactly what’s
needed for each stage of construction
minimizes the chance of damage to
building materials by poor site conditions
like flooding or heat waves. Order
overflows are also reduced, eliminating the
need to write off wasted materials or hold
them over until the next project and pay
for secure storage. There’s no concern over
an interruption in supplies slowing down
the work either, since JIT systems automate
ordering to keep a steady, uninterrupted
flow to the worksite.
Building Information Modeling (BIM)
The software and tools used for BIM are
some of the most advanced construction
technologies available. Since lean
philosophies focus on always improving
the work cycle, embracing BIM is a must
for staying lean. Improving a team’s
clash detection, energy modeling and
3-D imaging techniques can result in
measurable savings on even a single large-
scale project. BIM software can also use
AI and machine learning tools to compare
dozens of sets of drawings for emissions
and errors, reducing rework and change
request delays over the entire project.
9
 How Software Creates Greater Productivity for Industrial Contractors

Conclusions
Lean construction may have been around for a decade or more, but now is the perfect
time for considering a trial project. Construction technology has finally caught up with
the philosophy of lean management, making it easier than ever to put these good ideas
into action. Don’t let a lack of familiarity with apps and software hold a construction
team back from embracing a lean methodology. It only takes picking out a technique,
choosing a complementary app and giving it a try to see the difference it can make to a
construction firm’s bottom line.

References
[1] What is Lean?, The Lean Way.

[2] Report: Global construction waste will almost double by 2025, Construction Dive.

[3] Measuring the Impact of Rework on Construction Cost Performance, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management.

[4] What are the 5 S’s (5S) of Lean?, ASQ.

[5] Breaking Down the Principles of Lean Construction, ConstructConnect.

[6] The real-world case for lean construction, ConstructionDive.

Autodesk and PlanGrid are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or
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respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and
pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear
in this document. © 2019 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

10
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