Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic

literature review technique (2008–2018)
Subhav Singh, Kaushal Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering, K.R. Mangalam University, Gurgaon, India
Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.R. Mangalam University, Gurgaon, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The author’s provides a review of the literature using a systematic literature review of the lean tool and
Received 26 July 2019 lean construction papers published in the time frame from 2008 to 2018. The papers selected from the
Accepted 26 August 2019 Scopus database by using the following filters: ten top-rated journals selected on the basis of cite score
Available online xxxx
form Scopus, the only article having a key words ‘‘lean construction”, or ‘‘Lean tool” were selected, only
engineering and material science article selected, and the last only journal article was selected. The
Keywords: search result filters the 48 articles out of 944 articles. The findings of the study conclude that only a
Construction management
few tool and techniques were explored a number of times by the researchers. On the other hand, few
Lean construction
Construction industry lean tool
countries were dominating in terms of publication were the UK, and the USA has 15, 14 articles respec-
Literature review tively. There is not a single article from India in the selected papers.
Ó 2019 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ain Shams University. This is an open access
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction million in rural areas which according to National Real Estate

Development council is expected to rise to 114 million by 2022
India today is a rapidly growing economy in which construction [2] (Figs. 1 and 2).
plays a vital role with a contribution of about 8% for India’s GDP
(central statistics office, 2019). Rapid urbanization has led to the
1.1. Construction industry
increase in urban population to about 430 million in 2015 which
is expected to rise to about 600 million i.e. about 40% of India’s
Construction Industry has numerous challenges and issues
population by the year 2030 [1]. Such rapid growth of population
which need to be resolved. In northern India alone, there have been
in urban areas is a challenge and opportunity for the Indian econ-
a lot of projects which are stalled on ground like inventory, half
omy and hence the government is taking the initiative to develop
way produced. It consumed a lot of cost, time and unsatisfied cus-
supporting infrastructure, housing and other services. ‘‘Housing
tomer. There are a lot of reasons for delay in delivering the projects
for all by 2022” mission launched by the Indian government is
in time. Poor undertaking of wastages produced during the process
an ambitious project which includes the construction of 20 million
and reasons of delay in construction industry, held the manage-
affordable houses in urban by 2022. It is estimated that investment
ment in a situation of losing the business. The presentation of
required for this mission is about 2 trillion USD, which creates it as
new production methods of reasoning in construction requires
a huge opportunity for the developers, material suppliers and
new proportions of performance (see Table 1).
housing finance companies. Despite our current supply, India faces
UK studies demonstrated that up to 30% of construction is
a huge shortage of houses amounting to 19 million in urban and 44
rework, just 40–60% of potential work effectiveness and at least
10% of materials are wasted. In Australian construction industry,
Rework is one of the critical elements which is responsible for its
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
terrible productivity. The investigations from different nations
have affirmed that wastes in construction industry speak to a gen-
erally huge level of production cost (Aziz & Hafez, 2013).
The wastages produced in different industries vary as the
Production and hosting by Elsevier
functions and scope of work is different. Manufacturing industry

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012
2090-4479/Ó 2019 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article as: S. Singh and K. Kumar, Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic literature review technique
(2008–2018), Ain Shams Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012
2 S. Singh, K. Kumar / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx
pIdentification of Journals (ten leading
journals of construction, built environment,
and construction management selected)
Time frame defined (2008 to 2018)
48 papers selected using the keyword "lean
construction" or “lean tool” in the title of
the papers
Content analysis and detailed literature
review performed
The comprehensive discussion provided on
the basis of the literature review
Fig. 1. Flow chart of the methodology adopted.
Fig. 2. Barriers to the Implementation of Lean [5].
is relatively more predictable and organized than construction
industry. Due to its organized structure, manufacturing industry
produces lesser waste in terms of time. According to a study (Aziz
& Hafez, 2013), in manufacturing industry, there is a waste of
time to the tune of 12% whereas in construction industry, it is
57%. So there is a wide scope of improvement in the construction
industry to be more efficient and productive with less amount of
waste in terms of time & cost.
Please cite this article as: S. Singh and K. Kumar, Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic literature review technique
(2008–2018), Ain Shams Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012
Table 1
Year-wise LC-related papers in selected journals 2000–2018.
Name of the Journal No. of
publications
Lean Construction Journal 14
Construction Innovation 6
Engineering Construction And Architectural 6
Management
Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management 6
Automation In Construction 3
Construction Management And Economics 3
International Journal Of Construction Management 3
Journal Of Cleaner Production 3
Journal Of Management In Engineering 3
Built Environment Project And Asset Management 1
1.2. Lean construction
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s Lean Network, Lean is a
systematic approach towards reducing the waste, continuously
attempt to improve further and to maintain the production rate
as per the requirement of customer (Kilpatrick, 2003). There are
various examples which are used to elaborate the concept of Lean
application in practical work whether it is manufacturing or con-
struction industry, like Toyota Production System, Ford Production,
and Japanese lean construction and so on.
The purpose of Lean production is to design and produce the
product as per requirement of customer supporting the betterment
of efficiency of production system (Aziz & Hafez, 2013).
According to the (Marhani, Jaapar, & Bari, 2012), Lean produc-
tion system is a collaborative approach of various parameters
towards maximization of benefits or production with minimum
waste.
Lean construction is kind of innovation in construction industry
as its approach is different from typical conventional one. When-
ever there is a change in certain arrangement, there is always a
back-out from its usage like innovation (Egmond & Erkelens, 2008).
Following are the key measures taken into consideration for
Lean approach:
I. Waste minimization
II. Just-in-time approach
III. Value based approach
IV. Continuous improvement
V. Quality Management System
VI. Agility towards required change
Lean Construction is a philosophy based on the lean principles
developed in Toyota by Taiichi [12] named as lean manufacturing
principles and further developed as lean Construction and lean phi-
losophy [8]. However, lean thinking or lean Construction has been
used with significant benefits in countries like the UK [3–5], Singa-
pore [6–10], Brazil [11], Chile, The Netherlands South Africa, Tur-
key, USA, and in many other countries [8,11–13]. The point of
lean Construction is to focus on continuous improvement, waste
elimination, and strong user focus, value for money, high-quality
management of projects and supply chains, and improved commu-
nications [14–16]. Communicated that present Construction prac-
tices are comprehensively remarkable relying on how the
possibility of sustainable development is used in various countries.
‘‘Lean is about achieving a balanced use of people, materials and
resources. This allows companies to reduce costs, eliminate waste
and deliver projects on time and it is not about trimming every-
thing to the bone and squeezing more out of what is left” [17].
 S. Singh, K. Kumar / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

‘‘Lean construction is the practical application of lean manufac- Table 2

turing principles, or lean thinking, to the building environment, Year-wise number of papers
selected for SLR.
advantages of the new production philosophy in terms of produc-
tivity, quality, and indicators were solid enough in practice in order YEAR No. of publications
to enhance the rapid diffusion of the new principles” [12,18,19]. 2018 7
LC is a generation administration based way to deal with ven- 2017 2
ture conveyance – another approach to plan and construct capital 2016 6
2015 3
offices. Lean generation administration has caused an insurgency 2014 4
in assembling configuration, supply and get together. LC stretches 2013 2
out from the targets of a lean generation framework - boost esteem 2012 8
and limit squander - to particular procedures and applies them in 2011 4
2010 3
another venture conveyance handle” [20].
2009 6
‘‘Lean is about achieving a balanced use of people, materials and 2008 3
resources. This allows companies to reduce costs, eliminate waste
and deliver projects on time and it is not about trimming every-
thing to the bone and squeezing more out of what is left” [8].
applying this to a case study. The findings of the study concluded
In this paper a SLR technique is used to narrow down the scope
an improvement in the workflow of QA/QC activities of the con-
of the works and to identify the high quality papers from the lead-
struction project (Table 2).
ing high ranked journals. Only journals publish engineering, man-
Xu et al. 2018, [6] proposed a cloud-enabled platform for lean
agement, and engineering and management concept related to
prefabricated project delivery in construction projects. The
construction management and civil engineering were selected for
author’s highlights the importance and calibre of prefabricated
the study [21]. For this study a time duration of last 10 years was
panels in construction projects. Which enables saving in time, cost
selected. The papers selected from the Scopus database by using
and improved quality and safety standards. They proposed a model
the following filters: ten top-rated journals selected on the basis
which uses cloud-based IoT and Lean construction to manage the
of cite score form Scopus, the only article having a key words ‘‘lean
operation of prefabricated panels in construction projects. The
construction”, or ‘‘Lean tool” were selected, only engineering and
author’s used XML based coding to provide a framework model
material science article selected, and the last only journal article
for the integration of cloud-based IoT and lean construction tech-
was selected. The search result filters the 48 articles out of 944
niques. To validate the framework a case study approach is
articles. The following journals were selected for the study:
selected and the framework is tested on a construction project.
The findings of the study conclude that the proposed framework
a. Automation In construction
of cloud-based IoT and Lean construction would save time, money
b. Journal of cleaner production
and shall improve the efficiency and safety of the operations at the
c. Construction innovation
construction sites.
d. International journal of construction management
Saieg et al. 2017 [12], studied the combined effect of applying
e. Lean construction journal
Lean construction, sustainability and BIM of construction projects.
f. Engineering construction and architectural management
The authors provide a systematic review of the literature to sup-
g. Built environment project asset and management
port their hypothesis. The authors try to find out the possibility
h. Construction management and economics
of applying BIM and lean-to drive sustainable construction
i. Journal of construction engineering and management
motives. The methodology adopted for the study is the use of a sys-
j. Journal of management in engineering
tematic review of the literature of papers published in Scopus. A
total of 32 articles were analysed by the authors for the systematic
2. Flow chart of the methodology adopted
review of the literature. And the authors concluded that the com-
bination of lean and BIM leads to the implementation of green
2.1. Year-wise LC-related papers in selected journals
and sustainable construction in the AEC industry (see Tables 3–7).
Sarhan et al. 2017 [5], studied the barriers in the implementa-
2.1.1. Findings from previous studies in LC
tion of lean in construction projects in the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi
Development of Lean Construction over time
Arabia). The authors conducted a study on the KSA construction
In 2018, Kahvandi et al. [7] use the FCM based dynamic mod-
industry using a structured survey approach. The attributes/barri-
elling to overcome the challenges in construction projects. In this
ers in the implementation of lean philosophy were identified from
study, the author’s analysed the challenges in implementing the
the literature review. There was a total of 282 responses received
integrated project delivery method for the successful completion
for the survey and 22 barriers attributes were analyses using SPSS
of construction projects. The paper also provides a detailed discus-
sion on the issues and drawback of implementing IPD to construc-
tion projects in a holistic way. The findings of the study suggested Table 3
that flexibility in schedule is one of the main advantages to imple- Top ten authors in terms of number of papers.
ment integrated projected delivery to a construction site. The AUTHOR NAME No. of publications
author’s proposed a matrix of challenges effect on the integrated
Pasquire, C. 6
project delivery. The findings also suggest using FCM (a combina- Koskela, L. 3
tion of Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks). Sacks, R. 3
In 2018 Koseoglu et al. [7] Studied the interaction and synergies Alves, T.D.C.L. 2
between lean and mobile BIM implementation procedure at con- Ballard, G. 2
Emmitt, S. 2
struction sites. Lean and BIM are the tools developed for the pur- Koseoglu, O. 2
pose to improve productivity and proficiency of construction Tommelein, I.D. 2
professionals, processes and the timely and budgetary completion Abdelhamid, T. 1
of construction projects. The authors in this paper try to implement Abdelhamid, T.S. 1
Al-Aomar, R. 1
both i.e. Lean and mobile BIM. The authors test their theory by

Please cite this article as: S. Singh and K. Kumar, Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic literature review technique
(2008–2018), Ain Shams Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012
4 S. Singh, K. Kumar / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 4 Table 7
Type of documents selected for the study. Lean tools and benefits reviewed from the literature search.

DOCUMENT TYPE No. of publications Sr. Lean tools Benefits of lean construction References
No.
Article 45
Review 3 1 5S, LPS, Poke Yoke, Waste reduction, mistake [16,10,31–27]
VM proofing, inventory
management,
2 Color coding, On-Site Management, [14,7,20,37–
Table 5 standard signboards, Timely Completion of 38]
Top 10 affiliations in publishing LC articles. Visual display boards, Project, and Reduction of
BIM Variations
AFFILIATION No. of publications 3 Collaborative process Minimum Rework, Standard [17,34,48–46]
Loughborough University 5 mapping, Heijunka, Schedule, and Cleanliness of
Nottingham Trent University 4 Andon Work Place
University of Salford 4 4 Big rooms, Value The motivation of [56–
University of California, Berkeley 4 system, Continuous Employees and Labour, 63,16,45,55,56]
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology 3 improvement Timely Completion of
Istanbul Grand Airport 2 Project, and minimum
The University of Hong Kong 2 rework
Hong Kong Polytechnic University 2
Queensland University of Technology QUT 2
San Diego State University 2
impact is more in case of multi-storey buildings. In finishing
activities also, prefab construction reduces time due to the use of
already finished elements from the factory.
Table 6 Recently there has been an increased focus on sustainability
Top 10 countries on the basis of published articles.
and Corporate Responsibility along with the development projects
COUNTRY No. of publications [55]. The environment has posed a greater challenge to the devel-
United Kingdom 15 opers and the society duet to lots of waste generation impacting
United States 13 the ecosystem very badly. In light of such problems, lots of studies
Denmark 4 and experimental works are in process in order to tackle and sup-
Hong Kong 4 port the environment while developing the nation along with it.
Australia 3
China 3
Banawi and Bilec, 2014 [8], proposed a framework that would
Germany 3 improve the construction process by integrating six sigma, green
Israel 3 and lean construction al-together in construction projects. The
Canada 2 authors highlighted the fact that the construction industry con-
Finland 2
sumes the maximum amount of energy, gnerates a large amount
Note: the link for the Scopus website after applying all the conditions of SLR is of waste, having significant over the environment, and sound and
mentioned below: air pollution. But still, the construction industry was the engine of
https://www.scopus.com/results/results.uri?sort = plf-f&src = s&st1 = Lean + con-
growth by contributing approx. 8–9% annually to the GDP of the
struction&st2 = Lean
+ tool&nlo=&nlr=&nls=&sid = 53f87f5f305e3dea23427ee420f2fea9&sot = b&sdt = c- world on an average in the last decade, it provides employment to
l&cluster = scosubtype%2c%22ar%22%2ct%2c%22re%22%2ct%2bscosubjabbr%2c% masses and makes the world a better place to live. The authors pro-
22ENGI%22%2ct%2c%22MATE%22%2ct%2bscopubyr%2c%222018%22%2ct%2c% posed a framework model using six sigma, green, lean construction
222017%22%2ct%2c%222016%22%2ct%2c%222015%22%2ct%2c%222014%22%2ct%2c to improve the construction process and to reduce the waste, avoid-
%222013%22%2ct%2c%222012%22%2ct%2c%222011%22%2ct%2c%222010%22%2ct%
ing the delays in completion, and making the world a better place to
2c%222009%22%2ct%2c%222008%22%2ct%2bscoexactsrctitle%2c%22Lean + Con-
struction + Journal%22%2ct%2c%22Construction + Innovation%22%2ct%2c%22Engi- work and live by adopting the green and sustainable construction
neering + Construction + And + Architectural + Management%22%2ct%2c%22Jour- practices. The authors conclude in their finding that the framework
nal + Of + Construction + Engineering + And + Management%22%2ct%2c% could avoid the changes in design, which creates approx. 60% of the
22Automation + In + Construction%22%2ct%2c%22Construction + Management
waste at construction sites. The proposed framework shall be used
+ And + Economics%22%2ct%2c%22International + Journal + Of + Construction
+ Management%22%2ct%2c%22Journal + Of + Cleaner + Production%22%2ct%2c%
as a guideline while working on construction projects.
22Journal + Of + Management + In + Engineering%22%2ct%2c%22Built + Environ- According to [57], two factors are important to consider while
ment + Project + And + Asset + Management%22%2ct&sessionSearchId = implementing lean into construction industry i. e, Performance
53f87f5f305e3dea23427ee420f2fea9&origin = result- Improvement and space for Interpretation. The implication of Lean
slist&zone = leftSideBar&editSaveSearch=
in the construction industry may have various other challenges
&txGid = 2b79701ffa78753965da26bf29af6b5a
which in manufacturing didn’t encounter. So, interpretation of
the lean application should be open to considering.
The construction work has been attempted to be visualized as
18 software. The author’s findings suggested that the topmost bar- manufacturing work like in case of a house. House construction
riers in the implementation of lean construction in KSA were tradi- has been recently taken as Offsite manufacturing kind of activity
tional practices, performance and knowledge, and the client’s so that it can be better managed and controlled to reduce the was-
interest in the project internal functioning. tages [58]. Such kind of off-site construction helps in reducing the
According to a study Dineshkumar and Kathirval, 2015 [22], an time period of construction as erection or installation is done at
analysis is done between Prefab construction and conventional the site only.
construction of a G + 1 building. The analysis is done in terms of
cost & time and a massive variance is found out between the two 3. Discussion and conclusion
types of construction in the output. Following table represents
the effect on completion time for various phases of the building Lean construction is the practical application of lean manufac-
project in both scenarios separately. Prefab construction allows a turing principles, or lean thinking, to the building environment
considerable amount of time-saving in the superstructure and its Advantages of the new production philosophy in terms of

Please cite this article as: S. Singh and K. Kumar, Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic literature review technique
(2008–2018), Ain Shams Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012
 S. Singh, K. Kumar / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx
productivity, quality, and indicators were solid enough in practice in
order to enhance the rapid diffusion of the new principles” [17,59–
62]. ‘‘Lean development is an ‘‘approach to outline creation frame-
works to limit misuse of materials, time, and exertion with a specific
end goal to produce the most extreme conceivable measure of sig-
nificant worth,” [63–67]. Outlining a generic framework to accom-
plish the expressed closures is just conceivable through the
coordinated effort of all venture members (Owner, An/E, Contrac-
tors, Facility Managers, and End-client) at early phases of the ven-
ture [22,23,68,69]. This goes past the legally binding course of
action of configuration/assemble or constructability audits where
contractual workers, and now and then office directors, just respond
to outlines as opposed to educating and impacting the plan” [22–
24,56,68,69].
The different lean tool and techniques having its own impact
and applicability. Some of the most frequent used lean tool and
techniques were: BIM (Lean Design), A3, handle configuration
(Lean Design), offsite manufacture and JIT (Lean Supply), esteem
chain mapping (Lean Assembly), visual site (Lean Assembly); 5S
(Lean Assembly), day by day team groups (Lean Assembly)
[14–16,22–29,55–57,68–71].The normal soul streams from shared
standards:
 Whole System Optimization through Collaboration and efficient
learning
 Continual change/quest for flawlessness including everybody in
the framework
 Concentrate on conveying the esteem fancied by the proprietor/
customer/end-client
 allowing incentive to stream by efficiently disposing of snags to
esteem creation and those parts of the procedure that make no
esteem
 creating pull generation
Since the 1950s, lean generation or Toyota creation framework
standards have advanced and were effectively actualized by Toy-
ota Motor Company. Toyota creation framework had two column
ideas: (1) Just In Time stream (JIT) and (2) Autonomation (shrewd
computerization) as appeared in more subtle elements in Fig The
term ‘‘lean” was begat by the exploration group dealing with glo-
bal auto-generation to reflect both the waste lessening nature of
the Toyota creation framework and to balance it with art and
mass types of creation. Beginning from endeavors to lessen
machine setup time and affected by TQM, a basic arrangement
of goals was created for the plan of the generation framework
including to (1) Identify and convey an incentive to the client
esteem: kill anything that does not include esteem; (2) Organize
creation as a consistent stream; (3) Perfect the item and make
dependable move through dispersing data and basic leadership;
and (4) Pursue flawlessness: Deliver on request an item meeting
client necessities with nothing in stock. The lean creation means
to plan and make things separated from mass and art types of
generation by the destinations and strategy and to upgrade exe-
cution of the creation framework against a standard of flawless-
ness to meet remarkable client prerequisites [20,30,31,34,39,40].
In the start of the 1990s, the new generation rationality, which
is known by a few distinct names, is as per the following: (1)
world-class fabricating; (2) lean creation; and (3) new generation
framework. This theory is the rising standard approach. It is
honed, in any event in part, by real assembling organizations in
America and Europe. The new approach has additionally diffused
to new fields, as modified creation, administrations, organization,
and item improvement.
Since 1992, Koskela has revealed the adjustment of lean cre-
ation ideas in the development business and displayed a creation
administration worldview where creation was conceptualized in
Please cite this article as: S. Singh and K. Kumar, Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic literature review technique
(2008–2018), Ain Shams Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012
5
three correlative routes, in particular as (1) Transformation; (2)
Flow; and (3) Value era (TFV) hypothesis of generation. This tripar-
tite perspective of generation has prompted the introduction of
lean development as a train that subsumes the change ruled con-
temporary development administration 32–36,41,42]. Overseeing
development under lean is not quite the same as average contem-
porary practice since it (1) has an unmistakable arrangement of
goals for the conveyance procedure; (2) is gone for boosting execu-
tion for the client at the venture level; (3) outlines simultaneously
item and process; and (4) applies creation control for the duration
of the life of the venture [36,37,43,44,48,50,52–54,72–76]. The pri-
mary objective of lean development must be to completely com-
prehend the material science of creation, the impacts of reliance
and variety along supply and gathering chains. In lean develop-
ment as in a lot of assembling, (1) Planning: characterizing criteria
for achievement and delivering procedures for accomplishing and
(2) Control: making occasions comply with the plan, and activating
learning and re-arranging are two sides of a coin that continues
spinning all through a venture. In this exploration, standards tech-
niques, and the execution periods of lean development will be
examined demonstrating the waste in the development and how
it could be limited. The Last Planner System (LPS) strategy, which
is an essential use of the lean development ideas and procedures
and is more common, demonstrated that it could upgrade the
development administration hones in different perspectives and
bring various favourable circumstances, so that the development
tasks will be more steady and less distressing for every single
included partner by lessening conditions and varieties to distin-
guish and dispose of waste (non-esteem including exercises)
[45–47,49,51,77–79].
In this paper, the evolution of Lean Toyota Production System to
the production industry and its adoption in the construction indus-
try is been discussed. The lean rationality is about: Getting work to
stream dependably and typically on a development site requires
the immaculate arrangement of the whole inventory network in
charge of built offices with the end goal that esteem is expanded
and waste is limited. With such an expansive degree, any reason-
able person would agree that devices found in Lean Manufacturing
and Lean Production, as polished by Toyota and others, have been
adjusted to be utilized as a part of the satisfaction of Lean develop-
ment standards. TQM, SPC, six-sigma, have all discovered their
way into lean development. So also, apparatuses and strategies
found in different zones, for example, in sociology and business,
are utilized where they are material. The instruments and strate-
gies in development administration, for example, CPM and work
breakdown structure, and so forth, are additionally used in lean
development executions. The three remarkable instruments and
techniques that were particularly considered for lean development
are the Last Planner System, Target Value Design, and the Lean
[29,76,80].
4. Future scope of the study
The future scope of the work is to apply visual management one
of the most frequently used lean tool to improve the efficiency of
construction projects and to validate its applicability in the Indian
construction industry.
5. Limitations of the study
The study is conducted using an SLR of 48 selected papers from
the identified top-rated journals as per their impact factor/cite
score, which might be considered a small number. A much more
detailed comprehensive study may be proposed by some other
author to further discuss the findings of this study.
6 S. Singh, K. Kumar / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Please cite this article as: S. Singh and K. Kumar, Review of literature of lean construction and lean tools using systematic literature review technique
(2008–2018), Ain Shams Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.08.012