Reforming Project Management » IGLC

Meet the Godfather of Lean at IGLC-15

Hal — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:32:43 +0000

Sign-up for IGLC-15. The organizers of this year's IGLC have included a second industry day where they are conducting two ½-day workshops. The first workshop will led by Norman Bodek, Godfather of the lean movement. The second will be led by the TWI Institute. This is new for the IGLC community to include workshops with their program. And they're starting off with big guns.

(...)
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2007 Lean Construction Summit

Hal — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 02:29:04 +0000

It's that time of year again. The International Group for Lean Construction is holding its conference. This time it's in the US. East Lansing, MI. It won't be held in the states again for another 4 or 5 years. It's quite a full program. Check it out at 2007 Lean Construction Summit.

The program is in three parts:

Lean Construction Workshop (July 16-17, 2007)
In addition to an intro to lean construction, the TWI Institute will present the approach Toyota uses to train their employees. That will be followed by Norman Bodek, the godfather of lean, conducting a workshop on Quick 'n Easy kaizen.
IGLC-15 (July 18-20, 2007)
Authors will present their peer-reviewed papers on research and advanced practice of lean construction.
Lean Construction Postgraduate Conference (July 21-22, 2007)
This session is a big bonus. The grey beards will stay around to work with students.

I'll be there to spend time with some of the best thinkers in the industry. Please join me.

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Moving Beyond Obsolete Theory

Hal — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:53:36 +0000

It's my pleasure to speak again at a meeting of the Puget Sound PMI Chapter. Two years ago I gave a rather long and complicated presentation on obsolete theory, Fayol, Flores, and what can be learned from construction project management. This time I'll be attempting a much shorter and less complicated talk. Originally I titled it "An Update on Obsolete Theory", but I've reconsidered. (...)
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Top Ten Things I Learned at IGLC-14

Hal — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 03:02:29 +0000

Each year the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) holds a conference in one of four parts of the world. This year IGLC-14 was conducted in the southern American hemisphere in Santiago, Chile. Professor Luis Fernando Alarcon, one of the founders of the IGLC, was the organizer and host. While it got off to a lousy start for me — American Airlines lost my luggage — and for Greg Howell — it took 3 days for him to get from Denver to Santiago thanks to departure delays and airplane maintenance problems — they proved to be short memories due to the wonderful hosts and enthusiastic participants. Here's my list (Letterman-style):

IGLC-14 was a fine conference. The organizers have set the bar very high for next year.

The more we learn about and develop lean construction the more value we get from revisiting prior work. Some of the best papers were on topics that have been presented many times.
The world is turning towards lean construction. 50 papers were presented from people representing 22 countries.¹
The Internet is a wonderful thing. Skype allowed people around the world to make presentations to the group. (Do we really need to travel 18 hours to attend a conference?)
Computer modeling and simulation are at a point where design and construction firms can make use of them for learning and for design of the production system.
There is a solid argument supported by research and simulations for using the Last Planner System®² in a way that project performers share and discuss PPC data about reliability. Post that data for everyone to see. Have daily conversations where performers declare complete. Sharing PPC builds trust and planning reliability.
Less than 10% of the papers were on the people aspects of lean construction. Toyota's Thinking Production System gives equal weights to just-in-time and respect for people, a.k.a. autonomation and jidoka. The lean construction community needs to do the same.
More work can and should be done on construction safety. The few papers presented showed promise, but not enough is being done to link reliability of workflow to the safety of workers.
The language action perspective has taken hold as a theory to explain effective project management. Researchers used the terms network of commitments, declaring complete, and re-promising to explain good project behaviors.
The people researching and writing in the IGLC community are passionate about their work. They are ready to share what they are doing, to listen intently while others describe what they are doing, and to collaborate on research.
There are no finer hosts than Chileans. The Universidad Catolica faculty and staff impressed me throughout the week with their charm, engaging smiles, offers to take care of our smallest needs, and their curiosity. And the food was outstanding!

One thing I didn't learn at IGLC-14, but many people might have learned, is Senator Fernando Flores — called 'Fernando' throughout Chile — is a powerful leader, philosopher, entrepreneur, teacher, and collaborator. It was a pleasure to have my friend and teacher speak at the IGLC conference.

Australia, Belgium, Brazil (11 papers), Chile, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom (7 papers), and United States(14 papers) (Why none from Canada?) [ ⇑ back ]
Registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute, www.leanconstruction.org [ ⇑ back ]

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Project Theory Gravitates towards the Language Action Perspective

Hal — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 02:59:44 +0000

This is the year of the language action perspective for project management. IGLC researchers have been exploring underlying theory of projects seriously for the last 7 years. The discussion appeared to be reaching a conclusion earlier this year with Glenn Ballard's and Lauri Koskela's paper, "Should project management be based on theories of economics or production?" for Building Research and Information. Greg Howell and I concluded that project management (in general) shouldn't be based on either. We wrote our paper to answer what should it be based on. Then, I invited Fernando Flores to speak to the IGLC. As it turned out, Greg ceded our time for presenting our paper to Fernando so he could speak longer. Our paper was not presented. I'll do my best to present it here.

What Should Project Management Be Based On?

I have to start any discussion off by saying how we understand projects.

Projects are unique undertakings of a group of people convened to fulfill a promise made by one person to a customer.

Construction projects are like software projects and class reunions when understood from the above definition. Those three types of projects are dissimilar, as well. But it is the similarity that guided our look at projects to allow us to reach our conclusions on the theory base for projects. (...)
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Fernando Flores Addresses IGLC

Hal — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:13:48 +0000

Aprecedent was set at IGLC-14. We had our first keynote speaker. It was an easy precedent to set. Fernando Flores addressed the group. Fernando is the founder of a paradigm. There aren't too many others who can say that. The paradigm is know as the language action perspective (LAP). The LAP paradigm is reshaping how the AEC community is thinking about project delivery.

Fernando's speech to IGLC

Here's a little background on Fernando Flores. At age 27 he was the Minister of Finance for Chile in the government of Allende. He was imprisoned for three years by General Pinochet following the overthrow of the government. Eventually, Fernando was released and joined his family in California where he studied at Stanford for a masters degree in computer science and at UC Berkeley for a Ph.D. in philosophy. Fernando is the co-author of three books. He has been a serial entrepreneur and innovator. A few years back he returned to his beloved Chile to become a Senator. Fernando was also my teacher, a consultant to my company, and an employer.

"Bullshit (in business) starts by making ambiguous contracts."

Fernando took the room through a historical perspective on the development of the LAP paradigm. He was careful to give credit and show appreciation to his teachers. He also expertly connected to the concerns of the AEC project community. There was no doubt, in my opinion, that Fernando was prepared for the IGLC audience. At one moment he expressed his amusement that the network of commitments — something he first wrote about in 1983 — was having such a big impact 23 years later.

One of the more interesting things Fernando shared was his view of damaging ideas. He claims we suffer from our perspective of

A fixed-object reality, and
Communication as the transfer of information

He went on to say that what we need in the project community is a kind of "social therapy" to rid those damaging ideas.

There's much more I could say. But you're better off viewing the speech for yourself: Fernando's speech to IGLC.

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Reduce Batch Sizes to Improve Project Workflow

Hal — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:31:30 +0000

Client changes to apartment designs after the project starts are both expected and disruptive. The researchers were curious how lean approaches might mitigate the impacts of those changes. They built a role-playing simulation to collect data then modeled it with simulation software. The results were stunning.

Evaluation of Lean Improvements in Residential Construction

Rafael Sacks and Alberto Esquenazi

The researchers called on their students to build a Lego simulation of a construction project. Design changes were introduced along the way. The students played the game to collect data that was then used in the computer simulation.

"Reduced batch size appears to be the key to improving workflow."

They wanted to explore how lean approaches might affect the performance of construction results. They modeled these approaches:

Align the flows
Pull flow
Single-piece flow
Make ready process
Stabilize the workplan
Streamline the process by changing construction methods

The simulation started with a traditional push system. The second round introduced the lean approaches. When going from traditional to lean approaches throughput increased along with cash flow.

Stroboscope was used to investigate the effects of the individual lean approaches. The simulation results were stunning. Reducing batch size was the main source of improving cash flow. Multi-skilled teams in a push environment improved time but reduced the amount of work done. But cutting batch size and multi-skilled teams was responsible for the biggest improvement in throughput. Only when customization is required does pull flow make a big contribution.

The authors concluded that reduced batch size appears to be the key to improving workflow. It has positive effects on WIP levels, cash flow, and project completion time.

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Bring Attention to Key Performance Criteria with Andons

Hal — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:17:09 +0000

Precast productivity in one construction setting already was improved from 28 man-hours/cubic meter to 21 man-hours/cubic meter due to prior improvement initiatives. But the plant suffered from product variation. The LPS was introduced to address it.

Stabilization and Standardization of a Precast Production Process

Carlos Antonio Samaniego Gallardo, et al

Carlos started by introducing a Production Status Andon¹. They started with a blackboard in the production area. The workers developed the approach further and in three weeks had a more sophisticated approach. They were investigating in an empirical way what process steps provided a rhythm to the process. The Last Planner® was introduced to bring reliability to the process.

Stabilize production activities with andons.

PPC improved from 25% to 75% in about three months. During the same time productivity was further improved to 16 man-hours/cubic meter. They attribute their results to:

Adopting an analysis-implementation-evaluation cycle that also increased participation
Adopting basic lean approaches including standardized work and value stream mapping
Bringing organization with a daily task schedule

Fabrication operations offer great potential for adopting lean approaches. As key parts of the supply chain on construction projects getting lean upstream can have some downstream positive outcomes from higher quality and reliability of completions.

Andon is the Japanese word for "signal" or to bring attention to something. Andons are used to alert others to come for help. [ ⇑ back ]

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Case Studies Highlight Importance of Managing Commitments

Hal — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:02:23 +0000

Construction supply chains share many of the characteristics and problems of make-to-order (MTO) supply chains. Most of the problems can be traced to managerial issues. The authors explain how the language action perspective¹ can offers insights for managing more effectively.

Importance of Commitments Management to the Integration of Make-to-Order Supply Chains in Construction Industry

Eduardo Luis Isatto, et al

The authors presented Fernando Flores' action workflow approach to explain how ineffective actions can be traced to the incompletion of conversations for action.

"Effective coordination of action is the same as the effective management of commitments."

Some conclusions:

Large part of the information flow can be traced back to the commitments are managed
LAP provides a means to understand information flow problems in MTO supply chains
A large percentage of failures can be traced to a small number of classes of miscoordination

I am encouraged by the work of these researchers. Their case studies provide solid grounding for the serious application of the LAP to managing projects.

See Language Action Perspective Lens for further references [ ⇑ back ]

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Use nD Models to Surface Design and Schedule Errors

Hal — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:52:28 +0000

Traditional tools for representing and understanding the whole of a project can overwhelm people with data. A digital construction model can be of great help. Three case studies were pursued to explore the utility.

Multidimensional Modeling: A Mechanism for Improving Construction Project Management

Luis Izaguirre and Luis Alarcon

They reviewed two lines of research: Virtual Design and Construction (Stanford) and nD¹ Modelling (Salford Univ). They chose the first approach because the tools are commercially available. They connected this work to the lean construction principles. This allowed them to make assessments of the utility of those principles and to set goals.

Companies need to promote a positive approach to avoid perceptions of punishment when errors are found.

The model allowed them to detect errors in quantities, space, time, and execution strategy. In addition, they incorporated concerns for safety. In another study, just using a 3D model they saved 40% in the schedule along with a reduction of 287 design defects that were resolved before construction.

Use of the multidimensional model offers a simple and transparent coordination, control, and planning process. They found dramatic reductions in variation and uncertainty. Along the way they learned to create 3D models from scratch in short or very reasonable times. Even late interventions with modeling are worthwhile investments.

Refers to dimensions beyond 3D and 4D (time) to incorporate concerns for safety, operations, maintenance, etc. [ ⇑ back ]

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Simulations Can Be Learning Tools for Contractors

Hal — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:50:35 +0000

There is never enough time to design the production system for construction, yet there is more than enough time for making do. Simulations offer promise for changing that.

Simulation as a Tool for Production System Design

Thais da C.L. Alves, et al (presented by Prof. Iris Tommelein)

Using the design and fabrication of ductwork and ductwork fittings to They used Stroboscope¹ to model the process. They modelled the process on both deterministic and stochastic basis. The results produced large inventories on the construction site. By adding a "supermarket" rule² to initiate new work orders. Inventory dropped. They then ran the model by allowing variation. As anticipated when they ran the model they eventually got a stockout of ready work (in the 76th period). Based on this they reset their supermarket level.

The simulation models can be wonderful learning tools. Teams can experiment with production system designs before actually doing the work. The effects of variation on production system performance is highlighted.

Discreet event simulation environment developed by Julio Martinez, Ph.D. for the construction market. [ ⇑ back ]
The simplest form is to replenish stock when a certain level is achieved. [ ⇑ back ]

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Slow Down to Take Advantage of Building Modeling

Hal — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:48:32 +0000

Residential home construction suffers from the same non-standard designs of commercial construction. But in residential construction there has been far too little time to do operations engineering to take the waste out. 3D (and 4D) design tools are changing that.

Concurrent Design for Production

James Folkstad¹

James recognized that design is a social process. As players change, the house will change. 3D CAD tools can enable that social process. Learning happens for individuals and may only reside in one person's head. Finding ways to share that learning across a subdivision is critical to driving the waste out of construction.

"There were so many slap-in-the-face problems to solve that we never got to the root causes."

James created a team of researchers-as-detailers to do the work of modeling design elements. As the team learned with the subcontractors they began to see they needed different tools for detailing and conveying construction documents. They couldn't build the models fast enough to keep up with framers and other trades. The company would not slow down to learn and avoid errors.

Early modeling took tremendous time. They have now learned to use methods to dramatically cut the time for creating objects and models. This is resulting in far more reliance on good details by the craft labor.

Associate Professor, Colorado State University, Industrial Engineering and Construction Management [ ⇑ back ]

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