Lean Construction Implementation Course

Bridging the gap between academia and the construction industry

The “Lean Construction Implementation Course” was created to meet a growing demand from construction companies in deploying Lean Construction in their projects. The course was an initiative of the PhD researcher Clarissa Biotto, with the support of Professor Lauri Koskela and Dr Algan Tezel from the Innovative Design Lab (IDL), a research centre of the School of Art, Design and Architecture of the University of Huddersfield.

The course focused on the fundamental topics of lean production management and support companies in the implementation of the most successful lean construction practices and tools. The course included 15 professionals from Interserve and Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure.

The course included three modules, with a duration of 24 hours of teaching. The modules were taught by lean specialists from the industry and academia, and had the following content:

MODULE 1

14 September

MODULE 2

12 October

MODULE 3

16 November

  • Lean Construction
  • 9 Wastes in Construction
  • Production System Design
  • Line of Balance
  • Production Planning and Control: Collaborative Planning
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Visual Management
  • 5S
  • SMED
Lecturer: Bruno Mota
Lean consultant at JACOBS, specialist in Production System Design and Line of Balance		 Lecturer: Sergio Kemmer
PhD researcher at the University of Huddersfield and lean consultant at JACOBS, specialist in Last Planner System		 Lecturer: Dr Algan Tezel
Lecturer in Construction Project Management at the University of Huddersfield, specialist in Visual Management

Organiser and Facilitator: Clarissa Biotto

Advisor: Professor Lauri Koskela

 

Modules were designed with an action based approach to learning. Hence, existing Lean approaches and tools were presented and discussed in the classroom. Participants were then expected to implement specific tools in selected projects, with the support of the University’s facilitator. Finally, implementation results were shared across all participants during class discussions.

Lean Construction Implementation Course

In Module 1, implementation focused on the use of Line of Balance. Module 2 supported the implementation of the Last Planner System of production planning and control. These tasks were supported by the facilitator, Clarissa Biotto, who visited the construction sites in which the tools were being implemented weekly.

The participants believed this initiative is a practical mode to transfer knowledge from academia to the construction industry. Hence, it should support companies to become more competitive in their markets and, simultaneously, it enables opportunities for further research in Lean Construction.

Lean Construction Implementation Course
Figure 1: Line of Balance exercise. Module 1 taught by Bruno Mota. Source: University of Huddersfield / Clarissa Biotto, 2017.
Lean Construction Implementation Course
Figure 2: Last Planner System exercise. Module 2 taught by Sergio Kemmer. Source: University of Huddersfield / Clarissa Biotto, 2017.
Lean Construction Implementation Course
Figure 3: Module 3 taught by Dr Algan Tezel. Source: University of Huddersfield / Clarissa Biotto, 2017.
Lean Construction Implementation Course
Figure 4: Interserve's presentation. Source: University of Huddersfield / Abby Butcher, 2017.
Lean Construction Implementation Course
Figure 5: Participants of Module 3: from left to right – front row: Clarissa Biotto, Gavin Reeves, Bob Dobinson, Mike Vardy, Rod Reeves and Bruno Mota. Back row: Prof Lauri Koskela, Adam Mushtaq, Sam Kelcher, Chris Timms, Dr Algan Tezel and William Ofori.

Testimonials:

“I benefited from this course as I believe the line of balance exercise can lead to cost and programme saving on future projects.” Adam Mushtaq - Graduate Quantity Surveyor, IEF Ambassador, Interserve Construction Limited.

“The course provided a good insight into Lean and the various planning techniques used within a Lean environment. The use of current projects provided real world understanding of how the techniques worked and how to implement improvements. Using lean planning highlighted the hidden constraints within workflows and I will look to use this methodology going forward to remove variability in project planning. I would recommend this course to anyone starting on their Lean Journey in the Industry.” Mike Vardy - Contracts Planner, Interserve Construction Limited.

“I attended the Lean Construction course at Huddersfield University hosted by Clarissa Biotto on behalf of Interserve Construction, I Found the course extremely useful for the current project that we are working on and also for future projects where we will be implementing the lessons learnt through the course.

The Line of Balance seminar given by Bruno Mota was of particular interest and proved very worthwhile implementing on our project showing clearly where we had waste in our current programme.

Sergio Kemmer talked us through Production Planning and Control and also Collaborative Planning after which we created several spreadsheets to clearly show where we need to be at each stage of a new project.

The final day was on Visual Management given by Dr Algan Tezel Though we already use Visual Management in some aspects of our sites Algan showed us many ways in which to improve what we already do.

All in the course was very worthwhile and I would recommend anyone involved in construction to attend the course as it will prove very informative and helpful in a number of ways.” Rod Reeves - Design Manager, Interserve Construction Ltd