29,383 research outputs found
Lean construction: Prospects for the German construction industry
No full textThere is little, if any, information available about the range and dissemination of lean concepts among construction companies in Germany. Building on the methodologies and conceptual frameworks used in earlier work in the UK (Common et al., 2000) and the Netherlands (Johansen et al., 2002) this study carried out a similar survey among German construction companies to discover the current understanding of lean principles, perceptions of lean and trends in lean development. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of an email questionnaire sent to large German construction companies indicates that there is little awareness of lean in the German construction industry and that hardly any company uses lean concepts on a company wide basis despite evidence that procedures and techniques that are used on German construction sites are generally consistent with lean construction practice. There appears to be cultural resistance to a manufacturing derived, production-system-view of construction
Heritage Society (Houston)
No full textLetter from Allan M. Lean & Buckley to William M. Rice discussing the urgency to repay the debt owed to J. H. Brower & Co
Heritage Society (Houston)
No full textTranscript of Letter from Allan M. Lean & Buckley to William M. Rice discussing the urgency to repay the debt owed to J. H. Brower & Co
Implementing lean: UK culture and systems change
No full textFor the IGLC 12 Conference the authors reported the results of implementing Last PlannerTM methods with a large UK contracting company. The projects studied demonstrated some success but also some cultural, organizational and systemic barriers to its effective implementation. Alarcon and Conte’s White Paper for the IGLC11 conference discussed these issues and invited researchers to consider them. In response, the authors have reflected upon and critically re-analysed the research as a means to refocus their future work in implementing Lean Construction methods in UK construction. Based on a review of the literature on construction culture we have identified theoretical factors that, together with Alarcon and Conte's list of critical organizational elements, provide a framework against which the results of the research have been considered. We conclude that the implementation of Last Planner was hindered by not fully considering cultural, organizational and systemic problems and by failing to recognize how deepseated these problems could be. We intend, in future projects, to take a more considered, and wider approach to Lean Construction (possibly using the LCI’s Lean Project Delivery System) and to focus our attention upon construction ventures where efforts at culture change have already started - in particular, where strategic partnering arrangements are in place
Lean six sigma in a call centre : a case study
No full textThis paper, a case study, aims to illustrate the application of lean six sigma in a call centre of a service industry corporation. The study draws on process information and primary data from a real project. The study describes improvements in the operation of the call centre attributable to lean six sigma: increase in first-call resolution ratio, reduction in operator turnover and streamlining of processes. The introduction of lean six sigma into the call centre daily operations' management may have organizational benefits. Although lean six sigma has been extremely successful in the last two decades in the manufacturing sector, its applicability to the service sector has been a controversial topic. This study illustrates its application to a fast-growing area of the service sector, assisting companies in identifying areas of development for their call centres
A customised lean model for a Chinese aerospace OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
No full textThe aim of this research is to introduce Lean Thinking in a systematic and cost
effective way; moreover, it is to bring Lean Principles and apply Lean Tools to
the new aerospace companies. In particular the research will develop a
customised Lean manufacturing model. The following objectives will be
achieved during the research. 1); Investigate the principal features of Lean
Thinking, and identify state of the art in Lean manufacturing implementation. 2);
Identify the current situation of a specific Chinese aerospace company and the
requirements needed in becoming Lean. 3); Develop a customised Lean model
for applying Lean into a new Chinese aerospace company. 4); Validate the
Lean manufacturing model by experts in the company and university.
The Chinese traditional thinking is different from lean think. Therefore, to
implement Lean in China will face some distinct barriers. The author attempts to
resolve these problems through a customised lean model. According to the
literature review and researcher‘s knowledge, there is no paper developing a
model linking to the barriers of lean implementation in Chinese manufacturing.
Therefore, the author will attempt to fill in this gap during the research.
The questionnaire and assessment tool will be used to collect information from
the company. Best practices will help to establish the structure of the model.
However, in China, most companies implement lean through copying examples
from the United States, UK and other Western countries without combining their
current situation and culture. The contribution of this research is to develop a
model to link Chinese barriers and a company‘s situation for lean
implementation.
Finally, this model will be validated by company and academic experts. The first
validation is based on the sponsoring company. Other validations are achieved
by academic experts and industrial expert
Principles of the lean construction on the planning process of a huge builder in Natal (RN)
No full textThe civil construction represents one of the most important sectors for the economic growth of a country. To make this industry grow it is necessary to implement an effective planning in activities. This is one of the most important concepts brought by the Lean Construction philosophy. The main goal of this article consists in investigating how the 11 principles of the lean construction influenced the schedule of a construction field. As a methodology, it was used the case study of a big enterprise located in Natal (RN). During the execution of the method, documents were analysed , it was also described the factors that caused the delays at the enterprises’ field , the actions were listed by the company, which had the purpose to solve the main causes of delays, verifying if they were linked to the lean construction principles. This research it is relevant because the principles of the lean construction uphold the reduction of processes that are useless, diminishing wastes as well as costs in construction. Among the main results, the high frequency of planning errors stands out, mainly the programming deviations and not the task programming, as well as the execution errors, low productivity and activities executed by the workers. Amongst the 11 principles of lean construction, only five were related with the 12 actions analysed by the author. From the 12 actions, four were completely cohesive to one or more from these five principles. Some improvement proposals were also highlighted and established by the research
Evaluating lean in healthcare
No full textThe overarching aim of this thesis is to evaluate Lean implementation in the
English NHS. Against a background of financial austerity measures and the
ostensible widespread adoption of Lean in the UK public sector, and particularly
by healthcare organisations, the objective is to understand how Lean is being
implemented by NHS hospital Trusts, and whether there is any quantitative
evidence that Lean implementation is improving hospital performance. Adopting
Pettigrew and Whipp’s (1991) framework of strategic change, this thesis aims to
present theoretically sound and practically useful research through an exploration
of the context, process and content of Lean implementation by English hospital
Trusts. In order to achieve this, the research employs a mixed methods research
design incorporating document analysis3, quantitative analysis and case study
analysis to afford an insight into the implementation of Lean from multiple
viewpoints and facilitate the development of new insights relating to the
phenomena of Lean implementation in English hospital Trusts.
The research provides a contribution to knowledge in three key areas: firstly
through the identification and validation of a typology of approaches to Lean
implementation by English hospital Trusts i.e. a characterisation of the method of
Lean implementation; secondly through quantitative analysis and discussion of
the potential link between Lean implementation and increased performance; and
thirdly a set of propositions that provide a narrative and logic to explain the
influence of contextual factors upon the process of Lean implementation in
English hospitals
Towards lean product and process development
No full textSuccesses in lean manufacture have led researchers and practitioners to consider extending ‘lean' to different parts of the engineering enterprise, including product and process development (PPD). Lean product development (PD) has been understood to mean lean manufacture applied to PD, while the roots of lean PD - just like lean manufacture - go back to Toyota. This article presents the methodology adopted in order to pave the way towards a coherent lean PD model that combines lessons from the Toyota product development system (TPDS) with other best practises. The article provides a unique review of the lean PD research area, and a reference framework for the enablers that Toyota has employed for lean PD. An investigation of five engineering enterprises undertaken to search for evidence of the implementation of lean PD enablers through observation, document analysis and interviews is also presented. Some enablers have been informally applied, while few have been formally implemented, and no model was found to formally combine lean PD enablers into a coherent whole. This is the first article to critique attempts to describe lean PD and provide a definition for Lean PD
Identifying Real Cost Saving in Lean Manufacturing
No full textLean manufacturing is well-known as an effective means toward cost savings, but to convince management to support a culture shift to implement a lean manufacturing program there must be confidence in understanding what real effective and measurable lean savings are. This case study analyzes data from one specific lean event and points out areas of deficiency and shows how misreporting cost savings can hurt the lean program and the creditability of the lean practitioners. Often, lean practitioners are so anxious to show what benefit their lean projects have attained, they cite everything they can think of to justify their lean project, some of which can be questionable cost savings and can negatively impact the long term credibility of the lean program. This case study from Boeing’s Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) program will evaluate and confirm what constitutes real cost savings as a result of a continuous improvement project to reduce the cycle time of interceptor integration. This evaluation includes professional perceptions of lean cost savings as part of the conclusion of what constitutes real cost savings in a lean program. This case study evaluates one particular event of many events done by companies every day. Another area of research could focus on instances of lean programs not capturing and reporting all the effective cost savings from a lean project which can have some of the same negative effects as reporting more costs saving than are truly being realized as this study addresses
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