23rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction - Perth, Australia - 2015

Improving Design Workflow With the Last Planner System:Two Action Research Studies

Sheriz Khan1 & Patricia Tzortzopoulos2

1PhD Candidate, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Department of Architecture and 3D Design, University of Huddersfield, Queen Street Studios, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, England, United Kingdom. Telephone +1 (321) 674-0309, [email protected]
2Professor, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Department of Architecture and 3D Design, University of Huddersfield, Queen Street Studios, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, England , United Kingdom. Fax: (+44) 01484 472440, [email protected]

Abstract

Variability in workflow during the design stage of building projects has been widely acknowledged as a problem related to poor planning and control of design tasks and has been identified as a major cause of delay in building projects. The Last Planner system (LPS) of production planning and control helps to create predictable and reliable workflow by enabling the management of the range of relationships, interfaces and deliverables involved in a project. This paper presents results of implementing LPS in design to minimize variability in workflow within BIM-based building design projects. Action research was used to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of LPS weekly work planning (WWP) to improve workflow during the design development phase of two building design projects. The research was carried out with the collaboration between design practitioners at two building design firms in Florida and the researchers as facilitators. Overall PPC (Percent Plan Complete) measurements suggest that design workflow improved in both projects after WWP was implemented. However, efforts to use BIM in a lean way in the two projects (discussed in detail in an IGLC22 conference paper by the authors of this paper) were believed to be partly responsible for the improvement in design workflow.

Keywords

Design workflow variability, LPS, BIM

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Reference

Khan, S. & Tzortzopoulos, P. 2015. Improving Design Workflow With the Last Planner System:Two Action Research Studies, 23rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 568-574. doi.org/

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Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.

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