https://doi.org/10.24928/2019/0241
Developing a Tool to Assess Workers’ Understanding of Lean Concepts in Construction
F.R. Hamzeh1 & R.M Albanna2
1Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Dept., University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected]2Graduate Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, [email protected]
Abstract
In order to reap the benefits of Lean Construction, construction companies should integrate, empower and enable all personnel involved in the construction process whether on or off-site. As such, construction workers need to be trained on lean construction concepts and principles. The purpose of this paper is to develop a tool to assess the workers’ understanding of Lean concepts in construction. In this paper, the lean construction concepts are categorized into eight main areas: planning and control, standardization, pull production, wastes, kaizen, site organization, quality and safety. A lean construction worker knowledge profile was formulated based on the aforementioned categories. This profile encompasses all the knowledge, information, and lean background that a construction worker should distinguish, utilize and harness on the construction site. This lean profile formed the basis for a survey tool conducted on different construction sites in Lebanon to test its efficacy in identification areas of weaknesses in understanding lean principles as the lever of construction workers. Out of the eight categories, the workers lacked mainly the required acquaintance in pull production and waste. As a result, training exercises and games are recommended to instil lean construction concepts in the everyday behaviour, practice and job performance of construction workers.
Keywords
Lean construction, construction workers, training games
Files
Reference
Hamzeh, F. & Albanna, R. 2019. Developing a Tool to Assess Workers’ Understanding of Lean Concepts in Construction, Proc. 27th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 179-190. doi.org/10.24928/2019/0241
Download: BibTeX | RIS Format
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.
2015 © All Rights Reserved.