IGLC 33 · Osaka and Kyoto, Japan · 2025
Where Is the Evidence of Performance Improvement in the Lean Construction Literature?
- Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, asa79@cam.ac.uk, orcid.org/0000-0002-2173-3890
- Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, aritrapal@civil.iitm.ac.in, orcid.org/0000-0002-1644-7400
- Senior Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, dem52@cam.ac.uk,
orcid.org/0000-0003-1009-4058 - Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, agbrr2@cam.ac.uk, orcid.org/0000-0002-1389-7801
- Professor, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, prof@construction.cam.ac.uk,
orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-0680
https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0128
Abstract
This paper critically evaluates the evidence of performance improvement within the lean construction literature. Through a systematic review of 1,351 papers presented at the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) conferences between 2013 and 2024, we identify a significant gap in evidence-based studies explicitly addressing performance improvement, with only 52 papers (3.8%) focus on this critical issue. Our findings highlight a predominant focus on building projects, while infrastructure and industrial sectors remain largely overlooked. Additionally, we classify the various performance metrics used in the literature, revealing a lack of standardisation in measuring project outcomes, which complicates benchmarking efforts. We advocate for the adoption of a consistent performance measurement framework to enable meaningful comparisons across similar projects, facilitating the identification of performance improvement and waste reduction. We argue that a structured, industry-wide approach to benchmarking and performance evaluation is essential for the sustained adoption of lean construction and the realisation of its full benefits.
Keywords
- Lean construction
- performance improvement
- productivity
- measurement
- standardisation.
Cite this paper
APA 7th edition
Asmone, A. S., Pal, A., Murguia, D., Rathnayake, A., & Middleton, C. (2025). Where Is the Evidence of Performance Improvement in the Lean Construction Literature? In O. Seppänen, L. Koskela, & K. Murata (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33) (pp. 1–12). https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0128
Shortened reference for IGLC papers
Asmone, A. S., Pal, A., Murguia, D., Rathnayake, A., & Middleton, C. (2025). Where Is the Evidence of Performance Improvement in the Lean Construction Literature? IGLC33. https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0128