Lean Construction 4.0: Exploring the Challenges of Development in the AEC Industry

Abstract

In 1994, Lean Construction was understood as the application of Toyota Production principles to Construction. Since then, Lean Construction researchers and advocates have made two fundamental contributions: i) Lean Construction has become a production management theory in its own right; ii) Lean Construction has involved not only production management, but also people, technology, sustainability, safety, education, among others. With the arrival of the “fourth industrial revolution” or Industry 4.0, there has been seminal research attempts to acknowledge the influence of Industry 4.0 on the architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) industry (e.g. Construction 4.0), where the focus has been primarily on technology. However, for Lean Construction to keep evolving and serving the AEC industry, it must embrace the changes propelled by Industry 4.0, but maintain the people-processes-technology triad at its core. We argue that a shift towards Lean Construction 4.0 is needed, paying attention to the synergies between production management theory and digital/smart technologies. The term “Lean Construction 4.0” does represent the vision where we envision the AEC industry to be in the future, rather than its current status. The goal of this paper is not to propose an implementation plan, but to identify research needs and to motivate a discussion on the role of Lean Construction in facing the challenges of adopting Industry 4.0 in the AEC industry.