‘Lean Diagnosis for Chilean Construction Industry: Towards More Sustainable Lean Practices and Tools

Abstract

Construction companies face important challenges to implement and sustain Lean methods, and they need to periodically assess the state of their implementation efforts. This paper presents the results of a collaborative initiative from seven Chilean construction companies to diagnose the implementation state of some aspects of Lean organizations: Philosophy, Culture and Technology. The diagnosis was carried out using data from four different tools: interviews with managers, workshops with Last Planner implementers, visits to projects and planning meetings, and an organizational survey to validate previous results. Despite 90% of managers believe that Lean is central to enhancing their businesses, important barriers to sustain practices were detected such as Last Planner (LP), which was identified as a common tool among those companies. Thus, the most important aspects observed could be summarized as lack of certainty, lack of training, and very limited use of other tools; moreover, important differences were identified with regards to the level of LP implementations. The diagnosis is expected to constitute a base to generate improved company strategies to implement and sustain Lean construction practices, with emphasis in the development of people as a core of Lean organizations.