How Lean can drive Construction 4.0 and boost the sector's productivity

Several studies have already shown that construction productivity worldwide is stagnant, while that of other sectors has evolved. To respond to this discouraging scenario, construction companies are seeking alternatives, among them a more intensive use of new digital technologies: concepts such as BIM, Modular Construction, Project Controls and Artificial Intelligence have been gaining more and more traction in the industry as proposed approaches to the problem.

These initiatives have been gaining visibility, often grouped under the heading of Construction 4.0, inspired by the term Industry 4.0. In both manufacturing and services, the use of “Digital Transformation” has been growing, to make it clear that it refers to business transformation in a broader sense, encompassing not only production or productivity aspects, but also the connection with customers, new ways of delivering value, etc. The important thing is that the use of increasingly advanced, available and inexpensive technologies opens up countless possibilities, which need to be well understood and explored.

Construction is at early stages of maturity, if we look at the existing references in other sectors. Most companies are at a stage identified as “digitization,” that is, applying digital resources to some processes, mostly related to management. It is undoubtedly an important first step, but digital transformation goes beyond that, using technology to provide visibility (seeing what is happening), then serving to understand processes and relate them through data analysis, and, at a more advanced stage, supporting decisions and means of rapid adaptation, optimizing the response to demands.

If we want to go beyond digitization and move through the stages needed to reach the much-coveted Construction 4.0, lean must be our ally through its constant focus on improving processes.

Take care not to digitize waste  - remove it first

One important precaution we need to take when implementing digital elements in processes is not to automate waste. Lean has a very strong focus on eliminating waste in processes, preventing us from applying technology to activities that should be eliminated.

Following this line of reasoning, in a webinar hosted by Sinicon in partnership with Lean Institute Brasil, Grupo HTB, a company with a quite advanced lean journey, discussed several examples of how it has added technology to its constant efforts to attack waste, bringing more clarity and simplicity and improving the overall efficiency of its projects. Here are some examples of how they achieved this:

• Waste #1: Unnecessary processes. By using electronic distribution of drawings, Grupo HTB was able to eliminate some processes it performed that were not necessary, such as the distribution of printed drawings and the matter of signatures when circulating the site daily log, which was also digitized.
• Waste #2: Defects. Through digital checklists, Paretos and predictive analytics, Grupo HTB eliminated errors and increased reliability, in addition to making it easier to monitor its projects, which proved especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Waste #3: Overproduction. Using line-of-balance charts and BIM4D modeling, they were able to understand what they needed and when they needed it, to avoid doing what was not necessary.
• Waste #4: Waiting. Waiting in construction is usually caused by unresolved constraints, so Grupo HTB worked with visual management tools to see and manage these constraints.
• Waste #5: Transportation. To receive the right quantity at the right time, they adopted applications that helped them manage fleets and track the movement of materials, making it easier to read.
• Waste #6: Motion. Grupo HTB focused on managing employee access, using motion capture as a tool to understand how people move around the site and to design simpler, less frustrating flows for those doing the work.
• Waste #7: Inventory. By synchronizing tools with minimum and maximum stock alerts, they are getting closer and closer to just-in-time (or at least just-enough).

Integrate digital into processes wisely

Many organizations deal with technology only in projects, which means it is used only sporadically and without true integration, since it disappears as soon as the project is finished and the people leave.

In the webinar hosted by Sinicon, Andrade Gutierrez (AG), a company that broadly adopts lean in its strategy, presented examples of how it is integrating BIM and the initiatives of the VETOR AG acceleration program into its work processes. Following the lean ideals of thinking about purpose and fostering cultural transformation, they embarked on a journey to incorporate BIM into their excellence system, with 7 main fronts:

• Broad Process Standardization, a program to standardize the company's core processes by adapting the best market practices. This foundation is the groundwork for integrating BIM with the company's Management System.
• Waste reduction. Like Grupo HTB, AG understood the importance of reducing waste so that it does not become part of automated processes. So they worked on waste and standardized processes in preparation for digitizing them.
• Time and cost optimization. One of the foundations of lean is optimizing time and costs in processes in order to add more value for customers. Technology can be a great ally in this regard, as long as it is used with purpose and grounded in the principles of lean management.
• Digitization of the value chain. Always focused on the customer and the value we will deliver to them, lean teaches us that we should not digitize processes, but rather the value chain as a whole, understanding how technology will contribute to what the customer sees as valuable.
• Technology integration. AG also placed a strong focus on integrating the technologies it uses. There is no point in adding many digital tools to your processes if they do not talk to each other; this will only increase complexity and open up more room for waste.
• Information agility. With lean guidance, the focus of applying digital to processes is on speeding up information and allowing the right person to access it at the right time, thereby increasing the efficiency of the information flow.
• Productivity increase. Although it is the main focus of digitization in construction, increased productivity ends up being a natural consequence of all the efforts described above, serving as a thermometer of how efficient the application is.

The connection between Lean and Construction 4.0

Investing efforts in a lean transformation and a digital transformation in a disconnected way, as two isolated initiatives that have nothing to do with each other, does not bring sustainable long-term results.

The two transformations need to be carried out in synergy, as a single effort that integrates the foundations of the lean management philosophy with the best technological solutions available to us today. Lean is the way for us to use technology to its fullest capacity and with the best possible efficiency to solve the contextual problems each company faces. To this end, there are four elements that can underpin our lean-digital transformation:

• Adding value for the customer: before digitizing your processes, reflect on this: how will the technology I am implementing add value for my customer? What is the value they perceive?
• Clear purpose: when you think about adding more technology to your processes, always keep in mind what the purpose is. Why am I using this specific technology? What problem does it solve?
• Rapid adaptation: how can I use the technology I am implementing to achieve a high degree of adaptability? Does this technology give me the flexibility needed for the routine changes that happen daily in the context of your company?
• Smart use of technology: instead of adding technology simply to “follow the trend” or to show everyone how technological your company is, try to use only what makes sense and where it makes sense.

In this way, lean is applied to digital transformation at three distinct moments: before, as a way of preparing the ground for technology by eliminating obvious waste; during, to ensure that technology is being used with purpose; and always, in pursuit of operational excellence and continuous improvement.

Companies that try to embark on a digital transformation journey focused purely on tools encounter obstacles along the way and fail to make progress. The lean principle of stabilizing processes is the way to ensure this stops happening and to drive true Construction 4.0, or digital transformation, in the sector.