Key points highlighted by heavy construction at Lean Summit 2023 can improve builders' competitiveness
Heavy construction made its presence felt at Lean Summit 2023, the main and largest in-person gathering of the lean community in Brazil and the world, which brought together more than 1,500 people and 70 companies as speakers in São Paulo at the end of June. Compared with the last edition, held in 2018, the event had twice as many participants from the construction industry.
The sector currently faces a highly competitive scenario and great difficulty in hiring skilled labor, which, according to the participants, were factors that led decision-makers to attend the Summit. The representatives of these companies came seeking to learn about the cases and the lean journey of other construction companies and to network with the community.
The speaking companies highlighted fundamental points related to applying lean in construction, such as:
- Establish solid governance to sustain and spread lean with a focus on improving the company's results:
The construction companies that presented their cases highlighted the importance of establishing lean governance by defining and standardizing responsibilities, processes and tools to structure the company's management system, starting with an initial focus on the job sites and then scaling up to the company's support and strategy areas. They defined as a factor of utmost importance the support of senior leadership as those involved, sponsors and participants in the implementation and spread of lean, as a way to strengthen the initiatives and boost the buy-in of the job-site teams.
- People are the key to change; go where they are:
Going to the “gemba” (the place where value is created), which on a construction project can mean “going to the field”, was a message that some construction companies reported as a differentiator in the pursuit of better operational efficiency. They emphasized that leaders need to go to the “gemba”, because they end up getting caught up in “bureaucratic” demands and end up neglecting the main “internal customer”, which is production. The purpose is to check the waste and its root causes, but some companies highlighted that the field is the best way to develop people, always remembering the maxim “Go see, ask why and show respect”.
- Think lean, be agile and use technology® :
Construction companies highlighted that they have made progress in solving strategic problems by understanding the causes of their waste well and proposing the use of technologies oriented to a clear purpose. Some highlighted the use of BIM to solve job-site planning and logistics problems through the use of features such as 3D visualization, 4D planning, quantity take-off and clash detection. Others highlighted apps used on a targeted basis to solve problems of quality, project versions in the field and occupational safety. Lean construction 4.0 is a trend, because with a clear understanding of the problems and their root causes, the development of or search for technologies with a clear purpose becomes more assertive for agile solutions.
- Lean can make construction more green:
One of the speaking companies sought to highlight lean initiatives connected to sustainability initiatives. Among the excellent results obtained were increased productivity in earthworks and infrastructure networks, a 2-month reduction in the execution time of the infrastructure activity and, above all, diesel savings that resulted in a reduction of 38.6 tons of CO2 emissions. For this company, it is “impossible” to dissociate lean implementation from sustainability aspects, because by attacking and eliminating waste at the source, environmental results are achieved as a consequence.
First steps for lean in construction to move from the “tools era” to the “management era”
Construction companies are beginning to take the first steps to move away from the view of lean as a toolbox toward understanding it as a true management model for business transformation. These are still timid steps, but they point to a promising future. At the close of Lean Summit 2023, it became evident that the application of lean principles represents a guiding beacon for construction companies seeking to enhance the competitiveness and resilience of heavy construction. The commitment to solid governance, immersion in the gemba philosophy, the synergy between lean thinking, agility and technology, as well as the intrinsic connection between lean practices and sustainability, all converge toward a promising vision of the future of construction. As companies follow the path toward leaner management, they are positioned not only to reach higher levels of efficiency, but also to shape a more agile, responsible and prosperous construction industry on a global scale.
