Influence of Last Planner® System Adoption Level on Project Management and Communication

Abstract

Construction projects require complex management of people, resources and goals. The Last Planner® System (LPS) provides a systematic framework based on short cycles of work preparation, commitment, and control to allow implementing corrective actions. Successful LPS implementations require the combination of homogeneous mature practices and efficient horizontal collaboration. Nevertheless, partial implementations prevent liking collaboration through mid-term planning, the make-ready process and short-term work-flow stabilization. Therefore, this study aims to assess the relationship and cross-impacts of LPS adoption levels, team collaboration and project performance through an in-depth comparison of two Chilean case-study projects. LPS adoption was measured through a 50 items survey applied to 10 key actors in each project and collaboration was captured through Social Network Analysis (SNA) applied to general interaction, planning, problem-solving, feedback, learning, and leadership surveys answered by all last planners in each project. Also, each project was monitored for at least 18 weeks to capture their Percent Plan Complete (PPC), Reasons for Noncompliance (RNCs) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI). The results, consistent with previous literature, showed that mature LPS adoption significantly aids collaboration and performance.

Methodology to Quantitatively Assess Collaboration in the Make-Ready Process

“…These studies support the statement that horizontal collaboration in planning and work preparation is key to support the LPS virtuous cycle of proactive planning, committing and control, which in terms of MRP, corresponds to (1) efficient constraint identification and (2) reliable removal (Ballard & Tommelein, 2016). Horizontal collaboration facilitates that last planners take part in this process (Lagos et al, 2022), while the strength of these interactions, i.e. close collaboration between multiple parties, leads to work preparation reliability (Castillo, Alarcón, & Pellicer, 2018).…”

“…A subsequent study by the same authors also correlated the network strength metrics with benefits in quality, safety, costs, and productivity (Castillo, Alarcón, & Pellicer, 2018). Furthermore, a case study using a similar methodology to compare two projects of similar characteristics and LPS experience, observed that the project with higher horizontal collaboration in planning and problem solving exhibited significantly better MRP practices and long-term schedule compliance, while the project with a more traditional top-down management approach exhibited work-preparation silos that allowed to obtain high PPCs but prevented them from sustaining high long-term schedule performance due to the lack of flexibility of the WB (Lagos et al, 2022).…”

“…Nevertheless, MRP has been found to be one of the weakest implemented LPS components, significantly lower than aspects such as commitment-based short-term planning and searching for Reasons of Noncompliance (RNCs) (Daniel et al, 2015). Thus, researchers argue that implementing LPS with a short-term focus instead of a systematic mid-term planning and work preparation approach significantly limits its potential benefits (Lagos et al, 2022).…”

“…However, there is a gap in the systematic assessment of last planners' collaboration to identify, manage, and remove constraints in an effective and efficient manner. Construction management requires multiple stakeholders, from suppliers to engineers and subcontractors to work in coordination under fast changing conditions (Ebbs & and Pasquire, 2018;Lagos et al, 2022). Without MRP collaboration, Last Planners can plan to execute constrained work packages or fail to detect executable packages when committing in short-term.…”

Investigating and Simulating Collaboration Among the LPS Phases

“…Additionally, Cisterna et al (2018) examined the suitability of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in the AEC industry and identified the influence of project complexity and cultural aspects. Lastly, Lagos et al (2022) studied the LPS adoption levels, team collaboration, and project performance by comparing two Chilean construction projects, finding that mature LPS adoption significantly aids collaboration and performance. While these studies introduced a much-needed perspective on how collaboration may be assessed and evaluated, empirical and numerical methods that pertain to the direct quantification of either collaboration or the impacts of collaboration on the performance of a project are still unaddressed.…”