Resilience to COVID-19 Through Lean Construction

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has been an alarming issue from the beginning of 2020 and is a significant disaster that affects each industry. In dealing with the consequences of the pandemic, the construction industry confronts several interruptions for the sustainable delivery of the projects. Many researchers stated that lean construction can minimise this impact. Lean thinking is about engaging everyone, every day in handling interruptions and learning to react better. However, few discussions are there pertaining to how to implement and why to implement lean. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry and evaluate the ability of lean construction to resilient COVID-19. Therefore, a comprehensive literature review has been carried out. The findings revealed 67 negative factors categorised under resources-related issues, project management issues, quality issues, financial issues, contractual issues, safety issues, technology-related issues, and other issues for the construction industry due to the pandemic. Continuous improvement for the work under any risks, improvement in project performance, more satisfaction, and better value for the employer were highlighted as the main benefits of lean construction during the new normalcy. The developed conceptual framework unlocked several research arenas on lean in post-COVID implementation for the construction industry.

Method to Allocate Covid-19 Preventive Means of Construction Works Based on Expert Prioritization

“…The sanitary measures established because of the pandemic have affected construction work planning, execution, and control (Parameswaran & Ranadewa, 2021). Traceability requirements make it necessary to know the interaction and contact between crews and the risk associated with the site where these activities occur (Assaad & El-adaway, 2021).…”

Challenges for lean construction adoption in the Brazilian industry: a study in construction companies, universities and class organizations

“…In addition, COVID-19 was an industry accelerator for the need to implement technologies and new processes, such as lean construction (LC) (Verán-Leigh and Brioso, 2021), also categorized as a productivity accelerator (Li et al , 2019; Tezel et al , 2018). Also, adding a positive impact in terms of quality, safety, environment (Bajjou and Chafi, 2018) and improvement in project performance, more satisfaction and better value for the employer during the new normalcy (Parameswaran and Ranadewa, 2021). These LC attributions can help Brazil to improve the construction sector efficiency.…”