Sustainable Construction: Is Lean Green?

Ahuja, Ritu

doi:10.1061/9780784412688.108

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Where the theories of SC fell short in explaining the modalities of how to achieve SC goals within the construction environment (Sarhan, et al, 2018), those LC practices in Table 2 provide a perfect platform for integrating practices to achieve sustainability in construction. Many researchers explored LC practices for their impact on construction sustainability and reported positive relationships or the potential for positive impact (Nahmens and Ikuma, 2012;Ahuja, 2013;Francis and Thomas, 2020). However, LC is still an emerging construction process and has not yet been fully adopted by the entire construction industry.…”

Section: Lean Construction Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) Matrix for Achieving Integrated Lean and Sustainable Construction

Aslam

Gao

Smith

2021

CEB

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Challenges exist across the three dimensions of construction sustainability (economic; social and environmental) due to low productivity, waste, safety, and environmental hazards attributed to existing construction management practices. Lean construction (LC) has been widely accepted as a robust philosophy to enable sustainable construction (SC) practices. However, the existing literature is more inclined toward defining the integration between LC and sustainability through LC practices and techniques. Little research tackles the challenges of achieving sustainable goals within the current practices. Therefore, this paper aims to present a strategy that can help the construction industry overcome the challenges of SC in the traditional construction management practice by using LC. The challenges of SC are identified through a systematic literature review approach with metadata analysis. Compared with LC principles, tools and techniques, the strategy focused on identifying (1) the power and potential of LC principles and (2) the best LC practices/techniques that help in overcoming these SC challenges. The study results showed 20 out of 32 challenges identified can be overcome by using LC integrated with SC. Finally, a Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) matrix is developed to provide guidelines to the construction stakeholders for the selection of LC practices/tools/techniques in overcoming the top 15 most important challenges.

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Section: Lean Construction Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) Matrix for Achieving Integrated Lean and Sustainable Construction

Aslam

Gao

Smith

2021

CEB

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“…Whist no significant relation between LT and environmental performance was reported by [29], other studies argue that LT can be actually detrimental to it [14,30,31]. Examples include just-in-time production, which allows contractors to minimize buffers [32] and reduce the various sources of extra inventory, but may increase volatile organic compounds and CO 2 emissions due to the frequent transport of inventory and materials [14].…”

Section: Environmental Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Literature Review on Integrative Lean and Sustainability Synergies over a Building’s Lifecycle

2017

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The construction industry is increasingly moving towards the adoption of sustainable strategies and increased efficiency targets. Lean thinking (LT) aims at removing waste, increasing value, reducing costs, and improving the overall quality of products and processes. Sustainability, in turn, is concerned with the environmental, social, and economic impacts made by the construction industry. Both philosophies share efficient resource usage concerns. A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out to cover the existing primary research and characterize its evolution and setting; to discuss the available empirical evidence to identify the LT and sustainability benefits and trade-offs; and to provide a holistic setting to promote those synergies. To catalyze the synergies between LT and sustainability, this paper highlights the potential application of LT elements throughout a building's lifecycle. Knowledge synthetized is helpful for decision-makers to understand and explore combinations of the performance-oriented LT philosophy for the provision of environmentally responsive buildings.At the same time, organizations have also acknowledged the need for an approach that contributes not only to the production of sustainable buildings, but mainly for optimizing the delivery process and improving product quality as a whole. Lean Thinking (LT) is a potential approach for reaching those goals while reducing environmental loads.Lean philosophy dates back to the development of the Japanese Toyota Production System (TPS) in 1940 [3]. To gain a competitive edge against the mass production of American companies after World War II, TPS examined the company's processes to eliminate waste, improve processes, and enable the faster and more efficient delivery of products.These positive impacts have attracted interest to specific literature and to linking LT to environmental sustainability. These synergies are proven, since both approaches seek the reduction of waste and prioritize cleaner production. Moreover, companies that adopt continuous improvement tend to be more prone to implementing environmental practices [4]. Some researchers have explored aspects of this promising applied research field, and have reported benefits including waste and cost reduction, and environmental impact minimization, among others [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. LT and sustainability are complements, and the adoption of lean production practices leads to the reduction of the marginal cost of environmental management and to the improvement of environmental performance [5]. Furthermore, lean and green concepts have in common additional attributes and synergies, such as waste and waste reduction techniques, people and organizations, lead time reduction, supply chain relationships, and key performance indicators (at a service level) [7,12].The construction industry, in particular, lacks comprehensive research approaches to assist on how to combine LT and sustainability to address its economical, societal, and environmental concerns. As a matter of fact,...

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“…A significant portion of construction projects suffer from budget and schedule overruns in addition to significant quality problems (Ahuja, 2012). The construction industry is labor intensive with labor costs representing as much as 30-50% of the project costs (Kazaz, Manisali, and Ulubeyli, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality and Learning: A Case from the Construction Industry in the MENA Region

Kiomjian¹,

Srour²,

Srour³

2016

Construction Research Congress 2016

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Several studies recognize the existence of a relationship between learning and experience, on one hand, and productivity and quality of work, on the other hand. This paper examines, through the use of a case study, the relationship between productivity, quality, and learning within the unique labor pool of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The analysis of the case study confirms the existence of a positive correlation between task repetition (as a proxy for learning) and productivity. The data for the case study was obtained from productivity logs prepared by subcontractors and from material submittal and shop drawings approval logs prepared by the Construction Manager. The analysis of the case study did not show a positive relationship between learning and quality. This outcome is in opposition with the literature.

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Sustainable Construction: Is Lean Green?

Cited by 14 publications

References 3 publications

Development of Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) Matrix for Achieving Integrated Lean and Sustainable Construction

Development of Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) Matrix for Achieving Integrated Lean and Sustainable Construction

A Systematic Literature Review on Integrative Lean and Sustainability Synergies over a Building’s Lifecycle

Quality and Learning: A Case from the Construction Industry in the MENA Region

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