Lean Design Management

Lean design management provides a set of specific management tools for the design phase, mainly focused on construction projects. The philosophy behind Lean Design management is derived from Lean Construction, that focuses on two main values: Minimizing waste, and creating work flow. Lean Design however has a broader focus, with the emphasis on translating values and visions to a concrete project, securing maximum value for clients and providing a realistic and constructable solution for contractors.

This is done through six different types of workshops:

• Cooperation

• Vision

• Realism

• Critics

• Design phase

• Constructability

• Execution.

For the workshops, Lean design management provides different tools and recommendations as: Target costing, Photo Safari, dialogue recommendations for contracters in the early phase and how to implement the Last Planner system in the Design Phase.

Background

Lean Design utilizes some the ideas from Lean Construction in the design process. Lean construction originates from the Toyota production line, where Toyota developed the Toyota Production System (TPS), a production system to optimize the car-production line at Toyota. The main values of Lean Production are to minimize waste and maximize value in production. The developer of Lean production, Shingo S. defined waste as anything that did not create value for the customer/client, thus optimizing the production by making it Lean.The minimization of waste and maximization of value are also the underlying values for Lean Construction, where the tools from Toyota are used to optimize the processes that make up the “production” in construction. In Lean design these values are also present, with the addition of the value definition. The value definition is established thorugh a series of workshops gathering different sets of stakeholders in workshops, where they collaborate to establish a common set of project values, and with collaboration through with all stakeholders, transform these values into a concrete buildable project, that will provide most value for the client within the budget.

Implementation of Lean Design Management

The different workshops run from the very beginning of the project, to the end of the design process, with varying stakeholders present. The workshops provided here are just examples of a Lean Design process, as the complexity and size of different projects might require different worhshop setups. In the very early phase of a project, the client has to step forward and define a set of demands and values, that has to be put into the finished project As the client might not always have a strong organization with building experience, it is important to invite engineers and contractors in, in an early phase, and develop the project together. Vital to all workshops is, that the people collaborating will be the people later directly involved in the project. If the contractor participates in the early workshops with a manager, and this manager is not assigned to the project later, the assigned manager will not have the same insight in the client and engineer values, and the workshop gains will be lost.

Workshop zero: Cooperation

The goal of this workshop is to establish a collaboration contract between the client, the engineers and the contractor. This workshop is not project oriented, but serves to create a foundation for the collaboration in the project. The cooperation contract is typically a partnering contract. Who: Client, Engineers, Contractors, (end users). When: As early as possible.

’’’Workshop 1: Vision’’’

Workshop one focuses on product values. In this workshop, the end users and client defines and conveys their desired values, visions, needs and dreams to the architect, engineers and contractors. This gives an understanding of exactly which vision the whole project is working towards for all stakeholders in the process. In this process the budget is not yet discussed, and the emphasis is on the needs and values, and not what the client can afford. Who: Client, End users, Engineers, contractors. When: Early in the process. Before any project sketches/propositions.

’’’Workshop 2: Realism’’’

In this workshop, the vision from the previous workshop in concretized. The vision and dream is evaluated against the budget and framework. The goal of this workshop is to maintain the values from the vision, and create the best realistic project within budget. As the dreams and wishes are not always realistic, it is important in this stage to prioritize wishes, and establish how the budget is distributed. It is important to continuously discuss and provide alternative solutions, in order to secure the best project. After the second workshop a project proposal is devoped by the engineers Who: Client, engineers and end users, but the contractor can also provide important criticism on the buildability. When: Before the engineering design begins.

’’’Workshop 3: Criticism’’’

In this workshop the project proposal is evaluated, and the necessary decisions to narrow the project down to a workable project for the engineers are taken. It is vital that the decisions taken by the client are done as a discussion with the engineers, in order to secure the best solutions. In the end of the workshop, the project proposal and all decisions are weighted against the vision from workshop 1, and it is evaluated if the priorities of the project are aligned with the vision, if this have not changed in the mean time. Who: Client and engineers When: Before the design phase enters a high detail phase

’’’Workshop 4: Design Phase’’’

This workshop the focus changes from defining and prioritizing, to planning the design phase. Planning the design phase involves mapping interfaces, and process planning the different phases and tasks. In this workshop it is also determined how to “pull” the contractor experience for the design phase, to secure a buildable project. Who: Engineers, Client and contractor. When: In the beginning of the detailed design phase

’’’Workshop 5: buildability’’

This workshop focuses on discussing the design solutions. The contractor has gone through the design solutions, and evaluated if the solutions are buildable. The contractor has brought alternative solutions, and through a discussion with the engineers, the best solution for the project is chosen. Who: The engineers and the contractor. When: During the detailed design phase, before the final project.

’’’Workshop 6: Execution’’’

Just before the beginning of construction, the engineers go through the designed project with the contractor. This can be combined with the contractors process planning, to step by step go through the phases of the project. Who: The contractors and the engineers. When: Just before construction begins.