What is Lean Construction?

Lean Construction is a production management-based approach to project delivery -- a new way to design and build capital facilities. Lean production management has caused a revolution in manufacturing design, supply and assembly. Applied to construction, Lean changes the way work is done throughout the delivery process. Lean Construction extends from the objectives of a lean production system - maximize value and minimize waste - to specific techniques and applies them in a new project delivery process. As a result: The facility and its delivery process are designed together to better reveal and support customer purposes. Positive iteration within the process is supported and negative iteration reduced. Work is structured throughout the process to maximize value and to reduce waste at the project delivery level. Efforts to manage and improve performance are aimed at improving total project performance because it is more important than reducing the cost or increasing the speed of any activity. "Control" is redefined from "monitoring results" to "making things happen." The performance of the planning and control systems are measured and improved. The reliable release of work between specialists in design, supply and assembly assures value is delivered to the customer and waste is reduced. Lean Construction is particularly useful on complex, uncertain and quick projects. It challenges the belief that there must always be a trade between time, cost, and quality The Last Planner The Last Planner (sometimes referred to as the Last Planner System) is a production planning system designed to produce predictable work flow and rapid learning in programming, design, construction and commissioning of projects. LCI offers Last Planner workshops and seminars designed to introduce participants to the principles of the Last Planner System. Last Planner was developed by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell in the early 1990s. LCI licenses the use of these processes to various organizations, including most recently the Associated General Contractors of America. LCI also registers Last Planner coaches to ensure their understanding of and ability to coach implementation of the Last Planner System on projects. The Last Planner workshops and seminars are designed to introduce participants to the five elements of the Last Planner: Master Scheduling (setting milestones and strategy; identification of long lead items); Phase Pull planning (specify handoffs; identify operational conflicts); Make Work Ready Planning (look ahead planning to ensure that work is made ready for installation; re-planning as necessary); Weekly Work Planning (commitments to perform work in a certain manner and a certain sequence); and Learning (measuring percent of plan complete (PPC), deep dive into reasons for failure, developing and implementing lessons learned). In the past five years, use of Last Planner on projects and within both design and construction firms has increased geometrically. As a consequence, demand for coaching and teaching consultants has also substantially increased. LCI is working to identify the emerging consultants within the market that understand the basic principles of Last Planner. We are committed to being a resource to those who wish to undertake this robust planning system.

We retain a registered trademark on the term and copyright on the materials to prevent people who misunderstand or misrepresent the system from using it in trade without our consent. Because we want those who design and construct with the help of the Last Planner System to have the best possible start, we do require that those who use the term in trade are approved by us. That is, those offering to teach, coach or apply Last Planner as part of a commercial offer need our approval. We also expect them to make financial and other contributions to the Institute in recognition of the financial and other benefits they are getting from the work we have put into developing Last Planner. We are currently developing our criteria for authorizing individual coaches who we believe are sufficiently grounded in the fundamentals of Last Planner and the Last Planner System to effectively convey those tenets. This process will take some time but we are committed to having a process for authorizing coaches on this page by December 31, 2011. We will thereafter update authorized coaches on a separate page on the website.

In the past five years, use of Last Planner on projects and within both design and construction firms has increased geometrically. As a consequence, demand for coaching and teaching consultants has also substantially increased. LCI is working to identify the emerging consultants within the market that understand the basic principles of Last Planner. We are committed to being a resource to those who wish to undertake this robust planning system.