Integrating Lean Construction to Project Delivery Process at XYZ Company - Essay Example

Although lean production has been used by manufacturing firms for decades, its interpretation and integration in the construction industry are relatively new. The idea of lean thinking had been originally derived from the Toyota Production System of Japan which has been subsequently studied by Western scholars across the world for its application in manufacturing industries (Womack et al 1990). Lean production to date has been adopted and related to production functions. However, modern management is gradually accepting it as a concept applicable in other types of industries such as service and process-based industries.

This has opened up new opportunities for more industries to implement lean thinking into management functions.  In the UK construction industry, lean thinking is a relatively new concept and has been gradually introduced with the publication of the Egan report, Rethinking Construction (1998), and the introduction of Construction Lean Improvement Programme (CLIP). Today, the construction industry is experiencing a lean movement to implement good practices, innovations and quality performances of firms throughout the industry.

As part of the industry, our company has also been in pursuit of best practice to achieve excellence in quality service. Despite the drive for improvement over the years, it must be noted that our firm still needs improvements in its processes to sustain competition. The following report is an attempt to address one of the aspects of our operation which requires amelioration. The purpose of the report is to understand how lean and agile concepts can be effectively implemented in a construction process which is service oriented.

The researcher hopes that this study would establish a platform for which other construction companies delivering similar services can adopt and adapt to lean and agile concepts implementation.