In today’s Finland and right now
Lean is even more precise solution to our construction sector
Without waste we would have considerably more, and our resources would last considerably longer. To minimize waste, we need to economize – this is particularly relevant now that price of raw materials and energy is rocketing. Now it is the right time to approach construction economically and at the same time take environmental issues into better consideration.
The solution to the bottlenecks of Finnish construction
Although lean construction takes roots from the Japanese car industry of the 70s, it has since come a long, proven, and tested way and transformed into an extremely functional and advanced solution even in unpredictable conditions of which today’s construction industry in Finland is a great (and challenging) example.
By improving the project flow, we can concentrate our efforts on efficiency and growth.
Six principles of Lean Construction
Lean construction focuses on creating value for customers in a broader sense than just by improving productivity – it involves minimization of all waste (i.e., reducing waste created in the process of reconstruction, eliminating wasted waiting times, and taking most out of everyone’s abilities).
We no longer use the traditional method where a customer tells us their requirements and we implement these with maximum accuracy, we go much further than that. We have to understand our customers’ wishes and why they want to do certain things in a certain way. This enables to make right decisions throughout the project and contribute to the development work giving all different stakeholders of the project a possibility to evaluate the project from their own perspectives.
Lean means cooperation and consideration of everyone’s work input: doing things logically, for which the flow of information is of enormous importance. On an individual level, this is reflected in the meaningfulness of work.
RAIN3
A research and development project (2022-2025) financed by its members from the construction industry with the aim to continue and boost the change movement of the construction industry supporting the goals relating to lean, productivity, people, and green transition.
IPT4, 2022-25
The IPT project program is a joint research and development program of client organizations in the real estate and construction industry, the primary goal of which is to develop the working methods and quality of Finnish project and service expertise.
Flow efficiency – not just resource efficiency
OUR PROJECTS ARE AFFECTED BY TWO FORCES, BOTH OF WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT:
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
focusing on efficient use of resources and minimizing the cost thereof.
(Which alone can easily lead to an assumption that on the site management is not needed to understand what is going on.)
FLOW EFFICIENCY
focuses on the speed, fluency, and smoothness of production.
(Which requires practical effort and a proper understanding of things – leading to learning and reality-based planning.)
Of these two, only the first one is frighteningly often used, and the focus is mainly on work inputs and the use of resources, paying rather attention e.g., to the number of individual’s working hours than to the overall progression of the project.
Flow efficiency advances and drives the project forward. It may be surprising, but improving of the flow increases the resource efficiency too.
Join our membership!
LCI Finland promotes lean construction, its research, development and training in Finland. In our country, construction is currently one of the major industries making use of lean principles.
Come and join us regardless of your job and position to develop your expertise, your vision – and your humble attitude!
