Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Cleaner Production
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
Implementing lean construction techniques and management
methods in Chinese projects: A case study in Suzhou, China
Weiqi Xing a, Jian Li Hao b, *, Liang Qian c, Vivian W.Y. Tam d, Karol S. Sikora e
a
School of Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
Department of Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
c
Corporate Real Estate Realization - Asia Pacific, BOSCH China Investment Ltd., Shanghai, China
d
School of Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia, Honorary Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology,
Hefei, China
e
Civil Engineering Department, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
b
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 5 June 2020
Received in revised form
29 October 2020
Accepted 2 November 2020
Available online 5 November 2020
Aimed at maximizing project value while reducing waste and cost, the lean construction (LC) approach
was formally and successfully introduced to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry in 1993. Although LC has rapidly developed since that time, it was not applied to a Chinese
construction project until 2005. However, due to insufficient knowledge and poor execution, this first
attempt at lean construction in China was inadequate. The aim of this study was therefore to discover if
the Chinese construction industry has since discovered how to use lean practices to maximize project
value, shorten the project schedule, improve project quality, and reduce waste. This was achieved by
conducting a case study of a LC project in Suzhou, China. The case study revealed that implementation of
lean practices during the project, including Last Planner System (LPS), Kanban system, Just-In-Time (JIT),
prefabrication, Internet of Things (IoT), quality and safety management, and continuous improvement, all
contributed to the improvement of project performance. To supplement the case study and to provide
insights on the differences between Chinese and international LC, interviews with project stakeholders
and a questionnaire survey of global lean experts were conducted. Results indicated that interviewees
and survey respondents both held the view that project waiting times and defects can be greatly reduced
through the implementation of LC, and that improvement of construction workflow along with project
productivity and quality were the two most valuable benefits of using lean practices; there was also a
consensus that lack of trust and the abilities of stakeholders are the biggest challenges.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
^as de
Handling editor: Cecilia Maria Villas Bo
Almeida
Keywords:
Case study
Kanban system
Last planner system
Lean construction management
1. Introduction
The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry
in China has developed rapidly and successfully over the past fifty
years and is now one of the country’s pillar industries. The gross
output of China’s AEC industry was USD3.5 trillion in 2018 (NBS,
2019), which was 20 times more than in 1978 (Xing et al., 2019),
accounting for 54% of the social fixed assets, and employing 55.6
million people (Wang, 2019).
Even though the AEC industry is prosperous and underpins both
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: 19918642@student.westernsydney.edu.au (W. Xing), JIANLI.
HAO@xjtlu.edu.cn (J.L. Hao), Liang.Qian@cn.bosch.com (L. Qian), v.tam@
westernsydney.edu.au (V.W.Y. Tam), KarolSikora@uowdubai.ac.ae (K.S. Sikora).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124944
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
urbanization and the gross domestic product (GDP), there are those
in the industry who complain about the low profit margins (Gao
and Low, 2014). It has been claimed that the dynamic and complex properties of the AEC industry, extensive management
methods, and insufficient construction technology has resulted in
rapid expansion at the expense of low profit (Wang, 2015). Along
with this unsatisfactory economic pattern, reverse social and
environmental impacts are two areas of public concern. For
instance, some Chinese construction companies are exposed to the
risks of project delays, quality flaws, cost overrun, and safety hazards when they undertake a construction project (Li et al., 2017). In
addition, construction related activities in China cause more than
one third of national raw material and energy consumption (Zhou
et al., 2018), and 1.5 billion tons of waste generation (Hao et al.,
2019). These statistics suggest that traditional construction
W. Xing, J.L. Hao, L. Qian et al.
Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
performances through focusing customer requirements, learning
and innovating, and eliminating non-value adding activities. Such
advantages are in accord with the sustainability agenda, although
the economic benefits are claimed to be the primary motivator for
the AEC industry (Carvajal-Arango et al., 2019).
The current trend in construction projects is to integrate lean
philosophy with other techniques and concepts. Such synergies
have been demonstrated to be mostly positive to obtain higher
productivity in construction projects (Tezel et al., 2020). According
to Li et al. (2019), research interests and visualizations of LC have
shifted from cost management to a combination of BIM and prefabrication. Saieg et al. (2018) explored the combination of lean,
green and BIM to strengthen the synergies and interrelationships of
these concepts/tools within the AEC industry, which allows for
more complicated and sustainable construction projects. The positive effects on energy consumption and carbon emission reductions through integration of prefabrication and lean practices
have also been studied (Heravi et al., 2020).
methods and management approaches have serious drawbacks
that are in urgent need of attention, since both quality and safety
are more important than construction speed and output. As a
consequence, government, scholars, and industrialists need to help
innovate the AEC industry in terms of policy, concept and
technology.
With a deeper understanding of sustainable development and
environmental protection, advanced theories and practices such as
green building and lean construction management (LCM) have
become more closely aligned with corresponding policies. For
instance, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the
People’s Republic of China (MOHURD, 2020) informed all regions
within China that green construction strategies should be implemented in accordance with local conditions. The transition to lean
development of the AEC industry promotes industry reform and
stimulates economic growth (Yang, 2017).
However, implementing LCM in China’s AEC industry is at the
initial stage for residential and commercial buildings. Relevant
studies focusing on the domestic market are rare, since local construction firms tend to use traditional construction methods.
Consequently, this study chose a lean practice case study from the
industrial sector to examine the implementation of LC and LCM in
Suzhou, China. Interviews with stakeholders in the case project and
a questionnaire survey of global lean practitioners and scholars
were conducted to obtain opinions of LCM from both a local and
global perspective. This allowed for a comparative analysis to better
understand the opportunities and threats of LC implementation in
China.
This research addresses LC implementation in a Chinese industrial construction project to fill a knowledge gap. Findings from
the study provide a means by which lean principles and techniques
can be adapted to construction projects in China, provide a mechanism for stakeholder cooperation, and identify the lessons learned
for future improvements. It also provides both theoretical and
practical guidance to the construction firms that intend to implement LCM in future projects.
2.2. Implementation of lean practices in China
Having witnessed the advantages of lean practices applied the
AEC industry in many parts of the world, some Chinese scholars and
local construction firms considered that this new approach could
be adopted by China’s AEC industry (Li et al., 2020). Despite LC
having been introduced in 1993 (Koskela, 1993), the first attempt at
implementing lean thinking in China’s AEC industry was not until
2005 (Low and Min, 2005). Also, only a few large firms in China
have the ability and resources to apply LC techniques and LCM to
projects, since initial investigations and preliminary work are
extensive and resource consuming. The attitude towards making
changes (Liao, 2018), insufficient theoretical support (Li et al.,
2020), and delayed planning information (Li et al., 2017) are
several more impediments to implementing lean practice in China.
Consequently, the delayed adoption and slow impediment-laden
development has created a giant gap between China and other
countries with regard to the practice of LC.
Early LC research in China was more on the theoretical level than
the practical level, and the majority of studies emphasized individual LC techniques rather than LCM. The first systematic research
on LCM in China was in 2004 (Jiang and Su, 2004) and focused on
LCM’s potential for China’s construction market and local enterprises (Li et al., 2020). In 2007, Min and Su (2007) developed a
construction management model based on the transformation,
flow, and value (TFV) theory, adapting a lean practice from
Denmark to investigate the suitability of it to China. They found
that changing the constructors’ mind, pursuing continuous
improvement, and adjusting the methods to local condition were
three key points for successful implementation of LCM in China.
Feng and Liu (2008) presented LCM through the lens of theoretical
and practical knowledge and identified the challenges China’s AEC
industry face when implementing LCM. For instance, a lack of
implementing time, personnel training, effective organization and
critical thinking are possible threats when adopting LC techniques
such as the LPS, value engineering and JIT. Starting in 2010, more
comprehensive investigations on LC applications and LCM were
carried out in China, usually combined with other sustainable and
advanced concepts. Aiming to strengthen the efficiency of the domestic AEC industry, Zhao et al. (2011) explored interactions between LCM and BIM by constructing an interactive matrix. Twenty
one interaction points were summarized and suggestions provided
but no case was studied to validate how the suggestions could be
implemented in a project. Huang and Gao (2011) integrated lean
principles with the unique characteristics of China’s AEC industry to
find ways of making LC and LCM suitable for China.
2. Literature review
2.1. Worldwide lean practice implementations
Formally put forward by Koskela (1993), LC received great
attention from the AEC sector. It aimed to implement lean thinking
from manufacturing to construction for improving project quality
and efficiency, while reducing construction costs and waste generation. Along with the LC concept, scholars have concentrated on
LC techniques to achieve higher productivity. For example, LPS
(Ballard, 1994), JIT (Ballard and Howell, 1995), pull-scheduling
(Tommelein, 1998), and Lean Project Delivery System (LPDS)
(Ballard and Howell, 2003).
LC has been successfully utilized in the AEC industry globally.
Among 32 lean practices identified from the literature, the most
common one applied to construction project was LPS, with JIT and
pull-scheduling used in building and infrastructure planning,
design and construction activities (Babalola et al., 2019). Other
more comprehensive lean practices have been attempted to
improve project performance, including concurrent engineering (Li
et al., 2017), visualization (Dave et al., 2016), Kanban (Sarhan et al.,
2017), and the 5S method (Sort, Straighten, Standardize, Shine, and
Sustain) (Salem et al., 2006). The positive economic, environmental
and social impacts of implementing lean practices have been well
recognized by scholars. For example, Issa (2013) found that the
implementation of lean practice effectively minimized the risks of
time overrun, while Meng (2019) found LC with supply chain
collaboration helped to significantly boost time, cost and quality
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
implementation globally, the questionnaire was distributed only
to potential respondents working outside of China.
The results from both case project stakeholders and global lean
experts were evaluated and compared by statistical analytical
methods including mean value and ranking, standard deviation (SD),
and inter-rater reliability by Cronbach’s alpha (Bajjou and Chafi, 2018;
Aslam et al., 2020). The frequency of lean practices used on construction projects was ascertained, and potential benefits and challenges were analyzed. Recommendations to further utilize lean
practices were made according to the comparative results.
LC applications and LCM offer theoretical and methodological
support to China’s domestic AEC industry. Research focusing on
Chinese construction enterprises implementing LCM, identified
three forms of LCM: TFV theory, Japanese style management
derived from Toyota Production System (TPS), and detailed management aimed at achieving standardization to meet the demands
of customers (Liao, 2018). The periods 2001 to 2007, and 2008 to
2012 were LC in its infancy and the early stage of LC in China
respectively. LC in China is now in the third stage called the highspeed development period, with extended research interests and
areas, and enriched functionality (Li et al., 2020). However, there
are still several barriers that need to be overcome when implementing lean principles in China’s AEC industry (Li et al., 2017).
4. Implementation of lean practice in the case study project
4.1. Project information
3. Research methodology
The case study was conducted on an industrial building construction site in Suzhou, China from June to August 2019. The case
was researched and evaluated as it applies to several LC techniques
and LCM methods throughout the whole project process. The case
study building is a six-storey car park with two spiral ramps that
occupies 31,349.47 m2 with parking for 1,000 cars. Its structure is
made up of precast steel beams and reinforced concrete columns,
and the roof is covered with 412 kW photovoltaic panels. The estimated budget to construct the building was approximately USD12
million, and it took 360 calendar days to complete from the start of
construction in December 2018.
A temporary LCM group was established to manage issues
occurring on site during the project. The group included representatives from the client, the design institute, the management company, the site supervision company, the main contractor, and
subcontractors. The aforementioned stakeholders were selected
based on their understanding of LCM and their acceptance of it being
implemented on the case study project. The management company
undertook to equip all their personnel working on the construction
site with basic knowledge of LCM. Fig. 2 shows the personnel allocation of the 25 members of the temporary LCM group.
The multi-method model of research is recommended to
develop robust research design (Gable, 1994). Further, based on
Anisimova and Thomson (2012), it is favorable to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to conduct the empirical study.
This work therefore follows the multi-method research
comprising the strategies of case study, interview and questionnaire survey, in combination with qualitative and quantitative
approaches for data collection, and statistical methods for data
analysis. Fig. 1 shows the research framework regarding the
phases and objectives.a semi-structured questionnaire survey was
conducted containing six questions with a choice of answer, two
scoring questions using 5-point Likert scale, and two open-ended
questions. The purpose of the survey was to test the validity of the
LCM group members’ perspectives by comparing their experience
of LC implementation with experiences from global lean practitioners. The survey was delivered to members of the Lean Construction Institute, to scholars who had published peer-reviewed
articles in the LC field, and to practitioners currently working on
LC projects. Since the aim of the study was to investigate the
difference between implementation of LC in China and LC
Fig. 1. Research methodology procedures.
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Fig. 2. Personnel allocation of on-site temporary LCM group.
week. During the assembly, the PPC and weekly plan for each activity were reported by the corresponding disciplines, such as civil
engineering, mechanical, electrical and plumbing, and decoration.
This follows the principle of the LPS that construction plans should
be established by the construction personnel as the last planners,
which involves them more closely in production of the project
schedule. After the assembly, representatives from the stakeholders
would hold an extra meeting to draw up a plan for the next month,
namely the 4-week look-ahead. Discussions during this meeting
was not as detailed as the weekly plan but more prospective and
holistic, assisting with the layout of future works. Stand-up meetings, the smallest unit in LPS, is one of the most significant supports
for operation of the LPS and the Kanban system, since it strengthens
the communications among the managers and construction
personnel at an operation level. LCM group members convened at
the end of each day to review the status of the day’s activities and
discuss the issues detected on-site. Issues that need to be solved
within the week were recorded by post-it notes attached to the
moveable Kanban time box, while those that had been addressed
were removed. Different colored post-it notes represented different
disciplines.
4.2. Last Planner System and Kanban system
As shown by Fig. 3, the LPS and the Kanban system were closely
associated in the case study project, since LPS was used for planning and scheduling while Kanban was used as a visual tool to show
detailed daily and weekly schedules. Both techniques were intended to reduce variances and improve the project’s workflow.
The master schedule was prepared based on forecasts from the
LCM group and the contract handover deadline. Phase planning,
presented as ‘pull-scheduling’ in this project, was also implemented to connect to more detailed plans, takt time planning, and
percentage of plan completed (PPC). On the construction site, a
method similar to concurrent engineering but focusing more on the
workflow than takt planning, was adopted. It divided construction
assignments into a series of tasks and coordinated operations of the
LPS, achieving an optimal workflow sequence and synchronize
production of the project. Based on the characteristics of the
building structure, the multi-storey car park was separated into two
construction regions: the parking area and the spiral ramp. The
construction tasks within the parking area were further divided
into practical areas, considering the target-takt-time, the time per
output unit, and the capacity needed.
The 4-week look-ahead, weekly plan, daily stand-up meetings,
and the Kanban system were interconnected in this project by using a moveable Kanban. The weekly assembly was an opportunity
to give an account of construction progress and issues encountered
over the past week and to put forward a plan for the upcoming
4.3. Just-In-Time and prefabrication
One important reason for implementing LCM in this project was
to fully utilize resources without waste, because the available onsite space was not sufficient for material production and storage.
Fig. 3. Components and relationships of LPS and Kanban system in the case.
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Fig. 4. JIT logistics for resource management in the case study project.
preceding assignments have been completely finished. The contractor’s daily report records the intraday work, outlines plans for
the next day, including arrangements of labor, materials, and
equipment, and predicts future demands. The report is checked for
accuracy by the site supervisor and for accuracy and rationality by
the manager.
Prefabrication is a production method that creates inventory off
site, which allows for continuous on-site workflow, and waste
minimization (Tam and Hao, 2014). The prefabrication rate of this
Accordingly, prefabricated components were widely adopted and
the JIT logistics principle applied to accommodate the characteristics of this construction method. See Fig. 4.
JIT highlights the importance of workflow sequencing and logistics, which optimizes the arrangement of resources to eliminate
waste. With the assistance of LPS, the construction schedule is
clearly defined, whilst JIT logistics provide for resources to be
available at the right time, in the optimum quantity, with the
necessary materials, labor and equipment, and only when the
Table 1
Main benefits of the prefabricated elements used in the case study project.
Item
On-site application
Main benefits
Minimizing on-site noise and dust;
Reducing on-site inventory, defects and waiting times;
Lowering the cost of on-site labor, material and equipment;
Decreasing energy consumption;
Maintaining standardization of the design;
Reducing on-site health and safety hazards;
Avoiding overproduction.
Precast steelwork
Deck panel
Assembled scaffolding
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Fig. 5. Applications of digital technologies and IoTs in the case study project.
project, Aconex was the primary tool for the LCM group members
to inspect the project status and track the workflow. It was especially significant for the storage of important files and for document
approval, as members were able to visit it anytime and anywhere,
thereby reducing paper documentation on site to a minimum. The
site inspection and issues track functions of Aconex Field provided a
significant boost to the quality and efficiency of inspections and
acceptance of construction tasks by using a holistic approach. Once
a site supervisor detects an undesirable on-site issue, they record it
on the platform to inform the contractors and track the solutions.
Contractors can follow the recorded details, such as the issue type,
the location, the issue description and due date, and respond to the
supervisors through the mobile service anytime when they rectify
the problems on site, instead of submitting a paper report.
The client for this project established an I-site content management platform, which was connected to intelligent safety helmets worn by site personnel. The platform receives a signal emitted
from the helmet and transfers the signal into digital information
that is presented as a flow heat map. The system also classifies the
construction personnel in terms of different work areas, job duties
and disciplines, providing a convenient manpower management
tool. An automatic count of attendance and work hours, as well as
risk pre-warming can also be integrated into intelligent safety
helmets.
QR codes make full use of IoT by reducing direct human-tohuman or human-to-computer interactions. The case study project employed QR codes to record production and inspection procedures for all prefabricated components. There are several
advantages of QR codes, such as low probability of code error, large
information capacity, and strong fault tolerance, which allows
project information to be stored and accessed in a convenient and
accurate manner. Furthermore, QR codes enrich the quality control
of projects in terms of supply chain management and inspection
tracking.
project exceeded 50%, which is made up of prefabricated steelwork
for the main structure, deck paneling, and preassembled scaffolding. Off-site production brings remarkable environmental,
economic, technical and managerial benefits to the project, as
shown in Table 1. Furthermore, the deck panels act as a permanent
mould for the cast-in-situ concrete floor, which follows the concept
of modern timber-concrete composites (Richard et al., 2019). By not
requiring concrete to be placed in the bottom part of the floor slab
where the concrete is in tension and therefore ineffective, increased
bending strength and savings in the quantities of concrete used are
achieved. It also increases durability by limiting crack propagation
and reducing water ingress that can freeze or/and carry damaging
salt ions (Sikora and Klemm, 2014). The utilization of these prefabricated elements, require the application of JIT to save materials
and guarantee a smooth workflow.
4.4. Digital technologies and Internet of Things
Digital technologies and the IoT are effective tools that aided the
project and supported the LCM group with decisions over critical
work processes and elimination of possible risks. The applications
used in this project included BIM, Aconex and Aconex Field, I-site
and QR code, where they integrated with LCM to promote productivity from design to maintenance phases.
Fig. 5 illustrate the functions of each application in different
project phases. BIM was used to present a clear visual presentation
of the design scheme to the LCM group before commencement of
construction work to help them understand the details of the
structural design and appearance of the project, to show them how
client design changes were incorporated, and to demonstrate how
clash detection was easier with the help of 3D visualization. During
the construction stage, construction simulation (4D feature) coordinated with the schedule was used to present the dynamic characteristics of the construction progress, and arrange the material,
labor and equipment resources accordingly. Contrary to traditional
manual calculation of the schedule and resources distribution, BIM
relies on the input of accurate information and scenario simulation.
Consequently, manual calculation mistakes with consequential
risks, waste, and uneven distribution of resources decline sharply
with the use of BIM.
Aconex is an information collaboration platform providing
project information and process management services, while
Aconex Field, a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) inspection tool, is
responsible for site inspections. Both rely on a cloud-based platform accessed by mobile and web terminals. In this case study
4.5. Quality and safety management
Clients have their own standard for quality and safety of their
construction project, where the integration of digital technologies
and IoTs are adopted as shown by Fig. 6. Both the management
company and the site supervision company took a major role in
quality and safety monitoring in the case study project. They did so
through inspecting on-site construction work, organizing weekly
quality and safety meetings, holding meetings for specific issues,
and using Aconex Field software to track issues. For quality and
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Fig. 6. Quality and safety management in the case study project.
control by QR codes, suppliers were required to record the
manufacturing process and properties of the prefabricated elements, then input into a QR code label attached to the element. All
the prefabricated parts got a unique birth certificate QR code when
they were delivered to the construction site, showing how they
were produced and thereby improving the transparency of the
supplier’s production system. The QR code requirement also
applied to concealed works that contained vital parts or parts prone
to damage. Every work stage was documented to assist QR code
users to follow the construction progress and ascertain responsibility in case of quality issues.
safety monitoring, the management company focused more on
establishing a framework of related issues, while the site supervision company was in charge of executing the quality and safety
plans.
Before the construction work started, the project personnel
were required to complete a site environment, health and safety
(EHS) orientation. Apart from the initial training, weekly safety
education and tool-box meetings were held to strengthen the
safety consciousness of construction personnel.
On-site inspections included daily, weekly, and specific inspections, as well as a safety audit. The purpose of the weekly
quality and safety meetings was to review the construction status
of the previous week and identify the quality and safety plans for
the upcoming week, whereas specific meetings were to address
specific quality and safety matters as necessary. In addition, risk
management was applied to identify, evaluate, and control risks
based on the likelihood and potential consequences of any given
hazard.
For more quality and safety management measures, digital
technologies and IoTs played important roles. BIM was employed to
conduct clash detection and construction process simulation,
demonstrating interference or design flaws prior to construction
activities, while Aconex Field was used to report issues in real time,
which avoided checking omissions and shortened the response
time. In addition, the LCM group implemented an intelligent helmet integrated with I-site for real-time communication and
personnel positioning. The intelligent helmet was equipped with a
motion sensor that sent out a signal to support the real-time
positioning function visualized on I-site. Its two-way communication promoted the exchange of information and instructions, so as
to achieve remote commend and reduce the unnecessary movement of personnel. It is an effective way to reduce the likelihood of
severe injury occurring, especially for projects with a large construction area, complicated structure, and/or a large number of onsite personnel. Regarding supply chain management and quality
4.6. Continuous improvement and scrum
The core principle of the continuous improvement is the selfreflection of the existing processes along with PDCA model
(Heigermoser et al., 2019). To add value to project activities and
make profitable progress during the construction period, the case
study project integrated continuous improvement based on lean
thinking, the Scrum iteration software program, and Agile project
management methodology. Generally, several elements were
reviewed during the stand-up meetings, including the work done
today, the work needed to be finished tomorrow, and obstacles that
needed to be addressed. Through a continuous round of daily reviews, better informed decisions were iterated on the basis of the
current construction progress in line with the Scrum iteration
process. A similar approach was taken at the weekly meetings of
the LCM group where tasks were prioritized from immediate action
to inclusion in the upcoming weekly plan. Construction personnel
were then notified accordingly of the tasks they had been assigned
to.
The Kanban used in this project was continuously upgraded
from the lessons learned from previous projects and current
experience. Initially, the level of detailing of the LCM cards on
which the information was recoded was simplified based on
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Fig. 7. Improvement of Kanban system.
down activities were tightly linked. There was no evidence of
overproduction because the construction activities followed the
design and construction plan strictly, and prefabricated elements
were extensively used. However, the interviewees noted that prefabrication requires a higher degree of completeness and precision
in design. In terms of energy efficiency, the client considered that
energy waste was mainly connected to over-design, which can be
diminished through greater BIM collaboration.
However, interviewees felt that there were several obstacles
that LPS could not fully address on the construction site, which can
be attributed to inharmonic relationships among different stakeholders (Miller et al., 2002). From the perspective of constructionrelated personnel, since managers from the contractor’s side are
less academically qualified, their awareness of the significance of
work division and the ability to scientifically break down the work
tasks are deficient. Even if the managers may fully understand the
construction management methods, it is ultimately the construction personnel who execute the work and their activities may
deviate from the essence of the LPS. This confirmed the study of Li
et al. (2017). From the perspective of project stakeholders, there is a
contradiction between the client and contractors that hinders work
division. Since contractors are profit driven, it is advantageous for
them if less labor is allocated to a task with a longer construction
period permitted. On the other hand, the client would prefer to use
more labor and resources to minimize the duration of the task.
These two different requirements are difficult to reconcile and so
the division of work has to be balanced to mitigate the differences
to ensure further cooperation. The client gets involved in setting
the work schedule and participates in on-site monitoring, while the
managers from the contractor assign the tasks to the construction
personnel and guarantee the construction schedule. In view of the
aforementioned difficulties, it would seem that the successful
implementation of LCM in China remains a challenge.
feedback from previous users. However, some users were still unhappy with the card’s complex format and complained that hidden
regions of the card were prone to neglect. As a consequence, post-it
notes on the moveable Kanban replaced the cards to show the
construction issues, as shown in Fig. 7.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Local perspective on lean practice from interviews
5.1.1. Factors influencing lean practice implementation
According to Li et al. (2020), although LC is in a stage of rapid
development in China, it is extremely unbalanced in terms of
geographical location, enterprise size and project type. Consequently, exploring the benefits and challenges of implementing
lean practice becomes one of the incentives for promoting LC in
China.
While there are eight types of on-site waste in LC philosophy
(Gao and Low, 2014), seven types of waste reductions were
observed as a result of implementing lean practices in the case
study project. The effectiveness of LCM to inventory associated with
waiting time are fully addressed by the case study project. The
limited construction space influenced the quantity of inventory and
its storing period, therefore a complete and detailed schedule, and
smooth workflow were vital for preparing the resources on time
and accordingly shortening the waiting time. One of the goals of
LCM is to arrange and maintain the workflow properly through
well-established schedules, so the waste reductions from inventory
and waiting time are obvious. More than 90% of the defects were
effectively solved or observed in advance, owing to the employment of LCM and elaborate preliminary work, which ultimately
reduced waste and saved resources. The smooth workflow also had
positive impacts on underutilizing people and transport as the top
Table 2
Lessons learned from previous project experiences for continuous improvement.
Stakeholders
Lessons learned & Continuous improvement
Contractors
LCM process generally helps to maintain the workflow;
Mapping out 4-week look-ahead takes lots of effort;
LCM only works if everybody follows commitment;
LCM Kanban board is inconvenient to see the details.
Lots of unforeseen construction stops means that the LCM Kanban board has to be continuously updated;
Reward and punishment system should be implemented to ensure contractors fulfill their targets.
LCM Kanban card should be simplified;
For complex areas an additional more detailed schedule will be used on a separate board;
LCM manager as a single role is necessary for each contractor and for the site managers;
Daily LCM meeting is in the afternoon, verification of works can be done properly in advance so meeting duration can be reduced.
Site managers
Client
8
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
offer netlike and on-time communications among stakeholders.
However, the contract manager mentioned that the efficiency of
applying QR codes to structural elements was not as good as
anticipated, since all the information had to be uploaded and
classified to the system manually.
The interviewees provided comprehensive feedback from their
experiences of implementing LC techniques and LCM in the case
study project, highlighting both the potential benefits and possible
challenges. Table 3 provides a summary of these benefits and
challenges.
5.1.2. Suggestions to promote implementation of lean practice
Different from the manufacturing industry, the construction
industry is more complex and sensitive to unpredictable issues and
external factors (Paez et al., 2005), such as the weather, government policies, and supply chain problems as encountered in the
case study project. According to the construction manager, construction plans never keep up with on-site changes so that it is
ineluctable to have to adjust the schedule throughout the construction period even if a comprehensive plan is set. In short,
managers need to provide enough buffer in construction assignments and set a more flexible schedule to allow for occasional
setbacks.
In terms of daily stand-up meetings, its efficiency improved as
the construction process advanced. Lessons learned from previous
project experiences, summarized in Table 2, show it is better to
limit the duration of meetings so that participants can concentrate
on the most urgent issues and avoid unnecessary discussions. The
Kanban system used in the case study project was essentially an
improved version that includes Scrum iteration, where the tasks in
terms of deadlines and responsibilities are more visible to managers. Accordingly, the fineness of LPS decreases since the target
receivers are LCM group members rather than on-site construction
personnel. Nevertheless, the client recognized that the theorybased actions of the LPS should be combined with practice and
that corresponding adjustments sometimes need to be made. The
idea is similar to the view of Meng (2019), who emphasized the
coexistence of learning from other industries and pursuing an individual path when promoting LCM.
The interviewees also stated that the future of construction will
be more integrated with IoT technology. BIM virtually verifies the
quality and build ability of a construction design, so that the work
will not be interrupted by design failures and can be fully realized
on the construction site. The next level of BIM application is design
and build so that construction can be made in advance with higher
precision among different disciplines. The online virtual model
coheres all the stakeholders, such as clients, designers and builders,
remotely to provide for more efficient collaboration. This opinion is
exactly aligned with scholars who suggest that LC should be supported by visualization tool for improving process transparency
(Sacks et al., 2009), and LCM level (Heigermoser et al., 2019). The
utilization of Aconex and Aconex Field provides for the distribution
of paperless documents and mobile-accessible workflow. They also
5.2. Global perspectives on lean practice from survey
5.2.1. General information about respondents
A total of 22 LC practitioners and scholars provided valid responses to the questionnaire survey. Several respondents had
multiple roles in the AEC industry. Consultants accounted for 31.8%,
followed by researchers (27.3%), contractors (27.3%), architects
(13.6%), civil engineers (9.1%), and construction managers (9.1%).
Fig. 8 displays the proportions of respondents regarding business
type, working experience, and number of LC projects they had
previously worked on. A majority of respondents (59.1%) worked
for a private company, and more than half (54.5%) had worked for
more than 10 years in the AEC industry. Although all respondents
were either LC practitioners or scholars, only 45.5% of them had
participated in more than 10 LC projects and could therefore be
considered experts in this field. According to data from the
returned questionnaires, commercial construction was the predominant (72.7%) business type using LC that respondents had
worked on; 10 respondents had worked on LC residential projects;
7 respondents had been involved in industrial LC projects; and 5
respondents had worked on infrastructure projects.
5.2.2. Waste reduction through lean practice
Table 4 shows the main LC techniques that respondents had
prior experience of. LPS and JIT had been used by the greatest
number of respondents, while quality and safety management, and
constraint analysis had been used by about half of the respondents
in their previous projects. The survey result strengthens the
contention by some researchers that LPS and JIT are the most
widely used lean practices in construction (Babalola et al., 2019; Li
et al., 2020). Seeking the reason why such lean practices have high
Table 3
Benefits and challenges learned from implementing LC and LCM in the case study project.
Benefits
Plan
Schedule
Waste
Communication
Defect
Health and safety
Continuous improvement
Involved stakeholders
Challenges
User requirement
Stakeholders’ willingness
Educational level and
customs
Manpower management
Profit distribution
Project quality
Policy
Material market
More forecasts and optimizations before construction begins means that less risk and better control of costs.
Well-established schedules generate higher productivity and improve the quality of the project.
Various LC techniques, LCM and other technologies combine to reduce on-site waste and lower costs.
Implementations of LC techniques and LCM promote stakeholder collaboration and communication resulting in smoother workflow and less
rework.
Completion of defects detected on-site reached 90%, which is much higher than traditional construction projects.
Quality and safety management in LCM resulted in zero accidents occurring on site.
Lessons learned and Scrum help to continuously improve project quality and productivity.
The use of LC techniques and LCM promotes their acceptance by traditional construction companies and helps to extend the further
applications in China.
Difficulty of convincing the user to align their requirements with lean thinking.
Stakeholders lack time and willingness to learn lean thinking, LC techniques and LCM.
Difficult to change conventional customs and knowledge of traditional construction methods to LC techniques and LCM.
Dealing with the workload and worktime of construction personnel is a challenge since respect for humanity is the principle of lean.
Implementing LC techniques and LCM may cut down the profits of contractors when they first use them.
Insufficient design and construction time given but high demand due to the rapid expansion of the AEC industry.
Adjustment of government policies may delay the schedule and increase the cost of the project, which may even result in abandoning the
project.
Controlling the construction investment as the price of construction material is always fluctuant.
9
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Fig. 8. Business type, working experience, and number of LC projects worked on.
thinking, big room methodology, lean integrated project delivery,
retrospectives, team health assessments, and cost benefit analysis.
As would be expected, respondents who had worked in the AEC
industry for more than 20 years had the most experience of
implementing LC techniques and management methods in
projects.
On the question of waste reduction, Table 5 clearly shows that
the majority of respondents experienced practical benefits from the
implementation of LC techniques and LCM, with reduction of
waiting times, defects, and underutilization of personnel being the
three most obvious. The results are generally in agreement with the
findings of Sarhan et al. (2017), although they also claimed that
divergence on types of waste reduction might occur due to the lean
practices used, the project type, and the enterprise size. As a result,
the opinions from respondents on waste reductions are well connected to their experiences of lean practice implementation. In
general, LPS encourages the pull-driven method to match all the
resources and requirements on-site including labor, materials and
equipment arrangement (Song and Liang, 2011), and JIT is best for
shortening the waiting time for material delivery and corresponding transport issues (Solaimani and Sedighi, 2020). Also, the
increasing trending of digital technologies and prefabrication applications have been identified in LC projects recently (Li et al.,
2019), which significantly improves standardization and brings
benefits to the project by reducing defects, inventory, and overproduction. Since most of respondents had experiences of LPS and
JIT, the reduction of waiting times, defects and underutilizing
people may be due to those lean practice techniques.
Table 4
LC techniques with which respondents had prior experience.
Ranking
LC techniques
No. of respondents
Percentage
1
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
LPS
JIT
Quality and safety management
Constraint analysis
Concurrent engineering
Kanban system
LPDS
Target value delivery
5S method
17
17
13
11
8
7
4
3
2
77.3%
77.3%
59.1%
50%
36.4%
31.8%
18.2%
13.6%
9.1%
Table 5
Respondents’ opinions on the three most significant types of waste reduced through
lean practice implementation.
Ranking
Waste reduction
No. of respondents
Percentage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Waiting time
Defects
Underutilizing people
Inventory
Overproduction
Motion
Transport
Energy
16
14
13
8
6
4
3
1
72.7%
63.6%
59.1%
36.4%
27.3%
18.2%
13.6%
4.5%
implementation ratio, it can be explained that compatibility and
profitability are the topmost criteria when considering whether or
not to implement lean practice (Aslam et al., 2020). Apart from
those listed, other lean techniques experienced by respondents
were shadow boards, PPC boards, value stream mapping (VSM), A3
5.2.3. Benefits and challenges of lean practice implementation
The values from Cronbach’s alpha indicate that the result obtained in Table 6 are reliable. Of the nine benefits of using lean
Table 6
Level of importance scores for benefits of using LC techniques and LCM (1 ¼ Not at all important; 2 ¼ Slightly important; 3 ¼ Important; 4 ¼ Fairly important; 5 ¼ Very
important).
Ranking
Benefit identified
Level of importance score
1
Improvement of project productivity and quality
2
Improvement of construction workflow
3
Improvement of health and safety at work
4
Elimination of waste
5
Reduction of construction time and cost
6
Improvement of interpersonal relations and communications
7
Reduction of variability
8
Improvement of standardization
9
Reduction of material, water and energy consumption
Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.809: Good
10
1
2
3
4
5
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
2
5
4
6
3
4
6
3
8
7
3
8
10
7
5
4
8
4
7
7
4
3
12
12
11
9
9
6
7
5
3
Mean score
SD
4.409
4.273
4.136
4.045
3.909
3.773
3.727
3.364
3.136
0.734
0.935
0.990
1.090
1.109
0.973
1.162
1.177
0.990
W. Xing, J.L. Hao, L. Qian et al.
Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
Table 7
Scores of challenges when using LC techniques and LCM according to its level of difficulty (1 ¼ Not at all difficult; 2 ¼ Slightly difficult; 3 ¼ Difficult; 4 ¼ Fairly difficult; 5 ¼ Very
difficult).
Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
Cronbach’s alpha
Challenge identified
Level of difficulty score
Lack of trust and abilities in the implementation of lean
Unwillingness of participant to face the drawbacks
Ineffective communication
Level of education of labor resources for lean
Insufficient knowledge about lean
¼ 0.582: Poor
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
0
2
1
2
3
7
4
7
5
8
5
7
5
6
4
9
7
6
8
5
1
2
3
practice, “improvement of project productivity and quality” obtained the highest level of importance score from the respondents.
“Improvement of construction workflow”, “elimination of waste”,
and “improvement of health and safety at work” were also regarded
as fairly important benefits. Although “reduction of material, water
and energy consumption” received the lowest score, the respondents nevertheless rated it as an important benefit. This result
is in line with the study of Bajjou and Chafi (2018), where construction time and cost were considered to be less important than
quality and safety, whilst they were still the key benefits of
employing lean practice on construction projects.
Table 7 shows respondent scores for the five possible challenges
of using LC techniques and LCM. It can be seen that the respondents
considered the biggest challenge to be “lack of trust and abilities in
the implementation of LC techniques” with a score bordering on
the fairly difficult level of 4. The other four challenges are closer to
the difficult level score of 3. Respondents raised additional possible
challenges, which primarily concerned subjective factors, such as
resistance to change, lack of respect, and fear of negative consequences and blame. However, it should be noted that the result is
less reliable than benefits obtained based on Cronbach’s alpha
value.
Since the defined levels of importance and difficulty are classified using a similar scoring method, it is possible to compare the
benefits and challenges of using lean practice in a project by
comparing scores. Accordingly, a comparison of scores reveals that
the benefits of implementing lean practice in a project outweigh
Mean score
SD
3.818
3.318
3.182
3.136
3.136
1.181
1.249
0.958
1.125
1.167
the challenges. This is strong evidence to support the contention
that the use of LC techniques and LCM should be promoted for all
projects.
Overall, there is too much focus on data showing how LC improves safety, quality and efficiency, and not enough on the barriers to implementation of LC to the AEC industry. The respondent
in question felt that it is better to deal with the challenges before
implementing a greater degree of lean practice in AEC projects. As
a result, suggestions can be made from the perspectives of the
individual, team, government, and the AEC industry. One suggestion from an individual perspective was that individual LC
performance should be incentivized in order to encourage LC
thinking at the individual level of the project. Accordingly,
training and continuous education either from internal or external
LC experts should be provided for both individual and project
teams to build and maintain enthusiasm for lean practice.
Furthermore, developing an understanding of LC and bringing
lean concepts to the team should be proportional to their maturity
level in terms of LC experience. It was also suggested that government and regulatory authorities should play a greater role
regarding the implementation and awareness of LC and LCM by
providing both financial and political support. Finally, a national
LC initiative involving all stakeholders in the AEC industry should
be implemented. If LC is expected by all stakeholders and people
are held accountable from the top down, the full benefits of LC
techniques and LCM can be realized.
Table 8
Comparative analysis of results from case study interviews and survey questionnaire.
Case study interviews
Questionnaire survey
LC techniques and LCM methods
LPS;
Kanban system;
JIT;
Concurrent engineering;
Constraint analysis;
Quality and safety management.
Three most reductions of waste
Inventory;
Waiting time;
Defects
Improvement of construction workflow;
Improvement of project productivity and quality;
Improved collaboration and communication among
stakeholders.
Educational level and customs of stakeholders;
Lack of trust and abilities in the implementation of LC
techniques and LCM;
Fully address user requirement.
LPS;
JIT;
Quality and safety management;
Constraint analysis;
Concurrent engineering;
LPDS;
Target value delivery;
Kanban system;
5S method.
Waiting time;
Defects;
Underutilizing people.
Improvement of project productivity and quality;
Improvement of construction workflow;
Elimination of waste.
Three most important benefits
obtained
Three most difficult challenges
encountered
11
Lack of trust and abilities in the implementation of LC techniques;
Unwillingness of participants to face the drawbacks of traditional
construction;
Inefficient communication among stakeholders.
W. Xing, J.L. Hao, L. Qian et al.
Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
avoidance of hazards, and accelerated construction progress. The
3D visualization, the construction process simulation, the clash
detection, the in-time inspection, all assisted by digital technology
and IoT allowed the LCM group to be in better control of the project.
With respect to the comparative analysis, both the case study
project stakeholders, and the global LC practitioners and scholars
shared the view that the most distinguishable benefits of implementing lean practice in a project are the reduction of waiting time
and of defects. The benefits accruing to construction workflow and
schedule, project quality and productivity, on-site health and
safety, and communication and collaboration among stakeholders
are also obvious and promising for maximizing the value of future
LC projects in China’s AEC industry.
5.3. Comparative analysis
Since the interview and survey questions were similar, it is
reasonable to conduct a comparative analysis. Through a comparison of results, closer insights of LC techniques and LCM are provided. In order of their levels of significance, Table 8 lists the
comparative results from the case study interviews and questionnaire survey with regards to LC techniques and LCM methods used,
types of wastes reduction, benefits obtained, and challenges
encountered.
LPS and JIT were widely recognized by interviewees and by the
largest number of survey respondents, which means that these two
techniques may be the most appropriate to use when construction
firms first start to implement LC practices. Although concurrent
engineering, constraint analysis, and quality and safety management are all part of traditional construction management, their use
as a part of a lean thinking approach will give these strategies a new
meaning and stimulate improvements in project quality and productivity. Although the Kanban system was a core method that
supported construction progress in the case study project, according to global LC experts it is rarely used. However, since the
case study project achieved the expected results on the workflow,
resource distribution, and communication between stakeholders,
there is a strong case for recommending that the Kanban system be
further developed for use in China’s ACE industry. Since survey
respondents identified a number of additional LC techniques, there
is a good possibility of increasing the level of LC implementation
once ACE stakeholders become more familiar with applying lean
principles to their projects.
Interviewees and survey respondents held a similar view that
waiting time and defects are reduced through the implantation of
LC techniques and LCM. Interviewees observed that inventory
waste was the most significant type of waste reduced, but this was
mainly due to the measures taken to deal with the project’s limited
working space; the strictly controlled material quantity and
entering sequence helped avoid unnecessary material storage. As
for underutilizing people, survey respondents felt that the application of LC helped to coordinate labor resources between different
disciplines and thereby reduced labor costs. Other potential benefits and possible challenges observed by interviewees and survey
respondents were aligned.
6.2. Limitations and recommendations
Firstly, there is the question of whether the LC case study project
is representative of the normal conditions in China’s AEC industry.
The client and the construction manager were familiar with lean
principles and strongly believed in implementing them in construction projects. In addition, other stakeholders had been trained
before the project. By contrast, the majority of local construction
firms in China are still steeped in traditional construction methods.
Therefore, in order to obtain findings that are more representative
of the local situation in China’s ACE industry, it is recommended
that a purely domestic LC project should be investigated with
particular regard to the project type, the contract form, the construction method, and the management system.
Secondly, according to some case study interviewees, lean
practice applied to industrial construction projects are slightly
different to other types of projects, particularly with respect to the
lean assembly process and lower tolerance of quality flaws. Also,
prefabrication as used in the case study project is not as efficient for
industrial construction projects as it is for residential projects,
where modular construction makes it easier to achieve project
value and reduce on-site waste. Consequently, since findings from
the case study interviews are based on an industrial type project,
they can only be partially applied to residential and other types of
project.
Thirdly, even though the questionnaire survey sought the views
of LC practitioners and scholars in the global AEC community, since
the interviews focused exclusively on a LC industrial project in
China’s AEC industry, there is a limitation with regard to universally
applying the study’s findings. This limit is exacerbated by the fact
that only three interviewees volunteered feedback from their individual experiences, with other stakeholders such as designers,
contractors, and construction personnel neglecting to do so. There
is no denying that the aforementioned stakeholders are crucial
when implementing LC practices, as they greatly influence the
construction workflow and project quality. While it may be understandable that they would pay more attention to the execution
of their own particular discipline rather than managerial strategies
and interdisciplinary knowledge, it is nevertheless important that
future research make a concerted effort to elicit their feedback on
the implementation of LC techniques and LCM.
Respondents to the questionnaire were mostly from countries or
regions outside of China, therefore their experiences and attitudes
are more reflective of the global trend towards implementation of
LC. From the comparative analysis, it is clear there is a gap between
the Chinese and global AEC industries with respect to the practice
and experience of LC. Nevertheless, the Kanban system in the case
study project played a vital role in improving the workflow and
visualization of the construction process, whereas prefabrication,
digital technologies and IoTs, and continuous improvement
significantly promoted project performance. Accordingly, it is
6. Conclusions, limitations and recommendations
6.1. Conclusions
To better understand how LC techniques and LCM can be
implemented in ACE projects in China, a case study of a project in
Suzhou, China was conducted. The LC techniques and LCM
employed were divided into five categories: ‘LPS and Kanban system’, ‘JIT and prefabrication’, ‘digital technologies and IoT’, ‘quality
and safety’, and ‘continuous improvement and Scrum’. Interviews
were conducted with stakeholders of the case study project to elicit
their views on the benefits and challenges of implementing LCM in
the project. A questionnaire survey in line with the interview
questions was conducted among global LC practitioners and
scholars to collect their opinions of LC techniques and LCM.
Through a comparative analysis of the case study interviews and
results from the questionnaire survey, valuable conclusions can be
drawn from both the Chinese and global perspectives.
Implementation of lean practice in the case study project
brought significant benefits to the project in terms of schedule,
workflow, quality and safety issues. The adoption of prefabricated
elements led to more precise engineering, reduced on-site waste
generation, better mechanical and durability performance,
12
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Journal of Cleaner Production 286 (2021) 124944
recommended that the fundamental lean practices of LPS and JIT be
adopted by construction projects in China, and that future research
should focus on comprehensive lean practice implementation and
application of the Kanban system in China’s AEC industry.
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CRediT authorship contribution statement
Weiqi Xing: Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal
analysis, Writing - original draft. Jian Li Hao: Conceptualization,
Supervision, Writing - review & editing, Project administration,
Funding acquisition. Liang Qian: Methodology, Supervision,
Writing - review & editing. Vivian W.Y. Tam: Methodology, Data
curation, Supervision. Karol S. Sikora: Supervision, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the support from the
Department of Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpooll University, China RDF (2016-01-32), Key Special Fund Exploring Program
(2018-E-29) from Suzhou Industrial Park, China. The authors are
also grateful for LCM group and its staff to provide the opportunity
to collect the data for the research.
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