When Lean and LEED go Hand in Hand

1. Where did Lean come from?

Lean is the term coined to most often describe the management philosophy and practices made world famous by the Japanese automaker, Toyota. Credit for “Lean” as we use it today goes to John Krafcik, who was part of the research team responsible for the book The Machine That Changed the World authored by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos. According to Mark Graban, Krafcik said, “[Toyota]… is “lean” because it uses less of everything compared to mass production – half the human effort in the factory, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools, half the engineering hours to develop a product in half the time. Also, it requires less than half the needed inventory on site, results in many fewer defects, and produces a greater and ever growing variety of products.”  Today, “Lean” continues to most commonly describe the methods and thinking of Toyota.

Jeffery Liker authored the The Toyota Way which summarizes years of direct research describing the principles and practices at Toyota that sustain it forward by continuous learning by solving problems with the people closest to the issues. Its members work to deliver customer value while minimizing waste. A key principle of Lean organizations includes respect for people, both their value creators and customers. Organization-wide applied lean principles significantly impact how customer value is created and delivered.

2. What does Lean mean for a general contractor?

Lean Construction at McCarthy has evolved from individual project team adoption to a holistic organization-wide implementation. Our culture is based on three guiding principles:

Genuine: Respect for the work we do and the people who do it, recognized for being honest and following through on commitments.

We, Not I: Belief in the power of teamwork and a consistent habit of sharing credit.

All In: Fully committed and a reputation as someone people can count on to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Our values work in tandem with the six Lean Construction principles.

1. Respect People
2. Deliver Value
3. Create Flow
4. Remove Waste
5. Continuously Improve
6. Optimize the Whole

This synergistic set of values and guiding principles steer our work to deliver easier, better, and faster projects.  We encourage many Lean tools/methods that promote continuous improvement with a focus on the Last Planner System of Production Controls, A3 Thinking/Problem-Solving, and Scrum.

We all benefit from Lean behavior and culture – improved collaboration, communication,  exceptional team experiences, and learning. Lean is not a tool, task, or extra work. It is a mindset of continuous learning.

3. What are sustainability principles for a general contractor?

Environmental sustainability means that rates of renewable resources used, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion don’t continue indefinitely. Human social and economic actions work in harmony with the environment. Sustainability has evolved in business to describe how organizations and people impact the environment in both positive and negative ways. The environmental impacts are from the people processes involved in materials resource utilization processes such as manufacturing and construction. Buildings change the local environments throughout their multi-decade operations. International supply chains invoke sustainability thinking beyond the physical building location. Sustainability significantly impacts resources to make and operate buildings and people living in communities around the world.

At McCarthy, our business is building, and we aim to do it responsibly, our actions directly impact those who will follow us and create new footprints on this earth. We have the responsibility to serve as stewards of the environment entrusted to us. Our commitment revolves around four principles:

1. Weaving sustainability into the fabric of all company operations
2. Encouraging every client and building partner to seriously consider sustainable building practices
3. Bringing viable green building solutions to the table
4. Educating and training our employees to give them the tools to lead the way

4. What is Lean Thinking?

Lean embodies a mindset as explained in the case study style book Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation. A Lean perspective frames the whole set of processes that deliver a project, especially its goals. Lean practitioners focus on the big picture from the context of customer/stakeholder value and non-value adding work. Anything that doesn't support a project’s goals doesn’t add value and warrants minimization or elimination. Sustainability goals require team commitment and individual job performance deviations from standard business practices. Lean practitioners are engaged problem solvers generating sustainability project goal solutions beyond the limitations of “just another job” mindset. This highly inclusive project approach sustains empowered people continuously creating more customer value.

Lean teams are collaborative problem solvers.

A Lean mindset impacts both how teams interact and how efficiently or fast teams deliver a project. Miscommunication errors decrease as project stakeholders are engaged to work together creatively and collectively to address issues. Lean teams move further and further away from traditional siloed work to more collaborative problem-solving. Sustainable projects increase individual ownership continuously feeding on comprehensive solutions born from team members working across traditional organizational boundaries.

Sustainable “Green” construction project teams have a Lean mindset, which means that they  contribute to finding a solution to minimize or eliminate waste. The project team extends beyond the people in construction trailers, design offices, and maintenance buildings. The owners, designers, builders and end users are actively engaged and included to understand how waste impacts flow and what they can do to help eliminate it. Instead of wasting time in meetings with never-ending issues logs, the stakeholders partner in focused workshops that encourage efficiency. Working together in a big room creates a shared understanding of the project issues, leads to rapid identification of areas for improvement, and builds a team of respected partners overcoming shared challenges.

The Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute Research Building in Portland, Oregon, is a testament to the power of using an integrated project delivery approach. The project achieved a LEED Platinum certification and is paramount to OHSU’s ongoing mission to cure cancer.