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Lean University -- Race City USA
for Contractors
So you want to know more
about Lean Construction?
Odds are, you've heard about
Lean. Maybe you've read about it in a magazine or heard
about it from a colleague. You've probably heard that Lean
improves your bottom line. And, you're probably intrigued.
 Lean does all that and more.
Lean was born on the
manufacturing floor of Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan. But Lean
tools and processes are highly transferable across
industries. Lean has spread to mature industries such as
healthcare, banking, and yes, construction.
 Lean is about eliminating
waste. Lean cuts waste from the jobsite, from the front
office, from the fabrication floor, from every part of your
business, and in doing so, boosts your bottom line. You
might be thinking: "That may be true, but Lean can't work
in my business, because my business is different."
Your business is different, but it suffers from the same
wastes every business suffers from.
There are eight general types
of business waste, according to Lean experts. Read them and
decide whether you can find any of these in your business:
1. Scrap, Rework, Corrections, Reconciliations
2. Transportation -- Wasted material handling or information
hand-offs
3. Motion -- Looking for items such as prints, tools, materials,
memos, files, reports, invoices
4. Overprocessing -- Doing more than what the customer will pay for
5. Time -- Waiting for materials,
instructions, the supervisor, an
e-mail, or a phone call
6. Inventory
-- Raw, work-in-process or finished inventory
7. Overproduction -- Producing more than the customer
ordered
8. Underutilized
Human Resources -- The lack of involvement and
participation of all members of the workforce
There are specific Lean tools
contractors can use to eliminate waste, including 5-S,
Kanban cards, Kaizen teams, set-up time reduction,
value-stream mapping and more.
You hear it said often by
people who know: Lean is a journey. Lean University is here to
help you get started, help you understand what Lean is and
how to implement it in your business. And we are doing that
in an extremely exciting way.
Welcome to
Lean University -- Race City USA!
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