Lean, Integrated and Digital Project Delivery

Abstract

This course is an introduction to innovative construction project delivery through three strategies: integrated information, integrated organization, and integrated processes. Students will be introduced to project and production management concepts such as Lean Construction, Building Information Modeling, the Tri-Constraint Method, & Integrated Project Delivery.

Objective

By the end of the course, students will be able to plan and manage the lean, integrated, and digital project delivery of a construction project. Students will know they are able to achieve this overall course goal when they can: 1. Apply the fundamental theories of lean production to the context of construction management. This includes the ability to describe the three views of production: transformation, flow and value generation; evaluate the benefits of a pull production system compared to push production systems; evaluate how production variability and uncertainty contributes to work-in-process and 'waste'; and apply the concepts of lean production to several construction management tools including the Last Planner System, Pull Planning, and Takt Planning. 2. Understand the fundamentals of BIM-based production planning and scheduling for construction. This includes the ability to explain the limitations of the Critical Path Method and other traditional production planning tools; understand the three fundamental constraints (resources, space, and precedence) in construction production planning; model these production constraints in a BIM-based environment; generate, evaluate, and optimize parametric construction schedules based on various planning scenarios. 3. Evaluate the benefits and challenges of using integrated project delivery for construction projects. This includes the ability to describe the change in governance practices (e.g. colocation, early involvement of key stakeholders, shared risk/reward, collaborative decision making) for integrated project delivery compared to the organization of traditional construction project delivery systems; evaluate the risks, benefits and considerations for integrated teams when using multi-party relational contracts that cross disciplinary and firm boundaries; explain the shift in design management when using a target value design approach instead of a traditional design management process.

Content

The construction industry is continually seeking to deliver High-Performance (HP) projects for their clients. HP buildings must meet the criteria of four focus areas – buildability, operability, usability, and sustainability. The project must be buildable, as measured by metrics of cost, schedule, and quality. It must be operable, as measured by the cost of maintaining the facility for the duration of its lifecycle. It must be usable, enabling productivity, efficiency and well-being of those who will inhabit the building. Finally, it must be sustainable, minimizing the use of resources such as energy and water. Buildings that succeed in all four of these areas can be considered HP projects. HP buildings require the integration of building systems. However, the traditional methods of planning and construction do not use an integrated approach. Project fragmentation between many stakeholders is often cited as the cause of poor project outcomes and the reason for poor productivity gains in the construction industry. In response, the construction industry has turned to new forms of integration in order to integrate the processes, organization, and information required for high performance projects. This course investigates emerging trends in the construction industry such as lean construction, BIM-based production management, and integrated project delivery as a way to achieve HP projects. For integrated processes, students will be introduced to the fundamentals of lean construction management. This course will look at the causes of variability in construction production and teach the theory of lean production for construction. Examples of specific processes for lean management will be introduced, including takt time planning, pull planning, and the last planner system. For integrated information, students will be introduced to the state-of-the-art in BIM-based production management. The limitations of the traditionally-used Critical Path Method (CPM) are discussed. The course shares how building information models (BIM) and virtual design and construction (VDC) can be applied to project production management using the tri-constraint method (TCM). Using software by Alice technologies, students will work in teams to model resource, spatial, and precedence constraints for parametric construction scheduling. Students will then generate a solution space of potential schedules using artificial intelligence, critically analyze these potential solutions, and optimize construction planning to improve the performance outcome of the production system. For integrated organization, students will study the limitations of the construction industry to effectively organize for complex projects, including the challenges of managing highly interdependent tasks and generating knowledge and learning within large multi-organizational project teams. One emerging approach known as Integrated Project Delivery will be studied as a case example. Students will explore the benefits of certain ‘elements’ of IPD such as project team colocation, early involvement of trade contractors, shared risk and reward contracts, and collaborative decision making. Students will also be introduced to target value design, a new design management strategy for integrated project teams. The course will also include several guest lectures from industry experts to further demonstrate how these concepts are applied in practice.

Resources