CONSTRUCTION BEYOND LEAN: A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Lean Construction has existed in its own right for more than ten years. At the same time the five lean principles as outlined by Womack and Jones have gained a firm foothold in the manufacturing industries, and the term lean has thus become a hous ehold term in manufacturing. Unfortunately and confusingly, the understanding of lean has taken very different trajectories in these two communities. In manufacturing , it is often voiced that the (five) lean principles provide a mature understanding of the subject, i.e. the end point. However, in the same time the theory based understanding of construction management has moved beyond the generic lean theories and principles, embodied in the Toyota Production System, to encompass disciplines such as complexity, emergence, conversations, and lifelong learning. In construction, the Toyota Production System is thus rather a starting point. The paper establishes an overview of the principles guiding best practice project management today, and argues that lean construction has progressed beyond lean – at least in the sense propagated by Womack and Jones.