The Integration of Lean Construction and Sustainable Construction: A Stakeholder Perspective in Analyzing Sustainable Lean Construction Strategies in Malaysia

Sustainable Construction: Improving Productivity through Lean Construction

The objective of this article is to improve building productivity, evolving from traditional construction to industrial construction. The methodology used here consists of analysing the use of materials, the construction design, the design of the spatial distribution programme, the use of auxiliary means and resources and the application of lean tools in construction. The results achieved here include a complete building system that integrates the design, project and execution, wherein the construction process is improved and inconsistencies in the final project are reduced. With the application of an industrial manufacturing methodology, the productivity in construction is improved, reducing costs, materials, execution times and waste. These productivity improvements result in construction being more sustainable. As a conclusion of the previous analysis, the elements that must be integrated into a complete building project and the need to incorporate industrial manufacturing into construction processes in order to achieve sustainable architecture are established.

The Application of Lean Methods in Corporate Sustainability—A Systematic Literature Review

This paper reviews the application of lean methods for corporate sustainability and highlights demands for future research. With the help of a systematic literature review, papers at the interface of lean and sustainability were identified and matched to a standardized list of lean methods to assess their frequency in the context of sustainability. In a further step, papers containing actual case studies were analyzed in more detail regarding specific application settings, sustainability dimensions, measurability of sustainability impact, and other criteria. The quantitative analysis of 363 publications shows frequent use of lean methods such as just in time and value stream mapping in the context of sustainability, and a surprisingly low use of other approaches such as karakuri, milk run, or chaku chaku. The in-depth analysis of 81 case studies reveals the primacy of intra-company and ecological assessments in the lean context, while social and inter-company aspects remain rather underexposed. This study complements existing research on lean and sustainability by systematically analyzing specific lean methods in the context of sustainability and by further exploring the sustainability characteristics of such lean applications.

Analyzing the mediating effect of economic performance on the relationship between green construction practices and health and safety performance in Nigeria

The adoption of green construction practices (GCP) has been on the increase in recent years as a means of reducing the negative effects of construction on the natural environment. However, GCP have been discovered to expose the construction workers to numerous health and safety (HS) risks, resulting from a decline in safety investment due to the economic burden associated with its adoption. This study explores the means through which GCP influence the HS performance of construction projects through economic performance. To obtain the views of contractors, a survey questionnaire was developed, and data was collected from project managers and site managers of "class A" contractors, with a response rate of 81.55%. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to analyze the data. The results show that the effect of GCP on HS performance is fully mediated by economic performance. The study concludes that for projects that adopt GCP to have high levels of HS performance, they are required to have an optimal economic performance. Efforts should be intensified by the government in providing subsidies, tax waivers, and other incentives for adopters of GCP to ensure the economic performance of their projects since it guarantees high HS performance.

Group discussions on how to implement a participatory process in climate adaptation planning: a case study in Malaysia

The frequency and intensity of extreme climate events are increasing all around the world, due to climate change. Climate adaptation strategies are therefore needed, since mitigation strategies alone are not sufficient to avoid serious impacts of climate change. However, adaptation to climate change is not straightforward, as it is highly influenced by diverse and conflicting interests as well as epistemological (or scientific) uncertainties. Therefore, a minimum requirement for its success is the active participation of stakeholders and citizens in the adaptation policy cycle. This paper presents a case study on a participatory process involving civil servants from different municipalities in Malaysia, in Southeast Asia, with a view to considering the optimal level of engagement that is required for climate adaptation planning. The exercise consisted of a Focus Group session, where participants were asked to discuss the level of stakeholder and citizen participation that should be adopted within the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy initiative. Contrary to authors' expectations, the participants tended to suggest medium to high levels of participation in the planning process. During the dialogues, a walking activity through the city, aimed at identifying hotspots of climate risks and defined as "safety walks", was one of the ideas proposed as a high-potential participatory method, spreading in the adaptation framework. Safety walks could complement climate modelling and enhance the robustness of climate risk assessments.

Opportunities and Challenges of Green-Lean: An Integrated System for Sustainable Construction

Although the two concepts of lean and sustainable construction have been developed due to different incentives, and they do not pursue the same exact goals, there exists considerable commonality between them. This paper discusses the potentials for integrating the two approaches and their practices and how the resulting synergy from combining the two methods can potentially lead to higher levels of fulfilling the individual goals of each of them. Some limitations and challenges to implementing the integrated approach are also discussed. Based on a comprehensive review of existing papers related to sustainable and lean construction topics, the commonality between the two approaches is discussed and grouped in five categories of (1) cost savings, (2) waste minimization, (3) Jobsite safety improvement, (4) reduced energy consumption, and (5) customers’ satisfaction improvement. The challenges of this integration are similarly identified and discussed in the four main categories of (1) additional initial costs to the project, (2) difficulty of providing specialized expertise, (3) contractors’ unwillingness to adopt the additional requirements, and (4) challenges to establish a high level of teamwork. Industry professionals were then interviewed to rank the elements in each of the two categories of opportunities and challenges. The results of the study highlight how future research can pursue the development of a new Green-Lean approach by investing in the communalities and meeting the challenges of this integration.

A hybrid approach using entropy and TOPSIS to select key drivers for a successful and sustainable lean construction implementation

Successful implementation of the lean concept as a sustainable approach in the construction industry requires the identification of critical drivers in lean construction. Despite this significance, the number of in-depth studies toward understanding the considerable drivers of lean construction implementation is quite limited. There is also a shortage of methodologies for identifying key drivers. To address these challenges, this paper presents a list of all essential drivers within three aspects of sustainability (social, economic, and environmental) and proposes a novel methodology to rank the drivers and identify the key drivers for successful and sustainable lean construction implementation. In this regard, the entropy weighted Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was employed in this research. Subsequently, an empirical study was conducted within the Malaysian construction industry to demonstrate the proposed method. Moreover, sensitivity analysis and comparison with the existing method were engaged to validate the stability and accuracy of the achieved results. The significant results obtained in this study are as follows: presenting, verifying and ranking of 63 important drivers; identifying 22 key drivers; proposing an MCDM model of key drivers. The outcomes show that the proposed method in this study is an effective and accurate tool that could help managers make better decisions.

Improving the Efficiency of Highway Construction Project Management Using Lean Management

The construction industry is often ranked top in producing the largest amount of waste during a project, be it the waste of material resources or the waste of manpower. This has elevated the need for an improved and more structured management technique. This study will look into the principles and practices of lean management pertinent to highway construction projects to analyze whether lean management practices can improve the management efficiency for complex projects. This study adopted a quantitative approach, and a linear regression model has been used to investigate correlations between the lean test factors and the efficiency-dependent variables. It was found that lean management tools that are used repeatedly and the ones that require a high level of detailing are positively associated with efficiency improvement in highway construction projects. In particular, LPS, JIT, and VM were found to be more commonly used in highway construction projects. The research results will aid in the initial decision-making process of the project managers, as they will be able to map different lean tools with their benefits and limitations and then select the one that best suits the project needs and deliverables. Future studies can adopt the interpretivism paradigm to explore new theories and concepts related to highway construction management.