Hitting the Target with Lean Design
Why Lean Design?
The book “Broken Buildings Busted Budgets” does a good job of describing the two main problems with the building industry, Inefficiency and Bad Behavior. To address these problems, Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell adapted the Toyota Production System to create a Lean Project Delivery (LPD) system for building design and construction.
There is a Business Case for Lean Project Delivery
There is a business case for adopting lean practices for project delivery as lean intense projects are 3x more likely to be completed ahead of schedule and 2x more likely to be completed under budget. The Lean Leadership video that was produced by the lean project team at the Moose Jaw Hospital project does a good job of describing the barriers and opportunities.
We need all the Team Players on Board
We need all of the team on board including the key sub-trades for lean design to work. By bringing the whole team on board early for we can avoid the embarrassment of “Broken Budgets” that is often experienced as we can have more confidence in the number when we have the people going to be doing the work helping with the design and providing dynamic costing.
What happens when we Lean Up the Design Process?
The lean design component of the LPD is called Target Value Design (TVD). It is a disciplined design management system that turns the traditional design process upside down. Unlike traditional design processes where teams often design in silos and the final cost is not known until after the tender, TVD is a dynamic collaborative process that includes concurrent estimating by the contractors that are going to be doing the work. It involves establishing a clear target, developing fully integrated design solutions to the target cost. It results in tighter simpler better designs, smaller factors of safety, less redundancy, significantly less change notices and minimal delays due to poor or incomplete information.
Research shows TVD can by itself reduce the cost of a project by 19%
Target Value Design is a process that enables teams to design it right the first time. TVD is based upon having the budget influence the design as opposed to the budget becoming a result of the design process. In the end successful collaboration on TVD results in designs that meet project requirements at or below the target cost. In an assessment of current benchmarks and “Target Value Design” best practices by Glenn Ballard, we learn that TVD projects can be delivered with capital cost saving as much as 19%.
How to Get Started with Lean Design
Fundamental to delivering a Lean Project are the essential elements of Assembling a TEAM that are capable of delivering a championship performance, implementing the Lean Project Delivery SYSTEM. It also involves establishing a high level of COLLABORATION using methods and tools that facilitate VALUE creation.
Lean Project Facilitator
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