Integrating the production and the erection processes of pre-fabricated steel frames in building projects using phased lean management

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of implementing value stream mapping (VSM), just in time (JIT), continuous flow and total productive maintenance (TPM) methods throughout production and erection processes of pre-fabricated steel frames (PSFs) of building projects.

Design/methodology/approach

As phased lean management, after implementing the VSM technique, the JIT technique is implemented as first lean phase and the TPM and the continuous flow techniques are implemented as second lean phase. To evaluate the expected improvement of project performance due to reduce wastes by implementing lean techniques, discrete event simulation (DES) is utilized. In this research, an eight-story residential building project in Tehran, Iran, is studied.

Findings

Simultaneous use of lean techniques to integrate production and erection processes of PSFs leads to the improvement of the performance of production and erection stages, significantly. The results indicate 43 and 17 percent reduction in PSFs production and erection processes time and cost, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

In the present study, only the effects of implementing lean techniques on the production and erection of PSFs have been evaluated. However, it is also possible to apply these lean approaches and the key strategies to the other modular or pre-fabricated construction methods.

Originality/value

The main contribution to knowledge is improving the construction project performance by integrating the production and erection processes, using phased lean management through implementing lean techniques. The results of the current study provide valuable insight into the possibility of integrating and improving construction processes of pre-fabricated construction.