Thinking Lean: For Digital Construction Data

Kevin McHugh, Associate Director at Mace

Construction projects are complex and dynamic environments to manage and operate. Therefore, construction management is needed to ensure the specialist actions that are needed to produce modern buildings and all the parts of our incredibly complex physical infrastructure can be actioned efficiently. Modern projects are deploying digital solutions to support the project management functions, this construction technology is developing and increasing its functionality rapidly. The appetite for data collection is enormousand there is an increased focus on data analytics to measure performance. The idea being that with greater information collected will increase the margins and profitability of the project.

"Collecting reliable and actionable data is critical for the successful deployment of a digital management strategy"

Are we identifying the correct data streams to improve our productivity?

It has been widely acknowledged that productivity in construction has been stagnant despite increased investment in technology. Studies focusing on construction efficiency have documented 25 to 50 percent waste in coordinating labour and in managing, moving, and installing materials. The increase of digitisation has not significantly improved productivity, so there is an opportunity to improve the data collection focus to produce positive outcomes to support a learning environment and promote systematic productivity improvements. There is asynergy between lean Construction methodology with collecting and managing digital information, identifying the valuable information and reducing information processing wastes.

Lean construction has been seen as a countermeasure to poor productivity in construction, by using lean thinking, information is collected to identify and remove wastes in productivity. Deviations from planned work and dimensional deviation from installations are examples of production wastes. The increased use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides a platform to manage the whole lifecycle of a construction project providing a collaborative platform from design to construction, to operation and maintenance through to reuse or demolition. The synergies between BIM and Lean management are well documented, this valuable source of digital information management can promote lean construction and accelerate digital management process in the industry. The ability to communicate and validate design information coupled with incorporating point cloud information to verify accuracy of installations, the model provides a rich information supported by near real time information. Lean methodologies provide insights to current productivity and highlighted deviations from optimal state. This information can rapidly be communicated to project teams to highlight inefficiencies and promote project improvements.

Current technological advances enable new methods of data collection that increase reliability and near real-time information. In addition to BIM, IoT (Internet of things) is another technological development. The IoT is described as the connection of objects or things including wireless/wired network connections and cloud cyber-infrastructure, through integrated or attached sensors. This data can be combined with BIM data to increase the digital information in the virtual environment. 

Collecting reliable and actionable data is critical for the successful deployment of a digital management strategy. Digital technology can accelerate the project management function process in construction. Collection of electronic field data from multiple sources improves the situational awareness of project stakeholders using near real time project information to create a situational picture. Images, point cloud scans, document check list can all be linked to BIM data to manage collected information to provide the required insights to measure productivity. Integrating multi-disciplined teams and managing projects collectively improves all aspects of project performance. Therefore, it is important to have a reliable process in place where teams can manage and gather both physically and virtually to collaborate effectively. By integrating the model into management functions, it increases the visual management function. Mixed Reality, which allows for the blending of real and virtual worlds, is one such technology that has a capability to improve productivity. The use of mixed reality can immerse users into situations to provide insights into constructability and quality. This provides a unique perspective that allows designers and constructors to collaborate in a fully interactive manner.

Technological solutions are continuously being developed which is demonstrated with the high volume of start-up entities. Existing platforms continue to mature and evolve to provide increased functionality. The role of technology is to support project management processes not to replace them. It is essential that project teams embrace a learning environment where performances are reviewed, and data is being produced as a leading indicator. This enhances the value of the data. Construction projects are bespoke one-of-a-kind projects. The learning function is essential to increase productivity and improve defined project Key Project Indicators(KPI’s). The construction phase of a building is relatively short compared to the overall building lifecycle. As a result, actionable information collected in the construction phase will provide valuable insights to increase the productivity during the construction phase that can be used through to commissioning, handover, and operational phase of project.

Visual management is a very effective tool for displaying current information and managing complex operations. Data processing should help teams make sense of their environment. To capitalise on the construction technology available, it is important to identify processes for improvement, using technology to connect project teams and support collaboration is a key benefit of digital information. Collaboration in construction has proven to be hugely beneficial and identifying technology to support this is crucial. The traditional fragmentation of construction management where design, main contractor, supply chains and owners working in silos to manage and transfer project risks has proven unsuccessful. BIM management lends itself to lean construction where collaboration is key. Managing the flow of information from design to construction through to validation and commissioning can provide a single source of truth that can be managed effectively in a fully transparent manner. This increases the accountability and improves trust between project stakeholders. It also provides valuable information that is transferred to the operational phase and reuse and demolition phase of the building project. This can extend the buildings viability and provide a more sustainable future for modern building projects.

Digitisation should support the project management teams. It should ease the project management function by reducing the workload of the project management teams. This can be achieved by developing a digital strategy to support the management strategy and allow teams to focus on adding value to the project.