Developing lean supply in construction

Abstract

Since the Latham Report in 1994 the UK government has been active in urging the construction industry to improve how it manages its supply chains. Yet despite these efforts, research has shown that sophistication of supply chain management (SCM) in construction, in general, is still at a low level in comparison to that in many other industries. Often citing the manufacturing industry the government has largely focused on encouraging construction organizations to make their supply chains leaner. However, the construction industry has a unique working culture, a project-based feature, and high levels of fragmentation, which together differentiate it from mainstream manufacturing. This makes lean supply for most constructed products a different proposition to that of most factory manufactured products. This paper presents a Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) approach which is developed for addressing complex, multi-disciplinary project problems. Research is proposed to examine the use of SSM in construction projects undertaken by a large UK contractor. Such use should enable project managers and SCM practitioners to view the process of developing lean supply in a holistic manner and also to take into account the 'soft' cultural and project-based features of construction, leading to more effective solutions for delivering their project.