There is a growing trend in the design and build industries focused on the benefits that can be achieved by changing the design/build paradigm. The design-bid-build process, in use for more than 100 years, has faults. The silo nature of its contracts and relationships distances inter-reliant parties from one another. The bidding process does not always produce the best building for the best price. The process pits Owner against Architect and Contractor during construction. As a result, outcomes can be less than satisfactory for all parties.
In recent years, a growing trend in Architectural/Engineering (A/E) design has evolved around Building Information Management (BIM) and its benefits for a “virtually designed” project. BIM is not a software technology; BIM is a workflow process which promotes a coordinated, internally consistent information model in the design and construction of a building project. Problems arise with BIM when A/E firms rely upon BIM’s visualization only, and when complexity issues arise as a result of modeling granularity. 3D modeling without integrated data lacks information sustainability. Also, 3D modeling undertaken with an attitude of “because-we-can” lacks efficiency.
So how do we in the A/E industry improve our workflow/business process while maintaining the core benefits of BIM? We can combine the data rich information in a BIM project with new workflow techniques to increase efficiency and reduce waste. We can become more integrated in the project and gain greater customer satisfaction. The name for this process is “Lean Design.” Lean Design adopts principles from business processes such as Six Sigma and Lean, and uses workflow techniques that include workflow principles of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).
You may ask, “Why should the A/E industry change?” and “My customers are not asking me about this.” The fact is, there is a fundamental shift in the way Owners will develop projects in the wake of the recent financial crisis and the recession that ensued. The current A/E design process provides neither cost nor schedule predictability. Whether Owners are affected by a lack of available credit or less government money, they are highly motivated to bring together a team of professionals that can provide both costing and schedule predictability.
Six Sigma, which is a business management strategy developed by Motorola in 1986, strives to increase quality through the use of statistical analysis to achieve the sixth level of error elimination. The sixth level is 99.99966% free of defects. Six Sigma seeks to achieve predictable process results. Its project methodology has five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify (DMADV). This methodology provides the backbone for the metrics side of Lean Design.
Lean as a business management strategy was developed by Toyota in the 1990s. Its aim is to increase process speed and reduce waste. Its goals are to increase customer participation and concurrence through listening to what the customer values and to deliver only that. Lean is about reducing barriers and pinch-points in the process. To compete in the current economy, companies need to become as efficient (and therefore lean) as possible. Some of the efficiency can be achieved through technology, but new workflow and business processes are required for a firm to become truly lean.
Lean Six Sigma, a combination of Lean and Six Sigma, is specifically oriented to services businesses. Lean Six Sigma focuses on:
Listening to the voice of the customer: This entails learning what the customer wants or values, and is willing to pay for.
Analyzing existing processes and locating pinch points (where work is waiting for another process to finish).
Metrics: Learning from what was done last time and improving upon that process; this learning is continuous and must be measurable.
Reduction of complexity: Eliminating work processes that do not add to customer value. Complexity has a systemic effect that accumulates over time (similar to the accumulation of lint in a clothes dryer). Optimization is the key to reducing pinch points and complexity.
In recent years, a growing trend in Architectural/Engineering (A/E) design has evolved around Building Information Management (BIM) and its benefits for a “virtually designed” project. BIM is not a software technology; BIM is a workflow process which promotes a coordinated, internally consistent information model in the design and construction of a building project. Problems arise with BIM when A/E firms rely upon BIM’s visualization only, and when complexity issues arise as a result of modeling granularity. 3D modeling without integrated data lacks information sustainability. Also, 3D modeling undertaken with an attitude of “because-we-can” lacks efficiency.
So how do we in the A/E industry improve our workflow/business process while maintaining the core benefits of BIM? We can combine the data rich information in a BIM project with new workflow techniques to increase efficiency and reduce waste. We can become more integrated in the project and gain greater customer satisfaction. The name for this process is “Lean Design.” Lean Design adopts principles from business processes such as Six Sigma and Lean, and uses workflow techniques that include workflow principles of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).
You may ask, “Why should the A/E industry change?” and “My customers are not asking me about this.” The fact is, there is a fundamental shift in the way Owners will develop projects in the wake of the recent financial crisis and the recession that ensued. The current A/E design process provides neither cost nor schedule predictability. Whether Owners are affected by a lack of available credit or less government money, they are highly motivated to bring together a team of professionals that can provide both costing and schedule predictability.
Six Sigma, which is a business management strategy developed by Motorola in 1986, strives to increase quality through the use of statistical analysis to achieve the sixth level of error elimination. The sixth level is 99.99966% free of defects. Six Sigma seeks to achieve predictable process results. Its project methodology has five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify (DMADV). This methodology provides the backbone for the metrics side of Lean Design.
Lean as a business management strategy was developed by Toyota in the 1990s. Its aim is to increase process speed and reduce waste. Its goals are to increase customer participation and concurrence through listening to what the customer values and to deliver only that. Lean is about reducing barriers and pinch-points in the process. To compete in the current economy, companies need to become as efficient (and therefore lean) as possible. Some of the efficiency can be achieved through technology, but new workflow and business processes are required for a firm to become truly lean.
Lean Six Sigma, a combination of Lean and Six Sigma, is specifically oriented to services businesses. Lean Six Sigma focuses on:
Listening to the voice of the customer: This entails learning what the customer wants or values, and is willing to pay for.
Analyzing existing processes and locating pinch points (where work is waiting for another process to finish).
Metrics: Learning from what was done last time and improving upon that process; this learning is continuous and must be measurable.
Reduction of complexity: Eliminating work processes that do not add to customer value. Complexity has a systemic effect that accumulates over time (similar to the accumulation of lint in a clothes dryer). Optimization is the key to reducing pinch points and complexity.
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