The word “lean” explains a great deal about the goals of Lean Construction. It implies something has been trimmed of excess fat, or, in the case of construction, of waste and inefficiency.
Lean takes the “different moving parts” of a project — including concept, design, construction and occupancy — and works to coordinate all those processes together at the beginning of the project and at every single step along the way.
“They want to cut some of the waste. The allure of Lean Construction is amazing. You get more with spending less,” says Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, project Manager at McCarthy Building Companies in California, of what new building owner’s expectations are. “To be more efficient with the resources you have — it’s better for everybody. It’s better for the client. It’s better for you.”
In my own case, Lean Construction was instilled in me as a teenager working for my framing contractor Dad and Uncles.
My first experience with them was working on a medical building at 1006 North Pines Road in the Spokane Valley. The complex was two three story buildings on each side of a central courtyard. My prime occupation this particular summer was to offload all of the incoming lumber trucks and, using a large radial arm saw, to cut all of the components to the lengths needed for framing.
I learned a lot over the summer on Pines Road – and probably the most important lesson was in efficient use of materials. When it came to cutoffs from lumber, everything over more than a few inches in length got used somewhere. After the whole project was said and done, I doubt the scrap pile I had produced would much more than cover a card table.
And when it comes to pole buildings, Lean Construction is a big piece of “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience”™ offered at Hansen Pole Buildings.
The idea is to create as close to a zero waste pole barn as possible. More than one builder has asked us why it is Hansen Pole Buildings does not ship ‘extras’? Our response is, what is it you would like to have shipped extra? In the end, when plans are actually looked at and instructions are followed, there is no need for anything extra.
And extra is just waste!
What is the average new building owner supposed to do with extras such as a sheet or two of steel, pieces of steel trim, etc.? In the end, these extras so often get hauled to a landfill, or sit out behind the new building gathering weeds.
Lean Construction – it creates a healthy building!
