Discussion of 'Improving Labor Flow Reliability for Better Productivity as Lean Construction Principle' by H. Randolph Thomas, Michael J. Horman, R. Edward Minchin Jr., and Dong Chen
| Autor: | Gregory A. Howell, Iris D. Tommelein, Glenn Ballard, Lauri Koskela |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: |
Lean construction
biology Strategy and Management Building and Construction biology.organism_classification Microeconomics Chen Work (electrical) Flow (mathematics) Argument Industrial relations Economics Work flow Operations management Productivity Reliability (statistics) Civil and Structural Engineering |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 131:615-616 |
| ISSN: | 1943-7862 0733-9364 |
| DOI: | 10.1061/(asce)0733-9364(2005)131:5(615) |
| Popis: | Thomas et al.’s paper has the stated objective, “…to test whether improving flow reliability improves construction productivity.” They understand flow in terms of both the flow of work, that on which resources are to be expended, and of labor. Improving flow reliability is said to be a lean construction principle, and it is concluded to be valid. However, they argue that advocates of lean construction have overemphasized work flow and underemphasized labor flow as a means for improving labor productivity. They present case studies to show that failures to manage flows substantially reduce labor productivity. A 51% loss of efficiency is attributed to flow management failures; 58% of those losses are attributed to failures in labor flow management and 42% to failures in work flow management. We reject the authors’ conclusion, as it misunderstands the problem to be solved, rests on a faulty argument that mischaracterizes the approach it criticizes, and proposes a solution that compounds the problem. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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