TY - CONF TI - Centred Flows: A Lean Approach to Decision Making and Organisation C1 - East Lansing, Michigan, USA C3 - 15th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction SP - 27 EP - 36 PY - 2007 AU - Rooke, John AU - Koskela, Lauri AU - Bertelsen, Sven AU - Henrich, Guilherme AD - Research Fellow, School of Construction and Property Management – University of Salford, 4th Floor, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, UK, Phone +44 161 2956344, FAX +44 161 2954587, j.rooke@salford.ac.uk AD - Professor, School of Construction and Property Management – University of Salford, 4th Floor, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, UK, Phone +44 161 2957960, FAX +44 161 2954587, l.j.koskela@salford.ac.uk AD - MSc, Consulting Engineer, External Lecturer, Danish Technical University, Roennebaervej 10, app 108, 2840 Holte, DK Denmark, Phone +45 4542 4705, sven@bertelsen.org AD - Civil Engineer, M.Sc., MBA, Ph.D. candidate, School of Construction and Property Management – University of Salford, 4th Floor, Maxwell Building, The Crescent, Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, UK, Phone +44 161 2954143, FAX +44 161 2954587, g.henrich@pgr.salford.ac.uk ED - Pasquire, C.L, Christine L. ED - Tzortzopoulos, Patricia AB - Koskela has argued that the flow conception of production is a key to understanding and generating improvement innovations. However, it has tended to be assumed that this view is appropriate for the analysis of processes, rather than of operations. However, it is notable that Shingo also conceives of operations in terms of flows. The flow conception treats the process holistically, as a continuum, time is central to understanding them. Events, rather than objects, are key units. It is argued here that the key distinction between a process flow and an operational flow is that processes are essentially passive, acted upon by operations. Conversely, operations, whether human or mechanical, have the quality of intentionality. It is suggested that the idea of 'competence', borrowed from ethno methodology is a prime analytic device for understanding operational flows. Human activities have the quality that they can be understood as practical competencies or abilities that we can acquire for ourselves. It is suggested that we can extend production theory to examine the production of organisation, as distinct from its usual focus on the organisation of production. The organisations which design, construct and manage the built environment may be viewed as social processes which are produced in the exercise of the operational competences of their memberships. KW - Lean Theory KW - Flows KW - Operations KW - Organisation KW - Competence PB - T2 - 15th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction DA - 2007/07/18 CY - East Lansing, Michigan, USA L1 - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/454/pdf L2 - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/454 N1 - Export Date: 19 April 2024 DB - IGLC.net DP - IGLC LA - English ER -