https://doi.org/10.24928/2020/0137

Design Thinking in Action: A DPR Case Study to Develop a Sustainable Digital Solution for Labor Resource Management

Bochen Zhang1, Ning Dong2 & Leonardo Rischmoller3

1Business Analyst, DPR Construction, 1450 Veterans Boulevard, Redwood City, CA 94063, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-7212-5150
2Business Process Improvement Lead, DPR Construction, 1450 Veterans Boulevard, Redwood City, CA 94063, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-8529-804X
3Business Analyst, DPR Construction, 1450 Veterans Boulevard, Redwood City, CA 94063, [email protected], 0000-0001-6317-2692

Abstract

The construction industry is known for cost and time overruns as well as vulnerable to mistakes and reworks, leading to low productivity compared to other industries in the last fifty years. As of today, the development of digital technologies has transformed many other industries, from automotive to transportation and finance. However, even though new tools and technologies are emerging rapidly for the construction industry, the rate of innovation and innovation adoption is low. The traditional push approach can hardly address the varied and indeterminate sets of issues faced by each project team whose solutions might be unique and evolving. The Design Thinking approach, which resembles the pull strategy in the Lean concept, has great potential in searching for and developing sustainable and innovative solutions with the users. In this paper, the Business Process Improvement team in DPR Construction, a national technical builder, leveraged the Design Thinking approach to develop a sustainable digital solution hand in hand with the user leveraging a Low Code Application Platform. The approach yielded a result that eased the transition period for adoption and significantly improved the efficiency of the labor resource management process.

Keywords

Design Thinking, Lean Construction, process, continuous improvement, technology adoption.

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Reference

Zhang, B. , Dong, N. & Rischmoller, L. 2020. Design Thinking in Action: A DPR Case Study to Develop a Sustainable Digital Solution for Labor Resource Management, Proc. 28th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 25-36. doi.org/10.24928/2020/0137

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