Last Planner® System Is the Gateway to Lean Behaviors

Dan Fauchier1 & Thaís da C. L. Alves2

1Vice President, The ReAlignment Group, Ltd., San Diego, CA USA, [email protected]
2Assistant Professor, J.R. Filanc Construction Eng. and Mgmt. Program, Dept. of Civil, Constr., and Env. Eng., San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA, [email protected]

Abstract

Participation in LPS teaches-by-doing such foundational behaviors as collaboration, transparency, long-term and short-term planning, making work ready, making clear commitments, reliable promising, accountability and metrics – all in a clear, living example of the colorful, visual workplace. LPS teaches teams the entire process of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) and PDCA becomes woven into trust-building, because using LPS (Planning) builds trust due to the making and keeping of reliable promises across siloed companies and through behaving (Doing) in predictable, transparent and monitored (Checked) ways and learning (Acting/Adjusting) together. Three main sets of behaviors related to or promoted by the LPS were identified: building social networks, addressing multiple needs in a dynamic environment, and treating construction projects as production systems. As a contribution, examples from construction projects implementing LPS are presented and linked to behaviors that emerge from LPS implementation. Examples illustrating the three behaviors reveal different instances in which these behaviors materialized and might have served as “a-ha!” moments for the teams involved.

Keywords

Last Planner System, lean behaviors, action learning, collaboration, reliable promises

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Reference

Fauchier, D. & Alves, T. C. L. 2013. Last Planner® System Is the Gateway to Lean Behaviors, 21th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 559-568. doi.org/

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