• Subject Name : Management

Application of Just in Time Technique in Construction Industry

The application of Just in Time technique in construction has made some significant changes in the area of construction and has a significant mark in the construction industry.

In the work of Koskela (1992), the production philosophy of Just in Time technique has been discussed in length where traditional as well as this new technology is examined by the author. The paper has criticized the traditional approach and had put forward the philosophy to endure this new technology of Just in Time technique in construction along with the challenges that are associated with the application of Just in Time technique in construction. With the literature review and analysing the construction process and implementation of Just in Time technique in four construction or engineering companies, the author has provided an insight to the application of this Just in Time technology in construction.

As per Koskela (1992), the consideration of production as the conventional process only is obsolete and the new approach should include not only conversions but flows in the production process as well. The flow process needs to be glorified and more efficient with the application of this new philosophy as it has the potential to eliminate conversion activities and enhance the conversion process. Considering the new philosophy of inclusion of Just in Time technique in construction, the author has summarised the process of evolution of the new production philosophy to be composed of three stages (Plenert 1990). In the first stage, it was viewed as a tool, then manufacturing method like Just in Time technique and lastly this new philosophy evolved as a general management philosophy with names such as world-class manufacturing, etc. The author has criticized the idea of traditional management where only the conversion process or the thought of considering all the activities to be adding values. Koskela (1992) quoted the significance of Just in Time technique with the fact that it has emerged as a theme independently as quoted in the book of Imai (1986).

The visual management in production, workplace organization and quality delivered, this process had been called as one of the original ideas of Just in time. The data collected and analysed in 400 manufacturing plants, covering the plants of U.S. and Europe, it was analysed that the Just in Time technique is one of the effective techniques for improving the production in the plants (Schmenner 1988). Koskela (1992) has found the Just in time to be effective and applicable in the TVF model with the proposal of a combination of workflow with transformation view of work done along with the delivery of requirements. The author in this paper has suggested that this Just in Time technique in construction will provide a competitive advantage and is likely to enhance the production of the plants. Though Koskela (1992) has considered the adoption of this technology as a paradigm shift but considered the transformation to take place in a long time with the assurance of being worthy in construction to eliminate many persisting problems.

The author, Pasquire (2012) investigated the significance and implementation of common understanding as to the 8th flow in the lean construction, which can eliminate the chronicle issues occurring in manufacturing and provide better and efficient manufacturing processes for the plants, in his paper. The author considered this technique of lean construction to be a sort of transformational activities in which all the inputs processed will bring out the output. The inclusion of lean construction had made terms like manufacturing and production to be a familiar term in the construction industry which is a recent development after the interest in lean construction gained fame and success. The lean construction has been considered by the author as an instrument which will be effective if implemented in practice.

The linguistic, commitment management would gain an advantage of better workflow, elimination of waste and generation of values which will consequently enhance the involvement of people in the design and delivery of the product. As per Pasquire (2012), he has emphasised on the impacts of understanding in the lean construction and lean production as this will ultimately bring a better understanding of the values and the waste in lean construction. The author has provided an equation for proper interpretation of understanding and confusion in this context where the two equations speak a ton in management of lean construction. The idea of choosing lean construction is directly linked with the management of time and cost in construction and thus a proper understanding and engagement is a considerable factor as per the views of the author of this paper. The significance of soft flow has been marked in the paper in the context of lean construction to be of utmost importance as in construction industry there are frequent changes in the team and understanding will have an impact over the same.

According to Bertelsen (2007), he depicted the process of construction as a cluster of several flow outs which plays a significant role in deciding the productivity and the rate of completion of the process. The paper suggested that though a new tool of understanding the management can be devised as it possess the potential of doing the same. The frequent variation occurring at a different rate with respect to the critical flow in the construction industry has serious concerns when it is about applying the potential tool. The author has differentiated between the manufacturing process and the production process in terms of immobility and size of the product (Birrell, 1980) and also because of the nature of the process. Thus, two different flows are concluded in this paper; the Process flow and the operation flow. The process flow is the main objective delivers the value to the customer at the end of the day and the Operations flow is the process which is significant to get the results and the process done. Bertelsen (2007) has pointed out that the operation flow has been traditionally accepted to be of utmost importance in the construction industry. Although, the introduction of lean construction suggests that the process flow is of vital importance and can help to reduce cost and time while delivering quality products in the construction industry. The author has focused not only the construction and flow process but has made significant construction in the field of mass production, project production and project management by analysing them in the context of lean construction.

The authors, Shah & Ward (2007), expressed that Just in Time technique is one of the tools to be applicable and effective in lean construction and overall this lean construction has a wide application with various tools which ultimately improve the production in the plants with waste management, As per the author, this Just in Time technique has an impact on cost and time reduction along with smoothening of the process of production and increased involvement of the employees (Hall, 1987) and customer focus (Flynn et al 1995). The paper also emphasised the importance of preventive measures in Just in Time technique in the lean construction where firstly it was considered as a dimension only but now is acceptable and applicable as a construct which is a factor for prediction of the performance of manufacturing in the companies.

Theauthor, Vrijhoef (2018), is concerned with the environmental impact and the impact on productivity on the construction site when there is an application of Just in Time technique logistics management in the industry. The author has done extensive research in the field of construction logistics in the Netherlands for analysis of Just in Time technique of Lean Construction. The research has been conducted with the instrument of collecting data from onsite, measurements and interviews related to the construction projects. As per the author, the application of Just in Time technique has led to higher transport efficiency along with enhancement of productivity on-site and also reduce the impact on the environment. Considering this positive effect of Just in Time logistics, there is an increased demand of this particular technology among clients, private as well as public, in the construction industry with a view to reducing the environmental impact of construction projects. The author also observed an incredible amount of reduction in the waiting, unnecessary motion and inventory on the construction sites along with an increased production flow with the application of this Just in Time logistics management.

In the paper of Ali and Beheiry (2015), the prevalence of delays in the construction industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been considered. The authors were focused to analyse the reasons for delay in the material delivery in UAE construction sites along with the effectiveness of the application of Just in time technique in this construction industry. For meeting the objectives of this research paper, a proper questionnaire has been developed by the authors in which the questions were composed of reasons of delay in material and the extent of applicability of Just in time techniques in the UAE construction industry. The authors signified the importance of Just in time techniques in the management of construction industry with the fact that it helps in reducing the cost and accelerating the process of a construction project with the aim of minimizing the inventory quantities. The analysis of this research suggested that a large number of respondents agreed with the application of Just in time techniques in the construction industry to enhance the productivity in limited cost and elimination of waste materials.

The authors, Bamana, Lehoux & Cloutier (2017) analysed that the Just in Time technique when applied in the construction industry which can help significantly in the reduction of cost, waste, quality-related concerns and the deadlines of the project with their work. Using the technique of systematic literature review, the authors in this paper have scrutinized the implementation of Just in Time technique in the construction industry. The authors in this paper have also provided insight into the implementation process of this technique in the construction industry with the help of four different scenarios. The four different scenarios have been gauged on the basis of three parameters which have been provided as supply chain coordination, site management and lastly the information about the material procurement process sharing. This paper concluded that Just in Time technique is quite effective in the construction industry after going through the systematic literature review done by the authors.

The paper of Pheng & Shang (2011), has explored the role of Just in Time technique in the construction industry of China and provided a recommendation for the application of the same. With the suggestion of studying the structure of Just in Time technique particularly for the construction industry established in china, the goal of the authors was to provide strong recommendations concerning the implementation of Just in Time technique in the Chinese construction industry. The authors have concluded the research paper with the help of case study of three different industries of China which are Just in Time in site layout, Just in Time in precast concrete construction and ready mix concrete industry. After analysing the case studies of these three industries, the authors have devised a framework for the implementation of the Just in Time technique in the construction industry of China. The paper emphasised that the Just in Time technique has a strong potential in the growth of the Chinese construction industry but it only possible with the assistance of the Chinese government.

Monden (1983) introduced the JUST IN TIMEconcepts to a broad audience in the USA emphasizing the importance of small lot sizes, mixed model production, multifunction workers, preventive maintenance, and JUST IN TIMEdelivery by suppliers.

References for Impact of Quality Management Practices

Ali, M. & Beheiry, S. 2015. The Applicability of Just-In-Time in United Arab Emirates Construction Projects, Journal ofEmerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 6(2). p. 120-128

Bamana, F. Lehoux, N. & Cloutier, C. 2017. JIT in Construction: Description and Implementation Insights, Greece: LC3, Heraklion.

Bertelsen et al. 2007. Construction Physics. Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction. [Online]. Available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/29157 [Accessed on August 19, 2020]. 

Birrell, G. 1980. Construction Planning – Beyond the Critical Path. Journal of the Construction Division-Asce, 106(3), p. 389-407.

Flynn, B., Schroeder, R., & Sakakibara, S. 1995. The impact of quality management practices on performance and competitive advantage. Decision Sciences, 26 (5), p. 659-691,

Hall, R. 1987. Attaining Manufacturing Excellence: Just in time, total quality, total people involvement. The Dow Jones-Irwin/APICS Series in Production Management.

Imai, M. 1986. Kaizen, the key to Japan’s competitive success. New York: Random House.

Koskela, L. 1992. Application of the new production philosophy to construction. Centre for Integrated Facility Engineering. [Online]. Available at: https://www.leanconstruction.org/media/docs/Koskela-TR72.pdf [Accessed on August 19, 2020]. 

Pasquire, C. 2012. 8th Flow- The Common Understanding. Available at: https://leanconstruction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Pasquire-The-8th-flow-Common-Understanding.pdf [Accessed on August 19, 2020]. 

Pheng, L. & Shang, G. 2011. The application of the Just-in-Time Philosophy in the Chinese Construction Industry, Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, 16 (1), p. 91-111.

Plenert, G. 1990. Three differing concepts of JIT. Production and Inventory Management Journal, Second Quarter, p. 1 - 2.

Schmenner, W. 1988. The merit of making things fast. Sloan Management Review, p. 11 -17.

Shah, R. Ward, P. 2007 Defining and developing measures of lean production, Journal of Operations Management, 25, 785–805.

Vrijhoef, R. 2018. Improving efficiency and environmental impact applying just in time logistics and transport consolidation in urban construction projects. [Online]. DOI:10.3311/ccc2018-073 [Accessed on 19th August, 2020].

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Management Assignment Help

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