SINGAPORE – About 30 built environment firms are expected to work with global management consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG) over the next two years in an initiative to increase productivity and collaboration in projects.
Starting in November, the lean implementation and field transformation (LIFT) initiative will help participating firms redesign jobs and build capabilities.
Contractors, subcontractors, developers, design consultancies and others in the sector will receive support through live coaching to deploy lean methods to improve team coordination and streamline workflows.
Speaking at the Singapore Contractors Association’s (SCAL) annual dinner on Oct 16, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat outlined three priorities for the built environment sector: improving productivity, better organising and delivering of projects, and investing in people to improve talent attraction and retention.
Even as the sector faces manpower and resource constraints, Chee pointed to the need to deliver “the ambitious pipeline of projects well” – from Housing Board Build-To-Order flats to MRT lines to major undertakings such as Changi Airport Terminal 5 and the Long Island project.
“We must find better ways to build, deploy manpower more productively and reduce unnecessary red tape, while upholding high standards of safety and quality,” he said.
There is more that can be done to organise and deliver projects better, the minister noted.
“This is where lean construction can make a real difference,” he said.
“Lean construction is not about asking people to work faster. It is about planning and coordinating our work better, reducing unnecessary waiting and rework, and improving sequencing to improve efficiency. Done effectively, it enables project teams to make better use of their time and resources,” he said.
Gammon Singapore, an early adopter of lean construction, has shown what this can look like in practice.
“For one of its infrastructure projects, using lean principles, Gammon brought its project teams, supply chain and subcontractors together to plan backwards from key milestones, coordinate work more closely and identify potential roadblocks early,” Chee said.
“The teams also conducted regular ‘waste walks’ (or on-site walks) to identify instances of unnecessary waiting, idle manpower and inefficient processes, and then worked together to address them,” he said.
Through these efforts, Gammon reduced weeks of delay across various project milestones and avoided costly rework.
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