IIT Madras partners construction cos for implementing 'lean construction'

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is partnering with top firms across the country to implement "lean construction" that can reduce waste and the duration of construction in comparison with conventional techniques.

Lean construction is a technique borrowed from "lean manufacturing" and adapted to construction to reduce eight kinds of waste - overproduction, inventory, defects, motion, over-processing, waiting, transportation, and human talent.

According to officials, construction projects are often delayed and go over budget partly due to the construction process being inefficient and inadequate planning leading to wastage.

"India is going through a boom in infrastructure projects. To complete projects successfully, one must align the people, process and technology elements of the project. By using a lean construction approach, these elements are integrated and aligned thus increasing the chances of project success," said Koshy Varghese, Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras.

"Being implemented globally in the last two decades, lean construction involves a series of structured techniques that identify and reduce these wastes so that the construction process is much faster and more reliable. These issues also cover logistical aspects such as lack of timely procurement leading to manpower and equipment lying idle," he added.

IIT Madras is collaborating with construction companies such as L&T, Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Godrej Construction through an industry body called Institute for Lean Construction Excellence (ILCE).

"The fragmented nature of the construction industry implies that firms need to coordinate better in order to improve project outcomes. Traditionally, this has been difficult to achieve using conventional planning techniques leading to time and cost overruns in projects," said Ashwin Mahalingam, Faculty, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras.

"Lean construction provides a set of tools, frameworks and ideas through which projects can seamlessly meet their time, cost, quality, safety and sustainability objectives," Mahalingam said.

"In an applied field such as construction management, industry and academia both have a lot to learn from each other. Academic programs such as IITM provide the frameworks through which industry can achieve greater impact, while industry provides academia with data that we can use to fine-tune their practices," he said.