Agile construction

Agile Construction is a way of doing business adapted to construction jobsites and overall project delivery, born from agile manufacturing and project management, mostly used in manufacturing production, automotive and software developing teams.^[1] It is the application of the Toyota Production System^[2][3] to construction, with two parallel paths: measuring (ASTM E2691)^[4] and improving productivity, and segregating and externalizing work through prefabrication and supply chain management. Like the Toyota Production System, Agile construction is a system that relies on input from the source of the work information, both up front for planning the project, as well as throughout the life of a project for real-time feedback. The real-time input produces real-time measurements of productivity. It is an iterative and incremental method of managing the design and build activities. This means that each time the process is repeated some changes are made to make the process better. Changes for the better are kept and for the worse are discarded.

Agile Construction^[5] is based on 7 principles or pillars:

• Labor productivity and measurement^[6]
• Job scheduling and planning^[7]
• Procurement management^[8]

• Prefabrication^[9] (components or parts already enssembled by the supplier, reducing time and complexity of the task)
• Reduction of labor composite rate (the cost of the worker to the company per unit of time)
• Estimation accuracy and improvement ^[10]
• Project financial management ^[11]

Agile Construction improves the contractor's ability to rapidly adapt to job site changes, minimizing the time between when a risk is detected and corrected.^[11] This requires a better mechanism to capture these changes and a better infrastructure for addressing them. ^[12] Agile project management^[13] applied for construction can also make gains in pre-design and design phases of construction, and with a more highly trained and motivated work deliver a better consumer value.^[11]

See also

• Productivity
• Electrical_contractor
• Procurement

References

1. The Profitability of Agile Construction (2006) By (Parviz) Perry Daneshgari & Michelle T. Wilson.Z
2. Tatsuhiko, Yoshimura (2002). Mizenboushi Method. Japan: JUSE Press.
3. Ohno, Taiichi (1988). Toyota Production System. New York: Productivity Press.
4. ASTM E2691 - 11 Standard Practice for Job Productivity Measurement (JPM) - Active Standard ASTM E2691 | Developed by Subcommittee: E06.81 Book of Standards Volume: 04.12
5. Agile Construction for the Electrical Contractor by Dr. Perry Daneshgari PhD ISBN 978-1508939221 (2015)
6. Reducing Labor Waste with Short Interval Scheduling, Construction Executive Magazine by Dr. Perry Daneshgari & Dr. Heather Moore (2015)
7. The Secret to Short-Interval Scheduling by Dr. Perry Daneshgari & Dr. Heather Moore - Electrical Construction and Maintenance - Feb 1, 2009
8. Partnering With Distributors for Efficiency, CE Magazine by Dr. Perry Daneshgari & Dr. Heather Moore (2016)
9. Impact Prefabrication on Industrial Construction Work by Dr. Perry Daneshgari & Dr. Heather Moore (2015)
10. Bid to Win: Avoiding Killer Jobs with Better Accuracy, Insights Magazine by Dr. Perry Daneshgari & Dr. Heather Moore (2016)
11. Daneshgari, Perry (2010). Agile construction for the electrical contractor. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. ISBN 0763765627.
12. PriceWaterhouse Coopers. 2008. How to Build an Agile Foundation for Change Check |url= value (help) (PDF).
13. Johansson, Mattias Yllén. "Agile project management in the construction industry" (PDF). KTH.se. Royal Institute of Technology. Retrieved 11 March 2015.