Lean Construction: A Perspective on the "Production" of Projects

• April 22, 2009: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
• Location: 290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building, the Maria & Dado Banatao Conference Room, UC Berkeley

Iris Tommelein [Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley]

As always, these talks are free, open to the public and broadcast live on-line at mms://media.citris.berkeley.edu/webcast the day and time of the event. Questions can be sent via Yahoo IM to username: citrisevents.

Abstract:
"Lean thinking" gained foothold in the United States first in manufacturing and later in new product development. In our view, "Lean thinking" also applies to one-off project settings. In the Project Production Systems Laboratory (p2sl - p2sl.berkeley.edu), housed under the CITRIS umbrella, we conduct action research with industry and develop the theoretical underpinnings to create lean project production systems. In this presentation Prof. Tommelein offers highlights of P2SL research showing lean thinking applied to project settings in the Architecture-Engineering-Construction (AEC) industry. P2SL researchers look forward to opportunities to further this thinking to project settings in other domains.

Biography:
Iris D. Tommelein is Professor of Engineering and Project Management, in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at U.C. Berkeley. She teaches and conducts research into 'lean thinking' applied to the delivery of projects. Current research aims to advance the theory and principles of project-based production management for the architecture-engineering-construction industry, what is termed 'lean construction.' This work focuses on enabling integrated project delivery teams to increase process and product development performance.

Professor Tommelein directs the Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL), a research laboratory as well as a learning lab for the Northern California construction industry. P2SL is dedicated to developing and deploying knowledge and tools for the management of project production systems and the management of organizations that produce and deliver goods and services through such systems. Project production systems include construction, product development, software engineering, air and sea ship building, work order systems, job shops, performing arts productions, oil field development, and health care delivery.

The complete schedule for the spring is at http://www.citris-uc.org/events/RE-spring2009. Sponsored by Infineon Technologies.