Institut for produktion Civilingeniøruddannelsen i Byggeledelse

SUMMARY
industry since 1960 and until today to determine the needs and possibilities for a
change in the traditional building process. One comparison is between the Danish
construction industry and the Danish manufacturing industry and the other one is
between the Danish construction industry and the construction industry in Holland,
Sweden, Germany and Finland. The comparisons revealed a potential for
improvements in the Danish construction industry.
In [Kristensen & Nielsen, 2001 (c)] it is explored how this potential has been used
in Danish pilot projects and to what extend principles from different manufacturing
philosophies are implemented in those projects. Especially the principles from
Lean Production have been introduced to the construction industry since 1993
through the work within the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC).
In [Kristensen & Nielsen, 2002 (d)] the Lean Construction principles and methods
are elaborated. The contribution of IGLC to the construction industry may roughly
be divided into to areas. One is Lauri Koskela's understanding of construction as a
production, based on the Transformation-Flow-Value concept (the TFV-theory);
the other is the explorative development of tools and techniques, for instance
Glenn Ballard’s Last Planner System of Production Control.
Through the analysis made in the three papers some problems (or challenges) for
the construction industry are revealed. The problems/challenges for the Danish
construction industry are listed below:
1. The results and experiences gained through research and pilot projects
have not successfully been applied to practice.
2. The companies do not develop core competences to take the company to a
competitive edge.
3. There are no methods, which systematically measure the building process.
4. The relationship between the different parties involved in a project can be
characterized by a great deal of mistrust and consequently leads to suboptimization.
5. The project management systems currently used are insufficient.
6. There is not a clear definition of what is expected of the client.
7. The existing way of interpreting the construction industry is preventing an
increase in productivity.
Having identified the different problems one is selected for further exploration.
Because of the impact, it is estimated to have on the remaining problems, it is decided
to concentrate the succeeding work on changing the way in which the con-
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