A Study of Lean Construction Practices in Gaza Strip

Table 2.2 5S Purpose and Goals (cont.)
5S Elements Purpose Goals
Standardization
Sustain
2.6.7 Fail-Safe for Quality
• Check for Quality
Creating standard ways of
doing/storing things so
anyone can di/find anything.
Integrating 5S principles into
the culture of the
organization
• Establish standards that describe how
things should exist.
• Establish communication devices so
that everyone may understand how
things work.
• Form 5S habits.
• Integrate 5S into the organization's
culture. become s the way things are
done around here.
An overall quality assessment was completed at the beginning of the project. Most
quality issues could be addressed by standard practices, and it seemed there was
little room for improvement. During the execution of the project, however, some
critical items appeared such as a new vibration method for shearing walls was
suggested and implemented by the superintendent of the project.
• Check for Safety
Safety was tracked with safety action plans, i.e., lists of main risk items prepared by
each crew. Potential hazards were studied and explored during the job. Most
hazards, such as eye injuries, falls and trips, and hearing loss, have standard
countermeasures; however, in practice, workers have to be reminded of safety
practices (Salem et al., 2006).
2.6.8 Productivity Standardization
Productivity is a measure of how much we produce per unit input. From a client's
perspective, higher productivity leads to lower costs, shorter construction programs,
better value for money and a higher return on investment (Malcolm et al., 2001).
Contractors’ profits from increases in productivity are generally in the range of 2% to
4% of turnover. The increase in labor productivity by 25% would increase their profit
margins from 2% to 8%, or from 4 % to 10%, a two and a half to fourfold increase in
profit.
Partial Productivity = Total Output / (1) Input
Labour Productivity =Total Output / Number of labor
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