Identifying Elements for Lean Construction Implementation in Trade Contractor Organizations

Lean practices and initiatives can substantially benefit the construction industry, but the implementation level by trade contractors is lagging. This is partially due to a lack of awareness of potential methods that can be employed by trade contractors, as well as a lack of tools to assist them in realizing their current level of lean implementation. The effectiveness of lean implementation in trade contractors cannot be improved without understanding the current state of its adoption. Several maturity models have been developed to assess lean adoption for organizations and general contractors; however, none has been created for the trade contractor community. Trade contractors execute most of the production tasks on construction projects; thus, they should benefit the most from lean adoption. This paper identifies 15 elements for lean construction implementation by trade contractors using literature review of existing lean construction maturity models and lean construction project implementation.