Business systems engineering—can it work in construction?

Business systems engineering—the application of engineering techniques to business processes—is a well-established management approach in the manufacturing sector that has delivered major improvements in both efficiency and profitability. But can it be applied to construction? This paper reviews the twelve sequential steps that characterise business systems engineering and, using demonstration projects from the UK's Movement for Innovation (M4I) initiative as examples, shows how each step could benefit the construction process. It concludes that, if implemented on a whole project, business systems engineering could achieve the demanding business improvement targets set in Sir John Egan's Rethinking Construction report.