Proven Results with Lean Design and Construction

Over the last few years our clients and colleagues have studied their own results with Lean Design and Lean Construction and have reported them to us. In summary here are a few of the more notable:


1.  Using Last Planner System® in design and construction has achieved increased flow and reduced waste.  LPS® has demonstrated achieved these savings:

  • 17% time savings in Design using Lean (Plannerly.com internal survey)

  • 40% increase in construction productivity using Last Planner® (McCarthy’s John Wayne Airport P6 showed 5 months work left, but with LPS they did it in 3 months)

  • 100% increase in Work In Place (Clark/McCarthy’s CDCR Stockton Medical Center tracked the increase in daily Work in Place after introducing Last Planner® toward the end of the project and documented an increase in daily output from $1.5M/day WIP to $3.0M/day in 6 weeks after introducing LPS® – and they finished 5 weeks early)

  • 300% more likely to complete Ahead of Schedule (Dodge Analytics study of 162 projects, reported here

2. Use Target Value Delivery in both design and construction to meet or reduce target budget for the project (owner choice whether to save the money or reallocate the funds into more program)

  • 45% more LEED certifications (San Diego Community College District study of 34 SDCCD projects averaging $30 Million each reported here

  • 53% fewer design issues (Plannerly.com internal survey)

  • $900,000 average cost savings per project (San Diego Community College District study of 34 SDCCD projects averaging $30 Million each, cited above)

  • 200% more likely to complete Under Budget (Dodge Analytics study of 162 projects, cited above)

  • 40% reduction in Total change orders from 7.73 to 4.46% (San Diego Community College District study of 34 SDCCD projects averaging $30 Million each, cited above)

3.  Value Stream Mapping and Process Mapping and Rapid Process Improvement Events

  • 35% reduction in RFI steps (Webcor Rapid Process Improvement Event outcomes based on internal participant reports)

  • 46% reduction in RFI process time (Webcor Rapid Process Improvement Event outcomes based on internal participant reports)

  • 95% reduction in RFI processing labor hours (Webcor Rapid Process Improvement Event outcomes based on internal participant reports)

  • 28% reduction in overall design lead time for a school projects (recent elementary school architect Value Stream Mapping event)

  • 308% Increase (estimated) in percent complete and accurate in handoffs between designer (recent elementary school architect Value Stream Mapping event)

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