WHERE LEAN CONSTRUCTION AND VALUE MANAGEMENT MEET

Value in building is a subject which in recent years has attained increased focus. Value delivery towards the customer has high priority in every building project, and value concepts such as Value Management, Value Engineering, and Lean Construction are often focal points in practice as well as in research. The situation is however that these value delivery methods not are based on an unambiguous understanding of the underlying value concept. To work goal oriented with value delivery methods requires that the value concept should be worked and understood. Research on the value concept has not attained much attention in the building industry, but a lot of research on value delivery is taking place. This paper presents a contribution to how the building industry could perceive the value concept. The presented work is based on a recently finished PhD thesis entitled "Value in Building" working with the value concept and how this value concept can be applied in management, e.g. Value Management, Value Engineering, and Value-Based Management.

2018

Question: What is value? Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to explore the concept of value on a fundamental level to arrive at a definition that is usable within the context of Lean Construction Research Method: Literature study and abductive reasoning Findings: Value is the result of an evaluative judgment. This judgment is guided by values and based on the evaluator’s knowledge at hand. It is always based on comparing two or more alternatives in a given context. This context envelops all get and give consequences for a particular party from a decision made on the basis of the value judgment. The get and give consequences are always in the form of gained or lost experiences, or expressed in monetary terms as a placeholder for experiences. The consequences are not summative; the value judgment is done by considering them all at once. Limitations: This is a conceptual paper; the practical applicability of the findings is not explored. Implications: Value should be considered as so...

The Lean Construction (LC) community commonly agrees upon that the goal of projects is to deliver value. However, value as a concept is an ambiguous one. Not surprisingly, a commonly agreed upon definition of value has not yet been found. We find the lack of such as definition to be problematic, as it makes any high-level discussion of value challenging. Reviewing the LC literature, limited effort in regards to tackling the fundamental nature and base definition of value is found. This paper aims to provide this through presenting nine tenets on the nature of value. It starts out by providing an overview of selected definitions found to be pertinent to value in the context of construction projects, notably from within economics, marketing and those that are employed within the LC community. Thereafter, nine tenets pertinent to the concept of value and the reasoning behind them are presented. Finally, we discuss several value related concept, such as waste, in relation to the presented tenets.

The importance and huge potential of considering Value delivery from the very early stages of building & infrastructure projects have broadly been recognized. Lean Thinking elevates Value to the customer as a fundamental principle in the manufacturing sector and the consideration of Value in this way has transferred into Lean Construction. Consequently, satisfaction of customer requirements has predominated over satisfaction of societal issues. Based on the situation described, the following hypothesis is formulated:-The dependence of society on buildings and infrastructure elevates the needs of society within customer requirement priorities and drives the need to expand common understanding of Value from a Local to a Global context‖. This hypothesis does not ignore the importance of money and other parameters such as quality, function, etc. used to deliver Value. This paper proposes society is dependent on construction and it should predominate over particular interests, if the construction industry potential is to be fulfilled. Based on the experience achieved to date, Lean Construction can use its huge potential to move towards an expansion of the common vision of Value, going far from current production process activities. Finally, a preliminary, conceptual model of Value in a Global context is presented that demonstrates how a project can be positioned within the value parameters.

Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management, 2012

This paper reviews the development of value management (VM) over the last few decades and proposes ways for future development. Methodology/approach: A qualitative research methodology was adopted which involved a comprehensive review of relevant literature leading to a better understanding of the history and development of VM. A way forward is suggested for the future development of VM. Findings: The research revealed that sustainable development is an area which has great potential for the application of a VM methodology in the construction industry in order to ensure sustainable design and development is leveraged during the life span of construction projects. Originality/value: The research work described in this paper encourages researchers and practitioners to integrate VM and sustainable development. It enables the VM community to have a better understanding of applying VM techniques to address 'green building' issues and the potential of applying VM to promote sustainability in buildings.

… Group for Lean …, 2005

Value is the end-goal of all construction projects and therefore the discussion and agreement of value parameters is fundamental to the achievement of improved productivity and client/user satisfaction. The word 'value' tends to be used rather loosely in daily practice. Similarly, terms and interpretations vary within construction management literature. The aim of this paper is to put forward a number of definitions that may be used in a common language for discussing and implementing value through lean construction. Value creation and value delivery are clearly defined within a four-stage model that maps key process functions. Mapping the process provides a framework in which to highlight the differences between value-based management, value management and value engineering activities. The concept of external and internal values is also introduced. The model described is being implemented on pilot projects in Denmark, by consultants NIRAS and contractors MTHøjgaard. The model is grounded in extensive practical work and underpinned by theoretical constructs.

World Scientific News, 2016

Value management is a process whereby the project is evaluated and scrutinised to obtain maximum value for money by following a prescribed methodology. It focuses on the value, rather than cost, in relation to the function of the element of the project. However, value relates to what an element does. The key benefit of VM is the financial benefits to the client; other benefits include a clearer brief, improved communication, use of local materials etc. However, there are barriers to its application such as inadequate training and education, the unwillingness to entertain new ideas, lack of regulatory framework etc. Also, the following drivers of VM approach were identified: establishment of a regulatory framework, client's awareness, establishment of a group support system on VM etc. This paper considers value management from a functional value perspective and argues for greater recognition for it to form an integral part of projects.

COBRA 2007, 2007

The starting point of this research is the hypothesis that building projects sometimes end in conflicts due to the practitioners' vague and diverse understanding of value creation. This hypothesis has been an object of research for the last couple of years. A questionnaire survey carried out recently provides data which verify the hypothesis. Preliminary results from this survey and results from another study are used to discuss the diverse understanding of value in the building industry and the implications of the diversity. The conclusion of the triangular research is that the practitioners have an incongruent perception of value. The highest degree of incongruence occurs in the area of value related to money and value related to the actual cooperation in the building process.

The value management (VM) approach often faces many barriers when applied in the Vietnamese construction industry, as well as in many other developing countries. Most of the related past works identify an insufficient number of factors that hinder the application of VM. This study identified 18 factors hindering the application of VM in the construction industry. To gather views from industrial practitioners with many years of experience in construction projects, this study administered questionnaire surveys. The findings revealed that the four greatest obstacles to the application of VM were the lack of VM experts, the lack of knowledge about VM, the lack of local VM guidelines, as well as technical norms and standards, and the lack of investments, support policies and human resources to conduct VM in construction companies. Additionally, the factor analysis method was applied to investigate the correlation effects of the hindrance factors, which resulted in four core components representing the hindrance factors, namely, lack of qualified personnel to implement VM, inherent difficulties with VM workshops, lack of awareness of VM, and lack of VM application documents. The study contributes to the body of knowledge relating to the application of VM in the construction industry. The findings can be generalised to many developing countries, as they face similar problems in terms of promoting the application of VM in the construction industry.