Building Information Modeling in Projects

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Lean Production
Research Methodology
Findings
Conclusion
Works Cited

Abstract

The research paper examines application of BIM in lean construction projects and its impact on productivity and project success. The research is based on secondary data analysis involving theoretical literature and case studies. The case studies are “Lean Construction: From Theory to Implementation” by O. Salem et al and “Case Study of the Implementation of the Lean projects Delivery System. Proceedings” by A. Khanzode et al. It was found that BIM allows management to improve project quality, reduce time and costs and shorten cycle time. The cost of maintaining innovation in a large corporation is that considerable time must be spent integrating across organizational boundaries. BIM could facilitate such construction techniques as the last planner method, five S’s method, daily huddle meetings, fail safe for quality, first run studies and visualization. Facilitating interactions and reciprocal linkages among people as well as ensuring a balanced flow of information and tasks so that no bottlenecks result are beyond doubt both critical managerial responsibilities.

Introduction

At the beginning of the 21^st century, building information modeling becomes one of the most effective and successful approaches to quality improvements and controls proposed. Achieving quality is more important than always trying to get the lowest price for supplies used in a product. It is better to pay more for good supplies that add value to what the company produces. BIM is applied to lean production and ensures high quality of the projects and effective decision-making solutions. Every part of a system, of a process, affects other parts; overemphasis on cost savings at every stage can jeopardize efforts to ensure quality. Lean construction is worth investing in because, in the end, it does more to ensure prosperity and success Improvement is not a one-time effort. Everyone in the organization must constantly be looking for ways to reduce waste and improve quality, to save time, and to promote achievement. Here, leadership is not supervision but rather finding ways to help workers to improve. The aim of the paper is to examine application of BIM in lean production and its impact on construction practices and lean design.

Lean Production

In order analyze application of BIM in lean design, it is important to define lean construction and its main factors.

Lean construction is a new way to manage construction. The objective, principles and techniques of lean construction taken together form the basis for a new project delivery process. Unlike current approaches to managing construction (including design-build) and programmatic improvement efforts (partnering and TQM) (Howell and Ballard p. 1).

The main principles of lean production methods are agreed requirements, on time delivery, quality improvement, every job must add value and promotion of creativity. In general, lean production does not require supervisors to be the all knowing experts, which is too much to expect in most cases. Rather, it depends on all participants doing the assessment and evaluation of programs and processes. And it trusts them to do it honestly and accurately (Club 66). It is only realistic that managers begin to rely far more on the expertise inherent in people who teach every day. Rather than knowing every detail of a process, their new role must be to nurture the growth and good performance of individuals and teams. Only those using them can become true experts; and with their increasing expertise, they will most likely be ahead of their supervisors. “Lean principles determine the goals of lean manufacturing. Womack and Jones (1996) present value specification, value stream waste elimination, flow, pull, and continuous pursuit of perfection as the lean principles” (Salem et al p. 169). Lean production allows cost reductions that have an obvious and immediate impact on the bottom line. Not increasing investment in fixed assets further improves profitability (Cain 43).

Research Methodology

The research will be based on secondary data analysis involving theoretical literature and case studies. The case-study is one more design strategy under the qualitative rubric. The case studies are “Lean Construction: From Theory to Implementation” by O. Salem et al and “Case Study of the Implementation of the Lean projects Delivery System. Proceedings” by A. Khanzode et al. the selected methods have potential for increased validity for several reasons. First, because multiple data-collection techniques are used (e.g., interview, document study, observation, and quantitative statistical analysis), the weaknesses of each can be counterbalanced by the strengths of the others. Conclusions related to a certain aspect of a phenomenon under study need not be based solely on one data source. Second, validity may be increased by checking the interpretation of information with experts. Third, with case studies there are generally a variety of data sources. There should be a structural relationship among these sources. To the extent that these findings are consistent within the case, the validity is enhanced. Conceptually, this is similar to giving a battery of tests to obtain an estimate of consistency in the underlying constructs. Conceptually, this is similar to giving a battery of tests to obtain an estimate of consistency in the underlying constructs. Fourth, using a scientific method in which one hypothesizes something about the case and collects data to determine if the hypothesis should be rejected could add to validity and also help future researchers determine starting places for their research. The research literature will involve theoretical studies on the problem of lean construction and BIM (Club 68).

The case study by Salem et al examines and evaluates Toyota’s techniques and methods applied to production. The case study Khanzode et al analyzes application of BIM in healthcare setting. In general, the researches agree that BIM helps business organizations to follow agreed standards and meet the main principles of quality and continued improvement policies. Instill in the organization not merely a tolerance of, but even a desire for a higher level of mutual dependence. Overcoming the inherent urge to be independent and insulated calls for top executives who can be diplomats, straight shooters and firefighters all rolled into one. Whether the organization be for manufacturing or service, and irrespective of which part of the value chain is under consideration, the instinctive human tendency to provide margins of safety must be tackled and overcome. Initially, firm recommendation if not outright imposition of tight linkage may be the best medicine to prescribe.

Findings

Rework in Design

Analysis and evaluation of the reseach studies allow to say that BIM is very effective technique which helps to improve performance and low costs of projects. Rework in design shows that changing layouts in manufacturing, eliminating inventory “cushions” in finished goods, raw material or working-process (which could affect distribution, suppliers, and internal operations, respectively), linking Marketing Research and Applied Research using Quality Function Deployment, and so forth, are some of the possible steps (Cain 47). A transition has to be effected from a relatively cozy existence in which individual and group efforts are exerted in isolated splendor to a state of possible turmoil, at least initially, where finger-pointing, feelings of guilt and a generally increased sense of responsibility could be accompanied by spasms of frustration. This transition obviously could and should be eased to prevent the shock waves of resentment from rocking the organization’s stability. This might include steps to improve equipment reliability through Total Productive Maintenance or implementing Statistical Process Control, balancing the chain of operations, the use of equipment of lower capacity to increase flexibility, and the encouragement of self-supervision to get employees acquainted with, even drawn to, the notion of taking responsibility for one’s tasks and activity performance (Club 65).

The PDCA (plan, do, check, and act) allows managers to redesign the process and create first-run study. Application of BIM helps to contract and model different situations, plan and test ideas, check results and select the best solution for production. BIM allows managers to save time usually spent on planning and checking, and reduce number of mistakes in planning process. Application of BIM allows production management to join knowledge, communication and team efforts. “The actions implemented included new methods, changes in the composition of the crew, and a better sequence of activities” (Salem et al 173). The case of Toyota shows that many companies show a consistent pattern of structure formal, quasiformal, and informal that actively facilitates both innovative ideas and task-relevant cooperation. While they have thousands of employees, these companies clearly organize for BIM, they reorganize for BIM, and they retain the small company flavor by carefully fostering patterns of interaction usually associated with small companies. These behaviors are clearly encouraged by structure, but they are also an expected part of the cultures of these companies. Informal interaction and coordination were found everywhere: in the hallways, cafeterias, and even in the men’s and women’s rooms. The dynamic tension among all these elements is an important component of the management of innovation (Eastman 52). The last planner method of production control is widely used in manufacturing. “Based on the RPS, a “lookahead” schedule provides the activities to be completed during the coming weeks and the backlog of ready work” (Salem et al 2006, p. 170). Application of BIM allows planners control the work and find the rout causes of delays. Also, BIM helps managers to develop a hypothetical scenarios and “develop an action plan to prevent future recurrences of the problem” (Salem et al 2006, p. 170).

The case study of the Lean Project Delivery System shows hat settings where there is a lag in performance feedback, where tasks are often changing and being changed, that require experimentation with untested ways of doing things, and where interdependencies require ongoing interaction with others to get the work done pose special challenges for performing effectively (see Figure 1). Our findings show plainly that these characteristics of high technology settings can easily work against performance. Survey respondents who reported that requirements and priorities keep being changed and that they do not readily know the results of their efforts reported lower effectiveness of all types of performance: individual, work-group, and project level, quality, schedule, and cost. Respondents who reported that they frequently have to try out new and innovative approaches to get the job done and that they work extensively with others with whom they are interdependent saw their own work and that of their work groups and projects as being of higher quality (Eastman 73). Nevertheless, the need for both innovation and extensive interaction negatively affected schedule and budget. Innovating and coping with interdependence by person-to-person interaction are critical to the quality of the work that is done, but are time-consuming and costly. In each of these organizations, the characteristics of the technology impose work requirements that appear to work against employees’ sense of accomplishment and of being part of a high-performance group. This is an especially important performance management issue given the professional nature of the employees and the fact that professional pride of accomplishment is an important motivator for professionals (Cain 51).

“Fail Safe for Quality” method allows reduce number of spoilage during the construction. BIM allows managers to facilitate quality and predict possible problems caused by action plans. The main indicators used during planning process are “quality-at-the source and percentage-of-safe-work” (Salem et al 2006, p. 174). Critics have discussed representations including scenarios, statements of objectives, and screen layouts tied to scenario walk-throughs. Formal, BIM design analysis schemes can contribute to the development of these representations. The advantage of BIM application is that it helps to reduce risks and hazards and allows managers to prevent a system breakdown.

BIM design rationale and design claims, and simulating user’s interaction through walk-throughs of design, share a similar goal with the techniques discussed in this section: namely, the goal of developing methods for systematically and thoroughly articulating the relationship between the technical attributes of the user interface and the psychological attributes and processes underlying people’s use of the interface to accomplish tasks (see Figure 2). Moreover, the opportunistic and context-sensitive character of BIM design should not obscure the fact that question-driven analysis, especially in a group design setting, requires preparation and representations. They may provide guidelines or methods for capturing and tracking the results of design analyses throughout design and development. ”Most of the guideline developed was about the responsibility to create models but some of it also revolved around how the Lean construction principles of using pull scheduling, limiting batch sizes, rapid iteration, were also incorporated in the guidelines specifically 3D / 4D CAD during the Lean Design phase of LPDS” (Khanzode et al 159).

Cycle Time

BIM application allows managers to reduce cycle time and improve routine operations. Nonetheless, application of BIM in design walk-throughs has been driven, to date, by considerations other than producing complete analyses of user interactions and, in particular, predicting user’s interaction with software. It is not clear how the systematical approach and rigor of these methods trades off against the scope and breadth of the design analysis that is possible in the larger design situations the researchers have described (Cain 65).

Five S’s is one of the best methods to reduce cicely time and ensure low defect processes. Five S’s consists of the following steps: sort, straighten, standardize, shine and sustain (Salem et al 173). This approach shows that it is sufficient simply to ask a question in a design setting to elicit useful analyses that can constructively influence a design or implementation. It is not always easy to find potential problems with seemingly mundane design elements with which one is intimately familiar (Salem et al 170).

It simply takes time, even if that time is invisible at first glance. While Toyota’s executives consciously strive to keep its organizational units small with divisions, it is nonetheless clear that coordination across some divisions is not a trivial task. Task forces, dotted-line relationships, and teams are omnipresent, as indeed they are in all the firms. These quasi-formal elements of BIM design are an absolutely essential mechanism of organizing for BIM (Eastman 52). Task forces and dotted-line relationships are part of the solution. At each company people were cognizant of the essential part that committees and task forces played in problem-solving and coordination, and yet they were simultaneously critical of the time required for effective task force participation. At each company, managers were aware of the need to eliminate any elements of organization no longer essential. However, elimination was not always easily accomplished. The latent value of task forces, committees, and councils is that they present opportunities for lower-level engineers and managers to begin developing their leadership and group skills–both essential components for future managerial success in an innovative company (Fukai 88).

One element of BIM was interaction. In place of strongly hierarchybased patterns of interaction found in more traditional organizations, our firms embody very strong norms and practices of nonhierarchical, problem-, expertise-, and interest-based interaction. Fundamentally in BIM high technology companies, multitudes of novel problems exist for which no established solutions are readily apparent (Fukai 89). The sensible approach is to rely on each and every resource available. Thoughtful reflection on the problem and substantive contributions, rather than hierarchy or status, are more relevant in the highly competitive environment these companies face. Fast decision making is essential to effective competition, so standing on form and position merely impedes problem solving (Cain 76).

Level of Work in Progress

BIM allows managers and organizations to increase numbers of operations in progress and improve quality of decision-making. For researchers, a particular challenge is to develop a better understanding of how construction’s goals and tasks are related to the objects and actions provided by software functions (Fukai 88). The goal is not only to evaluate how well proposed functions support users’ tasks. The goal ultimately is to help generate useful functions in the first place.

The final research direction is to understand how to involve more effectively designers and developers in analysis and review of designs (in contrast to doing stand-alone cognitive analyses). As suggested earlier, software design may be too complex and shifting to rely only on one-dimensional analysis tools or frameworks. There isan important role for the kinds of interactive design conversations that managers have found useful. The representation of user perspectives requires probing that is difficult to mechanize or capture in formal tools (Fukai 90). Critics articulate better the various skills discussed earlier as needed to manage effective group design processes. In particular, managers must be able to teach these techniques. Group design and problem solving is important in our emerging framework. However, it is not always accorded as much legitimacy as formal analysis that is motivated by theory. It is easy to focus on analytical techniques, and give much less legitimacy to the contexts in which the techniques are applied to achieve results. Complex problems are often not solved by straightforward uni-dimensional application of research, but through more pluralistic and participatory problem solving. The participatory character of BIM design and development, involving professionals, software engineers, and even users (as workers or customers) has emerged as an important theme in research and practice. “In addition to tracking this metric the team is also tracking the potential savings due to the use of 3D / 4D modeling tools along with LPDS. This is done using a Virtual RFI process. The team is already using the 3D / 4D tools to identify and resolve coordination issues, conflicts etc” (Khanzode et al 158). The ability to use a variety of cases for generating questions makes it possible to inquire about factors that changed the import of a particular symptom from one case to another. If hypotheses are generated to explain a particular symptom, designs are asked to ascertain the frequency with which companies with the problem exhibit the symptom. Further information regarding hypothesis quality can be gained by asking about evoking strength. Evoking strength is determined by the strength of a particular diagnosis for explaining some finding. It emphasizes their search for information to a greater extent than their subsequent evaluation of the acquired information. This contrasts with the approach taken by much of the research on audit judgment. A common research paradigm has been to present the auditor with a set of cues. This research has analyzed how these cues were used to arrive at some criterion judgment. For complex tasks such as audit diagnosis, it is likely that the skilled practitioner’s active search and acquisition of information is an essential component of expertise. Therefore, a requirement for a faithful model of the expert auditor’s diagnostic processes will include the expert’s inquiry during the initial stages of problem formulation (Fukai 91). The use of multiple reporting relationships on technical projects efficiently allocates scarce human talent to needed technical projects. However, some complications are associated with dotted-line relationships. Consistent with other research, dotted-line and team-based relationships in technical projects and other organizational applications produce (Cain 61).

Application of BIM to daily huddle meetings allows management to control input of work in progress and make necessary changes in performance. In contrast to the first run studies aimed to redesign critical issues, daily huddle meetings allows management to control time and review the world done on a daily basis. BIM controls the work, schedule and issues covered. Applied to work in progress, BIM techniques have been developed in order to eliminate the need for users to memorize complicated commands while maintaining more structure than natural language.

Increased visualization allows managers to manage and monitor the workflow and “create awareness of action plans on a job site” (Salem et al 170). The main tools of increased visualization are commitment charts, mobile signs and project milestones. The selection of a particular option typically results in the presentation of another set of options from which the user can choose (Krygeil et al 83). An important feature of menu-driven systems is that they do not require users to generate queries, instead it is only necessary for users to recognize the desired components in the query. In most systems, users are expected to select a large number of different options before completing their goals. It was found that the establishment of a norm through the initial orientation and the identification of symptoms is particularly important for BIM. The use of free generation of questions and follow-up question probes when knowledge is elicited from experts is well-suited to modeling the auditor because of this emphasis on information acquisition (Cain 43).

Conclusion

The research shows that BIM can be successfully introduced in lean production. The case studies prove that the key to the continued innovation success rates these companies enjoy is to be found in their careful management of structure. This includes much thoughtful reexamination of existing formal structures, in light of changing technology and market needs. Sustained enthusiasm for constant improvement in the organization’s structure through reorganization, as necessary, provides a consistent signal to employees that change is neither undesirable nor to be resisted. Instead, structure is to be managed and adapted to changed conditions. This, in turn, requires a willingness to invest valuable time in structure per se. Quasi-structural elements like cross-disciplinary, multilevel committees, task forces, and teams require fostering, attention, and support. Thus, quasi-formal relationships to coordinate and exchange information are legitimated in these firms by widespread investment of sanctioned time. This includes senior management time, given to participating in these as needed and supporting quasi-structure on behalf of the organization at large. Senior management commitment to the essential importance of quasi-structure is clearly not lip service. The interpersonal skills essential for working within organizations with extensive quasi-structural elements, like teamwork and cooperative ability, are increasingly used to assess managers’ behavior.

BIM technologies contribute to developing more effective user-centered construction practices. The analysis reinforces the long-standing claim that such programming environments encourage software design that better exploits concepts and methods of real-world tasks, which the software is intended to support. Structured queries are used to elicit information from relational databases. Traditional relational databases consist of objects and specified relations between these objects. For example, users of relational databases may perceive the data as being in tabular form. Users are able to manipulate the data and query the database by using operators that create new tables from the old ones. One command may be used to pull out a subset of rows from a particular table, whereas another operator may pull out a subset of the columns. The proposed BIM solutions were regarded as a genuine structural innovation, since they were well adapted to the vicissitudes of congressional funding, long-term projects with overlapping time lines, and shifting organizational and personnel needs of the aerospace industry. BIM forms were a clear departure from rigidly hierarchical, vertical organizations typically seen in most large organizations until that time. They are configured as a grid with dotted-line relationships, in which an engineer, for example, would “report out” of his or her functional engineering group to a project organization as well. Thus, “dotted-line” relationships have become short-hand for one’s matrix boss in addition to one’s functional boss.

Works Cited

Cain, C. Th. Profitable Partnering for Lean Construction. Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition, 2004.

Club, A.T. A Guide to Log Lean-To Construction. Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 1992.

Eastman, Ch. Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors. Wiley, 2008.

Fukai, D. Building SIMPLE: Building An Information Model. Insitebuilders; 1st edition, 2006.

Howell, G., Ballard, G. What is Lean Construction? pp. 1-5.

Khanzode, A., Fischer, M., Reed, D. Case Study of the Implementation of the Lean projects Delivery System. Proceedings IGLC-13, July 2005, Sydney, Australia, pp. 154-160.

Krygeil, E., Nies, B., McDowell, S. Green BIM: Successful Sustainable Design with Building Information Modeling. Sybex, 2008.

Salem, O. et al. Lean Construction: From Theory to Implementation. Journal of Management in Engineering, 2006, pp. 168-175.

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