Adapted Use of Andon in a Horizontal Residential Construction Project

Clarissa Biotto1, Bruno Mota2, Lívia Araújo3, George Barbosa4 & Fabíola Andrade5

1Architect. SIPPRO Management of Construction, Fortaleza, Brazil, Phone +55 85 99484558, [email protected]
2Civil engineer. SIPPRO Management of Construction, Fortaleza, Brazil, Phone +55 85 99458582, [email protected]
3Civil engineer intern. Colmeia Construction Company, Fortaleza, Brazil, Phone +55 85, [email protected]
4Civil engineer intern. Colmeia Construction Company, Fortaleza, Brazil, Phone +55 85, [email protected]
5Civil engineer. Colmeia Construction Company, Fortaleza, Brazil, Phone +55 85, [email protected]

Abstract

The andon is a visual management tool used mainly in manufacturing systems to highlight the status of the operations. In construction industry, its use is not widely known nor reported in academic literature. In understanding the difficulties imposed by this kind of production, it is necessary to adapt this tool to the construction sites. An andon device was implemented in a 55 hectares area of large horizontal residential project, with more than eight hundred apartments, at Fortaleza, Brazil, in order to indicate for the engineer team the exactly position of the problem in each workstation. The device was adapted to a touch screen terminal inside the workstations and it was shared for nine hundred workers, each one has its own identification number. They have to log in at the andon terminal and indicate the actual status of the operation he is executing. As a result, the andon allowed increasing operations transparency, to identify some planning issues and to solve the main causes of interruptions that were classified in four main areas: lack of material, problems with manpower, design documentation and safety. Also, the andon improved worker’s sense of responsibility by forecasting future problems that will affect the production. The use of the andon adapted to a horizontal project is an inspiration to other construction companies of how to implement this Toyota system traditional tool at extent construction sites.

Keywords

andon, information technology, lean construction, production control

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Reference

Biotto, C. , Mota, B. , Araújo, L. , Barbosa, G. & Andrade, F. 2014. Adapted Use of Andon in a Horizontal Residential Construction Project, 22nd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 1295-1305. doi.org/

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