TY - CONF TI - The Flow of Work in Construction: A Conceptual Discussion C1 - Haifa, Israel C3 - 18th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction SP - 52 EP - 62 PY - 2010 AU - Kalsaas, Bo Terje AU - Bolviken, Trond AD - Associate Professor, Dr Ing, Faculty of economics and social sciences, Department of working life and innovation, University of Agder, 4846 Grimstad, Norway, Cellular +47 97082582, e-mail: bo.t.kalsaas@uia.no AD - Director, Business Development and Strategy, Veidekke Entreprenør AS, P.O. Box 506 Skøyen, N-0214 Oslo, trond.bolviken@veidekke.no (Veidekke Entreprenør AS is a Norwegian subsidiary of Veidekke ASA, one of the major Scandinavian construction and real-estate-development companies) ED - Walsh, Kenneth ED - Alves, Thais AB - The purpose: To review the term ―flow‖ in production conceptually. The paper is a step towards fulfilling an ambition to find a way of measuring flow (of work) in construction in a manner that does not destroy the intuitive quality of the term, and of measuring flow as directly as possible. Research method: Theoretical and empirical exploration. Research findings: Flow is a construct widely used in different disciplines. It has a strong intuitive appeal in terms of meaning and experience, but it is not easily defined in relation to the operational level of production. The lean construction community seems to take a casual attitude to the concept of flow even though much hinges on it in this area of knowledge. In order to develop a more precise concept of flow in construction, and one that is geared towards measurability, we suggest building on Shingo‘s distinction between process and operation, and that, for example, a clear distinction be made between conditions for flow and the flow as such. Main contribution: The relevance of the paper is that it will help unpack the concept of flow as it applies to the construction industry. KW - Lean Construction KW - Production theory KW - Flow KW - Measurement PB - T2 - 18th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction DA - 2010/07/14 CY - Haifa, Israel L1 - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/718/pdf L2 - http://iglc.net/Papers/Details/718 N1 - Export Date: 29 March 2024 DB - IGLC.net DP - IGLC LA - English ER -