https://doi.org/10.24928/2021/0126

Reengineering Construction Processes in the Era of Construction 4.0: A Lean-Based Framework

Makram Bou Hatoum¹, Hala Nassereddine² & Fazleena Badurdeen³

¹Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-8824-3941
²Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-7952-5034
³Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-8471-1074

Abstract

Industries around the world continue to be reshaped, and the construction industry is no exception. Being one of the oldest industries, construction did indeed undergo major transformations over the years. However, for the past few decades, traditional businessas-usual in construction has reached a stagnation point, adding pressure on organizations to rethink their current processes. Two major transformations changed and continue to change the landscape of the construction industry: Lean Construction and Construction 4.0. While Lean has taken a hold of construction, Construction 4.0, a counterpart of Industry 4.0, is a growing transformation that leverages the power of technology. While the importance of Construction 4.0 has been highlighted, the “how” component of achieving a Construction 4.0 state has not been yet discussed. A process reengineering methodology is needed to assist construction companies in adopting technologies, especially since the existing construction processes have been mostly designed before current technologies became available. Therefore, this paper proposes a holistic conceptual framework to reengineer construction processes in the Construction 4.0 era. The proposed Construction 4.0 Process Reengineering (CPR4.0) framework, which embodies the Futures Triangle methodology, is inspired by Kurt Lewin Change Management Model, and consists of three phases that build on existing reengineering methodologies, people-process-technology methodology, and Lean principles.

Keywords

Lean construction, process reengineering, Construction 4.0, futures triangle, lean framework.

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Reference

Hatoum, M. B. , Nassereddine, H. & Badurdeen, F. 2021. Reengineering Construction Processes in the Era of Construction 4.0: A Lean-Based Framework, Proc. 29th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 403-412. doi.org/10.24928/2021/0126

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