34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34) - Singapore, Singapore - 2026

https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0228

A general contractor's lean journey

Paz Arroyo1, Chris Dierks2 & Thais da C. L. Alves3

1Senior Project Manager, DPR Construction, San Francisco, CA, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-8098-8172
2Healthy Teams & Lean Leader, DPR Construction, South Florida, FL, USA, [email protected]
3Professor, AGC-Paul S. Roel Chair in Construction Eng. & Mgmt., Civil, Construction, and Env. Engineering Dept. San Diego State University. San Diego, USA. [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-7928-9190

Abstract

Lean has been part of DPR Construction's culture since the company's founding in 1990. This is evidenced in the Employee Point of View, an internal document that tells the founders' vision and acceptable social norms, and in the involvement of the company in several pioneering projects implementing a Lean approach. This company has been a pioneer in adopting approaches such as The Last Planner System®, Target Value Delivery, and Integrated Project Delivery. However, when DPR started, it was a small company based in California; now it is a large company with over 13,000 employees in the US, Europe, and parts of Asia. Few companies have been on a Lean journey from the beginning like DPR has. This paper documents the evolution of the Lean culture at DPR Construction, including a timeline of significant events and current challenges, providing a unique perspective on how an organization that has grown so much has adapted its Lean strategies over the years to support its growth. This paper presents a case study of DPR's strategies and its journey to implement Lean and integrate it into the organization.

Keywords

Lean organization, lean strategy, lean journey, culture

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Reference in APA 7th edition format:

Arroyo, P., Dierks, C. & Alves, T. C. L.. (2026). A general contractor's lean journey. In Hamzeh, F., Poshdar, M., & Garcia-Lopez,, N. P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34) (pp. 1180–1191). https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0228

Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:

Arroyo, P., Dierks, C. & Alves, T. C. L.. (2026). A general contractor's lean journey. IGLC34. https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0228

 

Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.

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