Approaching Construction as a Logistical, Economical and Social Process
Bjorn Andersen1, Trond Bolviken2, Hege Skarbekk Dammerud3 & Sol Skinnarland4
1Researcher, Fafo, Institute for Applied Social Research, Borggata 2B, P.O. Box 2947 Tøyen, N- 0608 Oslo, [email protected]2Director, Business Development and Strategy, Veidekke Entreprenør AS, P.O. Box 506 Skøyen, N-0214 Oslo, [email protected] (Veidekke Entreprenør AS is a Norwegian subsidiary of Veidekke ASA, one of the major Scandinavian construction and real-estate-development companies)
3Design manager, Veidekke Entreprenør AS, [email protected]
4Researcher, Fafo, Institute for Applied Social Research, Borggata 2B, P.O. Box 2947 Tøyen, N- 0608 Oslo, [email protected]
Abstract
Industrialised construction can be understood as production of commodities through a flow of transformations. The commodities have a dual character, possessing both usevalue and exchange value. This leads to the understanding of production as a physical/logistical process (producing use value) and an economical process (producing exchange value). However, the production process is always carried out by a group of people, by a social system. Understanding the social context under which the production process takes place is therefore crucial. If we do not understand “the social system of production”, our ability to understand and improve the production system will be limited. Improvements in the logistical process (the Last Planner System, Production System Design, etc) or in the economical processes (Value Chain Analysis, etc), will always have to be carried out within a specific social environment or system embedded in specific company cultures. In this paper we address the social infrastructure and the company culture of the construction processes as prerequisites for successful improvements in the logistical and economical processes in construction
Keywords
flow of transformations, lean construction, physical logistics, social logistics, company culture, social infrastructure,
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Reference
Andersen, B. , Bolviken, T. , Dammerud, H. S. & Skinnarland, S. 2008. Approaching Construction as a Logistical, Economical and Social Process, 16th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 27-38. doi.org/
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