Analysis of Definitions and Quantification of Waste in Construction

Waste avoidance is an essential idea of the Lean philosophy, as this approach significantly contributes to maximize value from the customer’s perspective. Waste occurs in diverse forms, depending on the types of industry and of working processes. Elimination or reduction of waste to a certain extent requires the ability to identify waste and to make it transparent to the parties, involved in the working process. Based on a comprehensive literature review, existing fundamental and independently developed definitions of waste in Lean Management in general as well as in Lean Construction are presented and compared to each other. A systematic overview of waste definitions is developed. Within this context three specific characteristics are assigned to particular definitions. Furthermore, case studies and empirical studies from literature are presented, which focus on the identification and quantification of waste of time in the value chain of construction processes. Arguments, showing that different waste of time studies are not comparable, are brought forward.