TY  - CONF
TI  - A cross-country analysis of Lean Construction Maturity in Japan and Germany using the LCMM
AU  - Nesensohn, Claus
AU  - Shigaki, Jeferson
AU  - Yamasaki, Hiroaki
AD  - Professor, University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany / Founder and CEO, Refine Projects AG, Stuttgart, Germany, claus.nesensohn@hft-stuttgart.de, orcid.org/0009-0002-9002-3224
AD  - Senior Research, Research & Development Institute, Takenaka Corporation, Inzai, Chiba, Japan, shigaki.jeferson@takenaka.co.jp, orcid.org/0000-0003-4513-6334
AD  - Group Leader, Construction Division, Takenaka Corporation, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan,  yamasaki.hiroaki@takenaka.co.jp, orcid.org/0009-0006-6309-9345
ED  - Hamzeh, Farook
ED  - Poshdar, Mani
ED  - Garcia-Lopez,, Nelly P.
ED  - Gan, Vincent
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/22
T2  - Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34)
C3  - Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34)
CY  - Singapore, Singapore
SP  - 1004
EP  - 1015
DO  - 10.24928/2026/0147
SN  - 2789-0015 (ISSN)
AB  - Lean Construction Maturity Models (LCMM) have been proposed to provide organisations with a systemic and holistic overview of where they are on their Lean journey and how they can progress towards greater maturity. While previous work has focused mainly on European and American contexts, empirical evidence from Japan is scarce, despite Japan often being perceived as the “natural home” of Lean thinking. This paper reports on an exploratory, qualitative, international comparative study that applies the LCMM, structured around 11 key attributes, in Japan and Germany. It has employed a structured interview approach, hearing 21 experts in both countries. The findings suggest that Japanese projects, especially those delivered by large general contractors, exhibit relatively high maturity in terms of on‑time delivery, right‑first‑time quality, routines, and kaizen, supported by culturally embedded concepts and long‑term subcontractor relationships. German projects, in contrast, report lower plan stability and more frequent rework, but suggest emerging strengths in transparency, visual management, and novel commercial arrangements, such as IPD‑like risk‑sharing models. The paper concludes that the LCMM can serve as a useful structuring lens for cross-country Lean Construction maturity assessment, while maturity profiles remain strongly shaped by national culture, institutional context, and learning mechanisms.
KW  - Lean Construction
KW  - maturity model
KW  - benchmark
KW  - culture
KW  - continuous improvement.
L1  - https://www.iglc.net/papers/details/2466/pdf
UR  - https://www.iglc.net/papers/details/2466
DB  - IGLC.net
LA  - English
N1  - Export date: 04 October 2026
ER  -