case study of the implementation of the lean project … · 2018-07-10 · 154 case study of the...

CASE STUDY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THELEAN PROJECT DELIVERY SYSTEM (LPDS) USINGVIRTUAL BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES ON A LARGE

HEALTHCARE PROJECT

Atul Khanzode1, Martin Fischer2 and Dean Reed3

ABSTRACT

This case study presents the preliminary findings of implementing the Lean Project Delivery System(LPDS) using the Virtual Building Technologies on a 250,000 square-feet, $100M, Healthcare projectin California, USA. This project is unique as it is the first time that Virtual Building technologies like3D and 4D CAD are being used in conjunction with the LPDS on such a large Healthcare facility in theUSA.

This study is part of an ongoing research project to study how Virtual Building Technologies can beapplied on projects using the LPDS. In this paper we discuss how the project used Virtual BuildingTechnologies, specifically 3D and 4D CAD and the LPDS during the early design phase of thisproject. We specifically discuss the following issues:

• Organization of the Project Team for the implementation of LPDS using 3D / 4D technologies• Challenges & Benefits of using the 3D / 4D technology and LPDS on the project• Development of new Metrics to track project performance using 3D / 4D tools• A brief Guideline for implementing LPDS using 3D / 4D CAD technologies

This paper is part of ongoing research and should provide a summary to the practitioners in the indus-try of how Visualization technologies like 3D and 4D CAD can play an important role in applying theLPDS on complex construction projects.

KEY WORDS

Visualization, 3D / 4D CAD, Lean Project Delivery System

INTRODUCTION

The project under consideration is a $100M,250,000 square feet Medical Office Building(MOB) for the Camino Medical Group, an affili-ate of Sutter Health, in Mountain View, CA, USA.This project is part of Sutter Health’s $5.5 Billionconstruction program over the next 10 years inNorthern California, USA. Sutter Health, which isone of the largest Healthcare providers in North-ern California, has adopted the Lean Project

Delivery System (LPDS) to manage the construc-tion of all projects in its portfolio (Lichtig 2004).This project is also the only project in the initia-tive that is using LPDS along with the VirtualBuilding Technologies (3D / 4D CAD).

The objectives of this case study are to docu-ment how this project utilized the Virtual Build-ing Technologies and LPDS. More specificallywe discuss:

I.T. Support for Lean Construction

153

1 Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University,Stanford CA, USA and Business Analyst, DPR Construction, Inc, 1450 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA USA94063, [email protected] OR [email protected]

2 Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director Center of Integrated FacilitiesEngineering (CIFE), Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305, [email protected]

3 Chief Planner and Lean Construction Coordinator, DPR Construction, Inc. 1450 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City,CA 94063, [email protected]

• Organization of the Project Team for the im-plementation of LPDS using 3D / 4D tech-nologies

• Challenges and benefits of using the 3D / 4Dtechnology and LPDS on the project

• Development of new metrics to track projectperformance using 3D / 4D tools

• A brief guideline for implementing LPDS us-ing the 3D / 4D CAD technologies

The construction on the project has just started(December 2004). The project is expected to com-plete in March of 2007. Due to the early phase thatthe project is in, this case study addresses the useof Virtual Building Technologies only during theLean design phase of the LPDS.

The paper is organized into the following sec-tions:

• Background on Virtual Building Technolo-gies

• Background on Lean Project Delivery Sys-tem

• Background Research on Lean Design andapplication of Virtual Building Technologiesduring Lean Design

• Project case discussion of the use of VirtualBuilding technologies in Lean design phaseusing specific examples

• Discussion on Metrics to track project per-formance using Virtual Building Technolo-gies and LPDS

• Brief guidelines on using virtual buildingtechnologies in the Lean Project Deliverysystem

BACKGROUUND ON VIRTUALBUILDING TECHNOLOGIES ANDVIRTUAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Use of Virtual Building Technologies (sometimesalso termed as Virtual Design and Construction orVDC) in the construction industry was pioneeredby the research over the last decade at CIFE, Stan-ford University. CIFE defines, Virtual Design andConstruction (VDC) as “the use of multi-disci-plinary performance models of design-construc-tion projects, including the Product (i.e.,facilities), Work Processes and Organization ofthe design - construction - operation team in orderto support business objectives”. (Fischer andKunz 2004). A variety of tools and techniqueshave been used for this purpose. Some of thesetools are as follows:

• Product visualization and modeling tools (3DModeling Technology such as ArchiCAD,ADT, Revit, Triforma,CATIA)

• Product & Process modeling Tools ( 4D toolssuch as CommonPoint and NavisWorks)

• Organizational and Process modeling tools(such as VDT and SimVision)

• Online collaboration tools (iRoom, ProjectBased Learning Lab).

The Virtual Building Technologies used on thisproject include the following:

• 3D Product Visualization tools (AutoCADArchitectural Desktop, www.autodesk.com )

• 4D Product & Process modeling Tools(NavisWorks, www.navisworks.com )

On this project the project team used virtual build-ing technologies, more specifically 3D and 4DCAD product and process modeling tools, so welimit our discussion to the applications of onlythese tools.

3D/4D CAD technologies have been used on anumber of projects in the past. The 3D technologyallows a team to visualize the product in threedimensions and 4D tools allow a team to visualizehow the product will be built by connecting theprocess (schedule) with a product representation(3D model). A recent case study has identified thechallenges and potential benefits of using 3D / 4Dtools on a large construction project (Fischer andHaymaker 2001). Some of the benefits identifiedinclude:

• Photo-realistic representation of the builtspaces for effective communication

• 3D modeling used for coordination of vari-ous disciplines

• Constructability analysis of various con-struction methods

• Evaluation of site logistics plans etc.• Evaluation and analysis of various project se-

quences early on in the project• Prediction of time-space conflicts or con-

straints (lay down areas etc.)during the entireproject duration

BACKROUND ON THE LEAN PROJECTDELIVERY SYSTEM

The LPDS model consists of four (4) intercon-necting phases that include Project Definition,Lean Design, Lean Supply and Lean Assembly.Figure 1 is an illustration of the LPDS. The LPDSalso includes two modules of Production controland work structuring that extends through-out thelifecycle of the project (Ballard 2000). The 4phases are a set of interconnecting triads. Eachtriad includes some downstream activity from thesubsequent phase.

The Lean Design consists of Design concepts,Product Design and Process Design.

It is not the intent of this case study to explainthe LPDS in detail. We assume that the reader isfamiliar with the LPDS. In this paper we limit ourscope to address how the Virtual Building Tech-

Proceedings IGLC-13, July 2005, Sydney, Australia

154 Case study of the implementation of the lean project delivery system (LPDS) using virtual building technologies ona large healthcare project

nologies are used to specifically address the Pro-cess and Product Design elements of the LeanDesign phase of the LPDS. As the project pro-gresses it is our intent to document how the Vir-tual Building Technologies can be used in theLean Supply and the Lean Assembly phases.

In the next section we discuss what are the spe-cific challenges of Lean Design, what others havedone to address this and how virtual building tech-nologies have been used to address the challengesof Lean Design.

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Considerable research has previously been donein documenting the challenges of Design manage-ment and how these challenges can be addressedusing the principles of Lean Construction. Thechallenges of the current practice of Design man-agement, especially in a fast track project environ-ment, have previously been discussed at length(Ballard & Koskela 1998). These challengesinclude:

• Poor communication between Design teammembers and owners

• Lack of adequate documentation• Deficient or missing information to make

timely decisions• Lack of coordination between various disci-

plines• Negative iterations in Design that leads to

waste in terms of non-value added activitiesThe paper points out that one of the major reasonsfor the challenges is the current conversion viewof Design management. In this paper the authorspropose that the Lean construction principlesshould be applied to Design management. Thepaper proposes that what is needed is manage-ment philosophy and tools that fully integrate allthe three views of design i.e. the conversion, flow

and value views. The paper points out that the cur-rent Design process is rooted in the conversionview and more attention should be paid to thevalue and flow view of Design.

Some research has also been done to explorethe use of technologies in support of the Lean con-struction principles. This includes the applicationof 3D / 4D CAD to better understand the flow con-cept in Lean construction (Tan, Horman, Messner& Riley 2003). This study has identified that useof advanced visualization technologies like 4Dcan enable a project team to better understand theconcepts of flow and value as compared with thetraditional paper based tools.

A team of researchers has also studied the inte-gration of workflow modeling and 3D modelingtools to track project performance (Songer,Subramanian & Diekmann 2000). A fewresearchers have documented the use of electronicdocument management systems in support of aLean project delivery process (Giandon, Junior &Scheer 2002). There has also been research onusing product-process modeling tools in supportof the early involvement of contractors during thedesign process (Gil, Tommelein, Kirkendall &Ballard 2000).

Collectively, these research studies show thatapplying Lean principles along with the use of vir-tual building technologies in the design phase of aproject has the potential to bring dramatic benefitsto the project delivery process. In the followingsections we illustrate some specific examples ofhow this was accomplished on the Camino Medi-cal Group project.

RESEARCH METHOD

As mentioned before this paper is part of an on-going research study on the application of virtualbuilding technologies during the Lean Designphase of LPDS. Two of the authors in this study(Atul Khanzode and Dean Reed) are active mem-bers of the project team and are involved in theimplementation of virtual building technologieson this project as well as acting as the Lean coor-dinators for the project. The research method wehave adopted for this particular study is observa-tion and analysis of the specific examples on howthe virtual building technologies is helping theteam deliver the project using LPDS during theDesign phase of he project.

CASE STUDY DESCRIPTION ANDDISCUSSION

In the following sections we discuss specificexamples of how virtual building technologieswere used in the Lean Design phase of this pro-


Atul Khanzode, Martin Fischer and Dean Reed 155

Figure 1: A conceptual representation of theLean Project Delivery System (LPDS)

ject. The examples discussed include thefollowing:

• Creating continuous flow and value by utiliz-ing the 3D / 4D tools during Design phase

• Incorporation of specialty sub-contractorknowledge during the design process using3D / 4D tools

• Rapid iteration of Design solutions for effi-cient decision making using the 3D / 4D tools

• Incorporating the construction input duringthe Design phase

CREATING VALUE BY USING 3D / 4DTOOLS

LPDS advocates that major subcontractors (forsystems like Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing,Skin and Structural Steel) should be brought onboard during the Lean design phase of the projectso that the specialty subcontractor knowledge canbe incorporated during the Design phase (Gil,Tommelein, Kirkendall & Ballard 2000). Theprevalent contracting method, in the UnitedStates, under which subcontractors are brought onboard early, is the Design-Build method. On thisproject the major sub-contractors were brought onboard during the conceptual design or LeanDesign phase in a Design-Assist role, which ismuch earlier than the traditional Design-Buildcontracting method. One of the big issues that theteam discussed was how to organize themselvesso that they can take advantage of using 3D / 4DCAD technologies and create the maximum valueand continuous information flow during the LeanDesign phase. The team came up with a process asoutlined in the flow-chart (Figure 2).

In the figure CECI indicates Capitol Engineer-ing Consultants, Inc., the Mechanical Designengineers for the project. SD indicates SchematicDesign, DD indicates Detailed Design, CD indi-cates Construction Documents.

As the process indicates above the major sub-contractors are already on board during the sche-matic design phase of the project. The teamdeveloped a protocol on how the 3D models willbe created and utilized during the Lean Designphase. The solid lines in the flowchart above indi-cate how the 3D models have been developed andimplemented during the Lean Design phase of theproject. For example after the 50% DD phase theArchitects / Engineers turned over the single linediagrams in 2D the subcontractors. The subcon-tractors then assumed the Design role to create acoordinated set of 3D models that could then beused further downstream in the Lean Supply andthe Lean Assembly processes. The process illus-trates a couple of key principles of Lean construc-tion and how they were applied on this projectusing the Virtual Building technologies. Thisincludes the concept of continuous flow in Designand also the concept of value generation throughminimizing waste by early involvement of build-ers in the design phase and creation of design in3D models.

INCORPORATION OF SPECIALTYSUBCONTRACTOR KNOWLEDGE DURING THEDESIGN PROCESS USING 3D / 4D MODELS

As illustrated above the subcontractors wereinvolved in this project in a Design-Assist role atthe Schematic Design stage. The team incorpo-



ContractorInput to DesignCriteria & Equip

Selection, Sizing,Routing &

Coordination

SD90%

Lean Camino D-A Process Flow Diagram

SD

CECIEngineering &Design in 2D

SD100%

SD50%

ContractorEngineering,

Design &Coordination in 3D

DD90%

CECIDesign Review &

RFIs

DD50%

ContractorEngineering,

Detailed Design &Coordination in 3D

CD80%

CECIDesign Review &

RFIs

BldgDept Set

CD50%

DD100%

Permit

Build

CECIStampsDrwgs

CD100%

Collaboration

Collaboration

Collaboration

= Drawing Author

Figure 2: The Lean Design Assist flowchart that indicates how the Camino Medical Group project team organizeditself to take advantage of using the 3D CAD models during the Lean Design phase of the project

rated the specialty knowledge that the subcontrac-tors provided to make some key design decisions.An example of this is as follows.

The Lobby Area of the Medical Office Buildingwas important to the client. During the develop-ment of the Design concept a few alternatives ofthe Lobby Area were generated in 3D and dis-cussed with the client. The client was specificallyinterested in understanding how the skin glazingsystem will work and how the lobby area wouldaccomplish the goal of being an open connector tothe two wings of the building as well as make asignificant architectural statement. The Designteam developed a few 3D design alternatives withthe input from the skin contractor on the feasibil-ity of the glazing system and its connection to thetwo wings of the building. This allowed the clientto visualize and communicate with their stake-holders the Design of the lobby area. A screenshotof the final Design is as shown in the figure below(Figure 3). This is a clear example of how the Vir-tual Building technology enabled the Design teamto incorporate the specialty contractor knowledgein the early design phase therefore generate valuefor the client which otherwise would not havebeen possible.

RAPID ITERATION OF DESIGN SOLUTIONSUSING 3D / 4D TOOLS

The project consists of a Medical Office Buildingand an underground Parking structure that occu-pies the whole site area. At the conceptual Designstage it was determined that the client wouldprefer a natural stone exterior skin for the Build-ing to match with other buildings in their portfo-lio. It was important for the client to find out thefeasibility of having a precast or stone exterior for

the building given the tight constraints on the site.At the conceptual Design stage the Team devel-oped a 3D model of the Parking structure andMOB and also developed multiple constructionsequencing scenarios using a 4D model simula-tion. It was determined that the laydown areaavailable for rigging of the crane and lifting ofheavy precast stone panels was considerablylarger than what would be available on the site andeither a smaller crane would be needed or alterna-tive to the heavy precast or stone panels should beexplored. The Design team with the input of theskin contractor chose GFRC (Glass Fiber Rein-forced concrete) panels as an alternate. Thesepanels are much lighter and would require asmaller crane which fit the laydown area availableduring construction. The look and feel of thesepanels also matched what the client was expect-ing.

This is an example which illustrates how theuse of 3D / 4D helped the Design team rapidlygenerate Design solutions for the client and alsodemonstrate the viability of the solution based onconstruction methods. An example of the MOBand Parking structure is shown in the Figure 4.

INCORPORATING THE CONSTRUCTIONSEQUENCING INPUT DURING THE DESIGNPHASE

The Lean Design phase also includes the processdesign. The 3D models were used in the concep-tual stage to analyze various constructionsequencing options for the project to:

• Determine the availability of lay down areasduring the various phases of construction

• Determine the location of trailers and othersite offices

• Determine location and movement of cranesrequired for the construction etc.

• Communicate the overall construction se-quence to the owner and other stakeholders.



Figure 4: The Figure shows a 3D Aerial view of theParking structure and MOB together. This was used toconvey the Design concept of the underground parkingstructure and its connection to the MOB to the client.

Figure 3: Figure shows the 3D model of the CaminoMedical Group Mountain View project. The model showsthe Lobby Area and how it is connected to the North and

South wings of the Building

This was accomplished using the 3D (Product)model developed during Schematic Design of theproject and connecting it to a high level schedule(Process model). Examples of this 4D sequenceare shown in figures below.

The examples above are only a few of theexamples of how virtual building technology wasused during the Lean Design phase of the project

and to specifically address the challenges ofDesign. In the next section we discuss some of themetrics that the project team is currently in theprocess of implementing on the project to trackthe project performance and document benefits ofusing the virtual building technologies during theLPDS.

METRICS TO TRACK PROJECTPERFORMANCE DURING DESIGNPHASE

The project team is using the Last planner systemto track the reliability of the planning processduring the Design phase using the Percent PlanComplete Metric. In addition to tracking thismetric the team is also tracking the potential sav-ings due to the use of 3D / 4D modeling toolsalong with LPDS. This is done using a Virtual RFIprocess. The team is already using the 3D / 4Dtools to identify and resolve coordination issues,conflicts etc. The potential benefit of identifyingand resolving the conflict in the Lean Designphase is currently being documented using theVirtual RFI process. Virtual RFI is a documentthat was developed by the project team to under-stand specifically how many potential construc-tion coordination issues are resolved during theDesign process and the potential value of resolv-ing that issue earlier during the Design processwith the help of the knowledge and experience ofthe builders. An example of the Virtual RFI isshown in the following figure.

This will provide an understanding of howvaluable it is to use Virtual Building Technologiesduring the Lean Design phase. At the time of writ-ing we did not have much data to provide a spe-cific value for this metric on this project. Theproject team continues to gather data on this pro-ject and it is our intent to publish this data once itis available and can be analyzed.



Figure 7: The Figure shows a screenshot of theconstruction sequencing of the Camino Medical Group

project. The exterior construction is completed and interiorconstruction is now in progress

Figure 8: Figure shows the Virtual RFI form that the teamis using to document savings due to the conflicts resolved

in Design phase.

Figure 6: The Figure shows a screenshot of theconstruction sequencing of the Camino Medical Group

project. The storefront panels (in Red) are beingconstructed.

Figure 5: Figure shows a screen-shot of the constructionsequencing of the Camino Medical Group project. The

panels on the West side of the Building (in Red) are beingconstructed at the moment.

BRIEF GUIDELINES FOR USINGVIRTUAL BUILDING TOOLS FOR ALEAN PROJECT

As this was the first time for the project team to beusing virtual building technologies in conjunctionwith the LPDS on this project, the team had to col-lectively develop guidelines for how this processwould be managed. Most of the guideline devel-oped was about the responsibility to create modelsbut some of it also revolved around how the Leanconstruction principles of using pull scheduling,limiting batch sizes, rapid iteration, were alsoincorporated in the guidelines. The following areonly some of the points from this guideline:

• Determine the authors of the architecturaland structural models at the beginning of theproject and with the whole team

• Pre-qualify all the team members for their ca-pability to produce 3D drawings an work in3D

• Determine specific collaboration and model-ing responsibilities

• Agree on protocol on sharing models• Agree on coordination and conflict resolu-

tion process• Pull design in small batches using the con-

struction schedule• Determine the batch size for MEP coordina-

tion to meet the pull driven schedule• Sequence trades through interactive con-

struction of 4D models

SCOPE FOR FURTHER STUDIES ON THISPROJECT

The construction on the project has just started.The project team intends to use the 3D / 4Dmodels during the Lean Supply and the LeanAssembly phases of the project. The project hasprovided an opportunity to explore how the con-cepts of Virtual Design and Construction could beapplied during the Lean Project Delivery process.We are currently developing Guidelines that otherprojects could follow to implement the VirtualBuilding Technologies during the LPDS. As men-tioned above we are also documenting the bene-fits of using 3D / 4D during LPDS and will share itwith the Lean Research community.

CONCLUSIONS

This project demonstrates that Virtual Buildingtechnologies, more specifically the product andprocess modeling tools of 3D / 4D CAD can beused effectively to address the conceptual design,product and process design elements of the LeanDesign phase of the LPDS. This paper outlined

some specific examples that demonstrate realbenefits of using virtual building technologiesduring the Lean Design phase. The paper also out-lined a new metric in the form of Virtual RFI thatthe team is trying to follow to document the bene-fits of using virtual building technologies in theLean Design phase. The paper provides a briefguideline on how to apply Virtual Building Tech-nologies, specifically 3D / 4D CAD during theLean Design phase of LPDS.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the Camino MedicalGroup Project Team which includes SutterHealth, DPR Construction, Inc. and HawleyPetersen & Snyder Architects for the access theyprovided to this project as well as allowing us touse the 3D and 4D images from the project.

REFERENCES

Ballard, Glenn (2000). “Lean Project DeliverySystem.” White Paper 8, Lean ConstructionInstitute

Ballard, Glenn and Koskela, Lauri (1998). “Onthe Agenda of Design ManagementResearch”. Proceedings of the 8th conferenceof the International Group of Lean Construc-tion, Guaruja, Brazil

Fischer, Martin and Haymaker, John (2001).“Challenges and Benefits of 4D Modeling onthe Walt Disney Concert Hall project.” Work-ing Pager 64, Center for Integrated FacilitiesEngineering (CIFE), Stanford University,Stanford CA

Fischer, Martin and Kunz, John (2004). “Thescope and role of Information Technology inConstruction.” Technical Report 156, Centerfor Integrated Facilities Engineering (CIFE),Stanford University, Stanford CA.

Giandon, Andre, Junior, Ricardo and Scheer,Sergio (2002). “Implementing electronic doc-ument management system for the Leandesign process.”, Proceedings of the 10th Con-gress of the International Group of Lean Con-struction, Gramado, Brazil, August.

Gil, Nino, Tommelein Iris, Kirkendall. B, andBallard, Glenn (2000). “ Lean product-pro-cess development process to support contrac-tor involvement during design”, Computing inCivil and Building Engineering.

Gil, Nino, Tommelein Iris, Kirkendall. B, andBallard, Glenn (2000). “ Contribution of Spe-cialty Contractor Knowledge to earlyDesign”, Proceedings of the 8th Congress ofthe International Group of Lean Construc-tion, Brighton, UK.



Lichtig, William (2004). “The Decision to GoLean”, Presentation to The 6th Annual Con-gress of the Lean Construction Institute, ParkCity, UT, USA

Songer, Anthony, Subramnian, Prasad andDiekmann, James (2000). “Integratingworkflow modeling and 3D CAD for visualiz-ing project performance.”, CIB W78.

Tan, Bo, Horman, Michael, Messner, John, andRiley, David (2003). “Increasing the under-standing of Lean principles with advancedvisualization technologies.”, Proceedings of11th Congress of the International Group ofLean Construction, July 22–24. VirginiaTech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

