Improving design workflow with the Last Planner System: two action research studies

Variability in workflow during the design stage of building projects has been widely acknowledged as a problem related to poor planning and control of design tasks and has been identified as a major cause of delay in building projects. The Last Planner system (LPS) of production planning and control helps to create predictable and reliable workflow by enabling the management of the range of relationships, interfaces and deliverables involved in a project. This paper presents results of implementing LPS in design to minimize variability in workflow within BIM-based building design projects. Action research was used to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of LPS weekly work planning (WWP) to improve workflow during the design development phase of two building design projects. The research was carried out with the collaboration between design practitioners at two building design firms in Florida and the researchers as facilitators. Overall PPC (Percent Plan Complete) measurements suggest that design workflow improved in both projects after WWP was implemented. However, efforts to use BIM in a lean way in the two projects (discussed in detail in an IGLC22 conference paper by the authors of this paper) were believed to be partly responsible for the improvement in design workflow.
KEYWORDS
Design workflow variability, LPS, BIM.