BIM and lean construction change design management practices

Arguably, Design Management can be improved by utilizing new tools and methods introduced by Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Lean Construction. However, in the projects that use BIM, roles of personnel, design methods and the practice of communication between designers often derive from the era of document based Design Management and can only be partially adapted to a new way of working. In managing building design, the use of Lean Management tools can be seen a driver increasing value to the customer, improving operations and removing activities that do not add value.
In this context, the article discusses a study into the problems and improvement methods of structural and building services design management. The objectives were to identify typical design management problems that occurred on the operational level of BIM projects; to remove and decrease the frequency of identified problems by suggesting improvement methods and tools based on lean construction theory. Designers and design managers were interviewed in three case projects. The interviews were analyzed dividing problems in six categories, and the seriousness of problems was decoded. Recommendations for improvements were given to design teams.
In the end, 13 major and 6 average serious level problems were identified in the research. The most important causes for the problems were, an unclear sharing of responsibilities between designers in teams, inadequate BIM instructions, and insufficient BIM experience and knowledge of the design manager. The lack of communication between design team was seen as an important factor for the problems. By creating project environment that supports collaboration and communication, a design project can be improved. Lean tools, especially big room, knotworking, last planner and set based design can significantly facilitate collaboration.