Lean techniques for project delivery: assessing construction professionals’ level of awareness

Abstract

Evidence from practice and literature indicates that the South African construction industry faces various challenges. Notably, the traditional methodologies deployed for project delivery continues failing to attain projects’ objectives. Lean construction promotes developing and accomplishing construction projects within its envisaged goals by deploying targeted tools/techniques. Considering the glaring comparative advantage of deploying lean concepts in construction activities, this study assesses the level of awareness of lean techniques among professionals in the South African construction industry. The study adopted a quantitative approach aided by using a well-structured questionnaire that elicited responses from the target respondents. Data analysis methods employed are descriptive and inferential statistics. The study’s findings showed that total quality management, waste elimination, and prefabrication are the most known lean techniques among South African construction professionals. Besides, findings indicated that there is a statistically significant disparity in the knowledge of lean techniques among the professionals in the South African construction industry. Conclusively, the study proffered recommendations that would aid in boosting the awareness and knowledge base of the various lean techniques among professionals for better construction delivery.