Lean principles to inject operations knowledge into design

Buildings represent a significant financial investment to owners, which is often carried for many years. Just as Toyota realized that the car assembly line accounted for only 15% of the total manufacturing process, the design and construction of a building amounts to only 20% of the total cost of a facility over its life-cycle. Importantly, research has shown that when just one percent of a project's upfront costs are spent, up to 70% of its life-cycle costs may already be committed. More research is needed to bridge the information divide between the development and operation of a facility. Progressive tools and strategies such as Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM), Design for Maintainability (DFM), and Concurrent Engineering have been developed to assist the design team in their focus on operations and maintenance (O&M) issues. Yet obstructions to the use of O&M knowledge in design still remain. It is argued that this is because the information flow of O&M knowledge into project design is poorly understood. This paper develops a model for exchanging information between design teams and O&M using the principles and tools of lean production to be implemented as a case study. To achieve an O&M compatible design, O&M information ideally ought to be received by the design team in a just-in-time fashion. This paper first explores the obstructions to O&M knowledge transfer, and then proposes a kanban system to facilitate the exchange of information. The paper discusses the triggers and media for the pull of O&M information into building design, as well as the types of projects that would be most receptive to this strategy.