LCiGlossaryofTermsandConcepts

Lean Construction Ireland (LCi) Page 3 of 11 Constraint – An item or requirement that will prevent an activity from starting, advancing, or completing as planned. Typical constraints on design tasks are inputs from others, clarity of requirements criteria for what is to be produced or provided, approvals or releases, and labour or equipment resources. Typical constraints on construction tasks are the completion of design or prerequisite work, or availability of materials, information, and directives. Screening tasks for readiness is assessing the status of their constraints. Removing constraints is making a task ready to be assigned. Constraints Log – A list of constraints with identification of an individual promising to resolve the item by an agreed date. Typically developed during a review of the 6-week look-ahead plan when it is discovered that activities are not constraint free. Continuous Improvement (CI) – This is “Kaizen” in Japanese, and it refers to the never-ending cycle of incremental efforts to improve products, services, and processes. Lean is a CI methodology and Lean’s 5 th Principle of “Seek Perfection” and “PDCA” speak to CI. Corrective Action Preventive Action (CAPA) – This is a process that investigates and solves problems, identifies causes, takes corrective action, and prevents recurrence of the root causes. The ultimate purpose of CAPA is to ensure that the problem can never be experienced again. Cost Modelling – Developing a model of the cost components and systems specific to a project and structuring it in a manner that the components and system costs can be continually updated either via benchmarks, metrics, or detailed estimates to provide the team with a constantly up to date cost model for the project. In the TVD environment, the cost model should allow for projecting “what-if” scenarios based on value decisions that have yet to be made. Critical Path Method (CPM) – The critical path method is a step-by-step project management technique to identify activities on the critical path. It is an approach to project scheduling that breaks the project into several work tasks, displays them in a flow chart, and then calculates the project duration based on estimated durations for each task. It identifies tasks that are critical, time-wise, in completing the project. Critical To Quality (CTQ) – These are the key measurable characteristics of a product or process whose performance standards or specification limits must be met in order to satisfy the customer. CTQs represent the product or service characteristics as defined by the customer/user. Current State Map – This is a snapshot of how a process is currently done, showing the current methodology of how you produce products or perform services for your customers. It is a visual method of succinctly recording the key aspects of the current structure and processes in the whole, or any part, of a supply chain. Customer – The individual engaged in a conversation for action who will receive the results of performance either requested from, or offered by, the performer. That is, the person receiving goods/information from a performer. Customers can be internal (for example, a foreman receiving answers to an RFI; or an architect receiving mechanical loads from an engineer), and external (for example, end users or client organisations). Cycle Time – The time it takes a product or unit of work (for example, a room, building, quadrant) to go from beginning to completion of a production process. That is, the time it is work-in-process. Defined Task – A quality task must be "defined". It must have a beginning and end, and it should be clear to all when it has been completed. Dependence – This refers to where two or more tasks are sufficiently related that one cannot be started (or finished) without a certain measure of progress or completion having been achieved by the other. Waiting on release of work. Direct Observation – Also known as “Observational S tudy”, this is a method of collecting evaluative information in which the evaluator watches the subject in their usual work environment without altering that environment. DMAIC – D efine, M easure, A nalyse, I mprove, and C ontrol. DMAIC is a data-driven improvement cycle used for improving, optimising, and stabilising business processes and designs. The DMAIC improvement cycle is the core tool used to drive “Six Sigma” projects.