Application of Ji Koutei Kanketsu in highways design process improvement

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to ‘Ji Koutei Kanketsu’ (JKK) as a recently developed Lean method and illustrates its potential to support the improvement of BIM-based highways design work processes. JKK is developed based on the concept of jidoka to enhance the autonomation in non-physical work processes. This method provides the employees the confidence to complete their own processes without defects, while requiring a strong collaboration between the managers and their teams. The paper is based on an action research study for trialing the use of JKK in a large engineering company. It is concluded that JKK, when its prescription is compared to the current state, focuses attention to the following issues: defining individual work activities, their support factors, their pre-conditions, the judgment criteria of their outputs, and continuous improvement. JKK is also evaluated by comparing it to other, overlapping methods.