A lean construction and BIM interaction model for the construction industry

Abstract

An Analytical Network Process (ANP) was created to test the Lean and BIM concepts with data collected from U.S. companies to find the success factors of the Lean/BIM framework. After an extensive literature review, a total of 17 sub-categories for Lean/BIM are classified into three clusters, namely Communication, Production, and Visualization. An ANP network is then established to station the links between the attributes of the framework while computing their importance weights. Eight experienced civil engineers took part in the questionnaire study to assess the relations between the attributes. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the synergy between Lean and BIM with different components reflecting this synergy and present the Lean and BIM synergy on a comprehensive model. The results indicate that Production is the prominent cluster and Production Control, Standardization and Information accuracy are the most important factors in the Lean/BIM synergy. To validate the model, five construction projects were selected to test and observe the results accordingly. The study is expected to help construction industry leaders set their priorities, benefit more from the interaction between Lean and BIM, and revise their strategies accordingly. This study identifies Lean/BIM categories and subcategories as a roadmap for research and implementation. In this context, the study reveals the relationship between the categories/subcategories along with the weights and most and less important categories for Lean/BIM implementation and research.