The Children’s Hospital X Project: A Case Study in Benefit and Cost Analysis of a Lean-IPD Project

Abstract

Lean processes have been utilized in healthcare design and construction, bringing both benefits and costs to the owners of healthcare projects. It is important to understand and detect the benefits and costs associated with lean processes, because if the benefits are greater than the costs, lean processes will become increasingly attractive to those who are interested in lean processes, but who are more risk averse than early adopters, and have therefore not yet adopted its processes.

However, it is unclear which metrics should be tracked to measure the benefits and costs associated with Lean-IPD. Researchers are particularly interested in understanding how Lean-IPD benefits and costs compare to the more extreme and linear delivery methods of Design-Bid-Build (DBB).

This research presents analysis of the Target Value Design process of a case study healthcare building. It is an attempt to collect benefit and cost data related to lean processes adopted by the project. An electronic database where design and estimating documents were stored served as the data source for this research. The collected benefits and costs data helped to build a framework for the basis of future benefit and cost analyses.

In this case study, the benefits generated from lean processes were shown to outweigh costs incurred.