Guidelines to Address Challenges Faced by Last Planner Users and Implementers at Organizational and Project Levels

Abstract

Plan unreliability is a crucial problem in construction industry. As the industry is fragmented and every project is unique, schedule delay is common phenomenon in the industry. Ballard and Howell proposed that shielding construction and stabilizing work flow is a solution to this problem. These two researchers along with other lean construction scholars developed last planner system (LPS) of production control through a series of experiments since 1994 to address these issues. LPS is a popular tool among lean construction community to stabilize work flow and make plans more reliable. However, LPS users and mentors report various challenges that they face during implementation and use of the system at organizational and project levels. This paper discusses the findings from the literature survey and from LPS users’ perception survey about the challenges faced by construction professionals during the implementation and use of LPS. The initial findings indicate that senior management is taking proactive approach and there is a continuous improvement in implementation and use of LPS. The respondents do not agree with most of the challenges mentioned in previous case studies on LPS. Moreover, experienced LPS users report high degree of disagreement to these challenges. This is an ongoing research. The main objective of this investigation is to assess the challenges faced by construction professionals during implementation and use of LPS and propose guidelines to address these issues.