The Process of Laying Concrete and Analysis of Operations Applying the Lean Approach

The paper considers Lean philosophy ‘Just in Time’, a value stream map and total quality management principles applying them to the construction. In order to follow these principles, a case study was performed, thus observing and recording the process of laying concrete in three houses where a lower ground floor was casted employing fiber concrete. The collected data were required to fragment the process of laying concrete into smaller operations and examine each operation independently. The examination of operations was introduced in certain units of measurement – time, the number of workers, cubic meters of concrete used, space area, etc. This information helped with distinguishing useful operations from useless actions bringing no value to the product. The previously mentioned methods can be applied to useless operations to reduce their duration or even eliminate them. The main problem is the process of laying concrete splitting it into smaller operations, operation analysis and adaptation of Lean principles. The implementation of Lean system can reduce waste and increase the value of the final product.