Much has been written and read about the latest fad in the
construction industry: the lean approach taking back some principles of lean
manufacturing. It's funny how a
methodology designed and implemented for the manufacturing industry tend to
expand to other industries or service companies.
The construction in Mexico is not immune to this phenomenon:
during the last 25 years people have tried to reinvent the wheel. Since the
consolidation of professional project management, for over 30 years in America
and Europe, and with as little over 20 years of introduction in Mexico's
construction industry has tried to implement different philosophies in order to
standardize their processes . If we look
at history we could find two major events: the certification of ISO-9000 type
and the philosophy of "total quality in construction."
In the early 90 `s in Mexico everyone spoke of the ISO.
There were many certifiers and companies invested substantial financial and
human resources in order to achieve certification. Construction in Mexico was
not an exception. While it was thought that by means of defining processes,
policies and specifications within the company people will adopt these changes,
through a simple induction, reality faced a complicated situation. At least 80%
of the workforce (permanent or temporary) in a structure of a construction
company is cheap labor and low skilled. The rotation of staff is permament so
there was no interest in the companies to invest in training their workforce (as opposed
to manufacturing) and this meant that the process could never be faithfully
adopted. The result was an oversight of the certification years later. As of
today it is difficult to find a major company that has an ISO type certification.
Later, by the late 90's, there was the fashion of the overall quality of
construction. More than a methodology, it was a philosophy of work that
included extensive rework by companies
in their planning and design stages. If you spent time on this, it was said,
the savings are considerable and the value added of the final product would
make a difference. ¿Planning?, Many owners felt hives at this.
While philosophy was more readily applicable to the
construction industry it involved a series of policy changes that aimed at
standardization and professionalization of the company. The latter did not
happen in Mexico. How could it be if the building is almost an art and a craft
process?,-Said some clueless managers
out there. Now the consultants and similar species are trying to move the
concepts of lean manufacturing into construction field. Now talk of "zero
waste", "alignment of customer needs with the company",
"generation of added value" is the new kind in town.
It's funny but if you
read any book of project management you´ll find that these concepts are mentioned there. What's new
with lean construction anyway ? - Nothing, it's just another fad in which
several employers will fall to only realize after a few years that this
philosophy it is exactly the same thing they had previously been trying to
implement.
It's the same dog but
with a different name.
www.clarensyst.com.mx
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