Series of white papers for IGLC focus on lean, integrated project delivery (IPD) and beyond

How can DPR and the construction industry as a whole deliver greater value to customers by employing lean concepts, IPD and the like? What insights can we uncover when we dig deeper into the impact to jobsite productivity using approaches like alternative work schedules or improving how BIM models identify constructability issues? What cultural, financial, legal and technological barriers may be hindering the use of IPD outside the U.S.—and what are some possible solutions?

Those are just a few questions that DPR contributors delve into in a series of white papers published for The International Group for Lean Construction’s (IGLC) 2015 conference. The IGLC is a network of professionals and researchers in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), who embrace the concept that the practice, education and research of AEC must be radically renewed in order to respond to the challenges ahead.

The various white paper studies and analyses shared an overarching goal: enhancing the industry knowledge base, while continuously working to find ways to improve value to owners and increase their return on their investment.

DPR participated in a total of five white papers for IGLC’s annual conference, the most white paper submissions published of any private company at this year’s conference.

Following are brief synopses of the knowledge shared through the various white papers submitted for this conference:

• “Stabilizing Craft Labor Workflow with Instantaneous Progress Reporting” DPR’s Ram Ganapathy and four outside collaborators study the hypothesis that the combination of location-based work packaging and near real-time progress reporting contributes to reducing workflow variability.
• “A Call for New Research in the Lean Construction Community: Alternative Work Schedules” DPR’s Jason Herrera, Tom McCready and three industry colleagues analyze how taking a page from other industries and employing alternative, even shorter work schedules in the construction industry may actually improve our industry’s productivity and safety.
• “Constructible BIM Elements— A Root Cause Analysis of Work Plan Failures” DPR teamed with Professor Rafael Sacks and two other industry colleagues to study and propose process changes of teams to more effectively identify constructability issues in BIM models. This could leverage the BIM process to improve the reliability of field-work planning.
• “A Deeper Look Into the Perception and Disposition to IPD in Colombia” DPR’s Camilo Garcia and three industry colleagues look at some of the barriers that inhibit adoption of collaborative delivery models in Colombia, with lessons learned that extend far beyond those borders.
• “How to Make Shared Risk and Reward Sustainable” DPR’s Dean Reed collaborated with Glenn Ballard and eight other industry colleagues to examine how to restore confidence in shared risk and reward in multi-party contracts on IPD projects. They found poor implementation of Target Value Design to be a primary contributor to cost overruns on IPD reward.