Building Lean, Building BIM Improving Construction the Tidhar Way

Building Lean, Building BIM is the essential guide for any construction company that wants to implement Lean Construction and Building Information Modelling (BIM) to gain a strategic edge over their competition.

The first of its kind, the book outlines the principles of Lean, the functionality of BIM, and the interactions between the two, illustrating them through the story of how Tidhar Construction has implemented Lean Construction and BIM in a concerted effort over four years. Tidhar is a small-to-medium-sized construction company that pioneered a way of working that gave it a profit margin unheard of in its market. The company's story serves as a case study for explanation of the various facets of Lean Construction and BIM. Each chapter defines a principle of Lean and/or BIM, describes the achievements and failures in Tidhar's implementation based on the experiences of the key people involved, and reviews the relevant background and theory.

The implementation at Tidhar has not been a pure success, but by examining their motives alongside their achievements and failures, readers will learn about what pitfalls and pinnacles to expect. A number of chapters also compare the experience of Tidhar with those of other companies who are leaders in their fields, such as Skanska and DPR.

This book is highly relevant and useful to a wide range of readers from the construction industry, especially those who are frustrated with the inefficiencies in their companies and construction projects. It is also essential reading for Lean and BIM enthusiasts, researchers and students from a variety of industries and backgrounds.

1. Preface

2. Introduction: Growing the Margin

3. Early failures

4. Learning to See

5. Visualizing in 3D, Planning in 4D, Costing in 5D, Building in Reality

6. Non-Value Adding Work

7. Value-streams

8. Education, Motivating People, Gemba

9. BIM in the Big Room – Co-located Design

10. Problem Solving (Continuous Improvement)

11. Work in Progress (WIP)

12. Reduce Planning Resolution

13. What Flows in Construction?

14. Value for Customers

15. Designing the Product for Production System Design

16. Driving Production Off-site

17. Production Planning and Control in Construction

18. Respect for People

19. Leadership

20. Conclusion

Rafael Sacks is Professor in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Samuel Korb is a graduate student in the department of Civil Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Ronen Barak is a Civil Engineer and researcher of BIM and computer applications for construction. He is responsible for and directly involved with the entire Lean and BIM journey at Tidhar Construction.