Situational Awareness in Construction Projects Using Takt Production

Abstract

The construction industry is improving its processes targeting to increase productivity. Lean construction has been in use for decades, and now lean is expanding in the form of takt production. Takt production gives clear steps to apply lean in daily construction projects. Takt production transfers the improving flow from the manufacturing industry’s conveyor belts to construction sites. Digital situational awareness systems are good examples of new digital solutions in construction. They provide possibilities to construction stakeholders to better control and improve their processes by visualizing waste and helping find the root causes of problems to be fixed. This paper aims to study how digital awareness systems support takt production in construction projects. This study is a qualitative case study based on a project implementing a digital situational awareness system and relies on project staff interviews and the data available on the project. The project team has successfully improved takt production with digital awareness systems for revealing and fixing waste. They have successfully improved the productivity of tasks. Digital situational awareness systems can play an important role in the continuous improvement of processes in the construction industry.