Lean construction boosters have a big job ahead of them. In a recent survey of 193 construction firms, 48% report they are not even familiar with the concept of lean construction--broadly defined as the elimination of waste from construction processes. The survey, released Nov. 13, was conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction, ENR's publisher. Dassault Systemes, a software vendor that introduced a lean construction digital tool  early this year, sponsored the market study. More than half of the contractors and subcontractors that responded to the survey that are not familiar with lean practices said they find the cnostructionindustry either efficient or highly efficient. More than 60% of practitioners of some level of lean construction disagree.
Lean construction, which has its own association called the Lean Construction Institute, relies on the adoption of several strategie, among them the Last Planner System developed by LCI.
Though the level of lean practice of each responder is not disclosed in the results, 77% of those that implement some level of lean construction say jobsite safety is improved, there is improved jobsite safety; 80% say customer satisfaction is improved; 84% say construction quality is better; 74% say the schedule is shorter; 77% say productivity is improved; 64% report greater profitability and reduced costs; and 71% say lean contributes to improved risk managerment. 
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