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In the past 100 years production management has evolved from a set of heuristic ideas to a portfolio of somewhat developed concepts and principles. “Just‐in‐time” and “total quality management” integrate most of the modern concepts and principles in the field. Furthermore, seminal studies carried out within production, such as the Gilbreth/Taylor, Hawthorne and Tavistock studies, have given significant contribution to the evolution of management theory. This paper presents the context of production management evolution and assesses the application of some heuristic production approaches within construction sites of Brazil and England. The study revealed that, although the production management theory evolved significantly, construction practices do not apply the theory in a systemic and comprehensive manner. Clearly, lack of motivation and poor instruments for enabling “learning” are the central cause of this problem.

Mass customisation involves the provision of product variants that fulfil clients' specific requirements seeking to increase product values. The configuration process involves a chain of decisions, which needs to be undertaken to create product variants that meet each client specific requirements. In this paper, this chain of decisions is conceptualized in terms of customisation units. Each customisation unit encompasses a customisable attribute (e.g. size, colour) and the range of items offered for this attribute. A design science approach was adopted in this investigation. In this approach, knowledge is produced by creating and testing a solution, which provides practical and theoretical contributions. A method is proposed to analyse and improve the configuration process by conceptualizing this process as a tree diagram. The proposed method is used to analyse the configuration process developed by organisations of the house-building sector based in the U.K. and Brazil: a manufacturer of floor tiles, contractors, and registered providers. These analyses enabled a comparison of the distinct configuration processes adopted. In addition, problems associated to the configuration process (such as burden of choice) and opportunities for improvements were also identified. Finally, alternative chains of decision were also devised based on these analyses to address the problems identified.

Increase the workforce involvement in continuous improvement activities is one of the main recommendations of the recent report Rethinking Construction, developed by the UK Construction Task Force. In Brazil, this is also a major issue in most government and industry initiatives for the sector, particularly after the opening of the economy in the mid‐1980s. In this context, this research attempts to contribute to policy making by assessing the degree of workforce involvement in continuous improvement in English and Brazilian construction sites. The results show a generalised poor level of workforce involvement in comparison to the reported practices of other industrial sectors. Hence, the results suggest that current strategies for promoting continuous improvement in the construction sector are failing to bring real change at the operational level due to the lack of leadership and appropriate win‐win relationships.

This paper presents a methodological contribution to benchmarking studies of production practices. It presents some of the main findings gathered from a benchmarking study developed between UK and Brazilian construction sites. The study was carried out within six case studies and focused on the use of visual controls in construction sites. The “cross‐case study analysis” approach used a process called “pattern matching” where the researcher looked for direct replications of theoretical propositions. In this pattern‐matching approach, empirical evidence is considered to be a “literal replication” if the observed results match the theoretical predictions. In contrast, when the case study produced contrasting results but for predictable reasons, it is called a “theoretical replication”. The results show that pattern‐matching is a highly useful approach for developing benchmarking studies in production management because it allows direct transfer of results from practice to theory.