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Lean has been adopted in various industries (i.e. construction, health care and service) over the years; the level of lean adoption in facility management is relatively unknown. The purpose of this study is to analyze the 14 lean management principles (LMPs) and seek to develop an understanding as to whether LMPs, which are most commonly used by the manufacturing companies, are relevant to the facility personnel’s scope of work. The research scope focuses on international schools located in Singapore.

For the purpose of this study, a conceptual framework that focuses on connecting the 14 lean production principles to facility management has been developed. Questionnaire survey and interviews were used. A total of 30 facilities professionals from eight international schools participated in the survey. Six interviews were followed up to gain deeper insights into the extent of lean importance and implementation in the work of facility personnel in a school environment.

The survey findings revealed that P8 “use of reliable technology”, P9 and P10 relating to leadership and people development, P12 “go and see for yourself” and P14 “continuous improvement” are generally perceived more important than the other LMPs and are also well implemented. On the contrary, P3 “use the ‘pull’ system” is considered the least important principle. The interview findings also offer insights into modifications of some LMPs for the facilities management (FM) sector.

There are several limitations affecting this study. First, the research sample size was small. Only 30 respondents participated in this study. Second, as this study is one of the first to explore the applicability of lean in FM, there is no consensus on how to define lean, which means that the LMPs could be interpreted in many ways.

The adoption of lean in FM can potentially optimize the value of the school organization. It is recommended that more research be conducted, resulting in a more holistic and representative study of the applicability of lean FM.

The purpose of this paper is to create a value-based facilities management (FM) workplace by integrating lean principles, lean concepts, and specifically visual management technologies to improve efficiency, transparency, and value in the built environment.

The original research methodology used design science research framework with an action research (AR) approach. The chosen qualitative research methods included questionnaires, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, and participatory observation in action.

The facilities asset management department needs to align itself more strategically with organization leadership by understanding core business values, mission, and vision. It is essential they become a partner in creating a value-based contribution to the organizations bottom line and strategic plan. This can be established by embracing lean principles, concepts, and visual technologies, strategically linking the FM and asset management department to the organization holistically. The research acknowledged that a lean visual workplace management system could be introduced in facilities asset management with success. The findings suggest that change management should form part of the lean journey.

The original research was limited in scope to one UK university estates and property services department’s lean journey and their third party outsourced FM service provider.

By using the visual workplace management system to integrate lean and visual management technologies in FM asset management systems value-based FM services and recognition from the C-suite will be achieved. Additionally, a new design science framework with an AR approach was developed as a research method

This paper aims to respond to the high cost of facility management-enabled building information model (FM-BIM) creation and maintenance, a significant and under-researched barrier to adoption for existing buildings. The resultant approach focuses on only value-adding content (“Lean”) developed flexibly and iteratively in collaboration with end-users (“Agile”).

Five case studies were developed for university and hospital buildings in collaboration with end-users, guided by the process presented. These informed the refinement of a robust and flexible approach to increase BIM functionality with minimal geometry, focusing instead on the development of specific parameters to map semantic information necessary for each desired FM use.

The resulting BIM provided a breadth of model functionality with minimal modeling effort: 15 hours average implementation time per supported FM use. This low level of effort was achieved by limiting geometry to where it is necessary for the FM use implementation. Instead, the model incorporated the majority of geometry by reference and focused on semantic and topological parameters to house FM information.

This study provides the basis for a new ontology structure focused on defining the rules for hosting asset management data (host entity, parameter type and characteristics) to reduce the reliance on complex geometric model development.

By prioritizing highly beneficial applications, early investment is minimized, providing quick returns at low risk, demonstrating the value of FM-BIM to end-users.

The Lean-Agile approach addresses the known research gap of low-effort, flexible approaches to FM-BIM model creation and maintenance and its effectiveness is analyzed through five case studies.

The aim of the research is to address why facility management (FM) processes do not support customer value creation.

An in‐depth analysis of the value creation process in the industry was analysed with 15 interviews and a workshop based around a case process. The study considers the current value creation processes against the theory of lean management.

The lack of literature shows that the overall value creation process has been neglected. The case findings indicate that the FM process does not support comprehensive customer value creation. The FM process has been structured based on agreements, not on value creation. A lot of effort has aimed to improve the value adding FM process, but not to minimise the unavoidable non‐value adding, i.e. waste activities, from the process.

The study is conducted in a globally operating organisation in Finland and, due to similarities, the results could also be applied in other countries to bring new insight and direction to value creation.

The methods and practices of lean management can be used by FM organisations to gain better understanding of their own value creation processes.

This paper offers an eye‐opener for researchers and FM companies on the possibilities that lean management may offer.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on the use of Lean Six Sigma principles and tools to study the improvement in design and construction services at a university. The quality of facilities services at universities has been criticized by users calling for improvement.

Quality of facilities services at universities has been criticized by users calling for improvement. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on using Lean Six Sigma principles and tools to study improving design and construction services at a university.

It was found that non-value-added general improvement review form (GIRF) process steps involving revisions and rework for the design and construction result in time delays, cost increases and quality deficiencies and render cost estimates unreliable; these are unnecessary and should be minimized or eliminated. It was additionally noted that administrative reviews and approvals embedded in GIRF processes slow down work flow, leading to similar problems. Because such steps may be needed for institutional reasons precluding elimination, it was recommended that efforts be directed toward reducing their durations and costs. Overall, the Lean Six Sigma methodology proved to be successful for the intended purpose.

Although universities are aware of their facilities services’ quality issues and have been addressing them, no published information is available on how to systematically evaluate and improve such services to increase customer satisfaction. This paper aims at filling this gap.

The increasing percentage of aging population (longer life expectancy) and the changing financial policies in the healthcare systems put governments under pressure to optimize its healthcare expenditures without compromising quality. One way to cut down the costs is through improving and optimizing the facility management processes. This paper aims to focus on the issues surrounding this.

To demonstrate the application of the research, service management (SM) process which deals with the building services related requests from the customer, one of the facility management (FM) processes, is taken as the focus of this paper. The study applies the lean principles to the SM process to identify the value added and non‐value added activities in the process. Process logistics flow is modified to comply with the lean theory. The collected data from six participating hospitals in Germany for the two months of the year 2002 are also used as inputs for the simulation model.

Simulation is used to quantify the impact of the lean principles proposed changes on the system performance. The simulation analysis has proved to be an effective tool in the selection of optimum resources for the SM process in hospitals. The implementation of lean and simulation will assist the facility manager in the selection of the optimum crew size in various sub processes, thus eliminating the trial and error approach.

To develop a generic model for all categories of hospitals, substantial data are needed for the simulation model. In this paper, the SM process results from one category of hospitals are presented.

The methodology can be extended to the other FM processes in different hospitals, with proper modification.

The simulated process model was useful to analyze “what if” scenarios for the decision‐making regarding optimum resource allocation.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a solid understanding of how integrated building information modeling (BIM) is implemented in a mega project such as the (Istanbul Grand Airport IGA) construction project, which is the main case study in the research methodology.

The paper examines and identifies the lean efficiency gains achieved in the IGA project and highlights the synergies between BIM and lean concepts based on the facts and figures from the case study analysis. In complex projects, there is a vital need for a comprehensive approach that would enable successful managing of design and construction information via accurate modeling, collaboration and integration throughout the project lifecycles covering various disciplines.

The research findings in the paper make a significant impact in understanding the strategic perception for BIM as a new way of working methodology for the construction industry in Turkey, since the IGA project has become not only a key learning hub for the Turkish construction industry, but also a global landmark for digital construction and project delivery. In addition it proves the mutual synergies between BIM and lean practices.

The IGA project is a mega-scale airport construction project with features beyond building industry challenges, and it should be designed and constructed with tight deadlines and budgets and be operated afterwards in an effective and efficient way. Can lean and BIM help for timely and on-budget completion of the project and could they support the management of the airport facility after handover? The paper also discusses the lean and BIM implementation in the project in relation to the BIM Level 3 requirements.

The construction industry is inefficient in terms of quality products, productivity and performance worldwide, including in Australia and New Zealand. The construction industry is becoming more innovative, competitive and complex; and more participants are involved in construction projects. There are new attempts to implement the Lean construction philosophy, integrated project delivery method and building information modelling (BIM) technology in construction industry to improve productivity and efficiency. This paper aims to identify Lean and BIM integration benefits in construction industry globally and in the New Zealand.

A systematic literature review and case studies were used to identify various benefits of the integrating Lean and BIM in construction industry. It focused on articles published between 1995 and 2021.

Lean and BIM benefits identified in the study were documented such as benefits over the traditional approach, critically increased efficiency and visualization, better building process, better building performance, mitigating risk and reduce cost. Also, several factors were identified as major benefits such as improved onsite collaboration, better coordination, improve onsite communication, increase productivity, mitigating risk, reducing waste and reduced cost. The study showed integrating Lean and BIM in construction management practice will help reduce several challenges which affect expected goals and customer anticipation. The research outcome ultimately will assist different stakeholders in applying Lean and BIM in construction management practice.

This study practically focused on using the integration of BIM and Lean principles to improve the construction industry productivity and performance.

This paper attempts to explore the green-lean-six sigma (GLSS) practices in the continuous process industry particularly in the flexible packaging (FP) industry in an emerging economy for addressing environmental sustainability issues.

The authors have employed a qualitative multiple-case approach to examine managerial perspectives on GLSS adoption in the flexible packaging industry. Semi-structured interviews with senior corporate managers in two large FP organizations in Pakistan were conducted as the primary source of data collection.

Drawing on the natural resource-based view (NRBV), the analysis revealed that organizations are implementing key GLSS practices such as environmental management system (ISO 14001), cause–effect analysis, renewable energy sources, total productive maintenance, and statistical process control to effectively manage waste, conserve resources, control air emissions, and improve environmental and workplace safety.

The authors argue that this is one of the first research studies that has utilized NRBV to investigate the application of the GLSS approach in the process industry, specifically in the FP industry in an emerging economy.

The purpose of this paper is to present a study on the relationship between the client and the contractor in a multi‐contractor business network.

A model built on transaction cost economics and relational exchange theory is proposed to determine the preferred governance mechanism as a function of fit with the technical environment of facilities management. Hypotheses in the model are tested by means of data collected from a survey of facilities managers.

It is found that decision making uncertainty has a negative effect on relational norm. On the other hand, a positive relationship exists between asset specificity and relational norm, and this relationship is moderated by risk of malfunction.

As trust and relational norm may be affected by the local culture, validation of the study may be necessary in other cultural settings.

By means of the empirical model, the gap between the current relational norm and the desired relational norm can be determined. With this knowledge, the facilities manager of the client can then plan change initiatives to narrow the gap.

The developed regression equation facilitates objective determination of the preferred relational norm between the client and the contractor in the context of maintenance out‐tasking.