PhD Preliminary Proposal

The Applicability of the Toyota Way Model to the Denmark

Corporate Construction Firms Context.
Rama Goluguri
2014-10-14

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PhD PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL

1. Brief Introduction and Background

Corporate construction firms in Denmark are well-established due to
technological, geographical, economical, social and political factors with an
annual compound growth rate of 1.15 percent (Timetric, 2014). However, on
one hand, there are strategic constrains to further leverage the growth such as
high cost of quality, skilled workers shortage, high wages, labour attrition, low
annual working hours, schedule slips, budget overruns, and huge construction
waste that are still hindering the growth trajectory of high risk and capital
intensive construction industry (EVM, 2014).
On the other hand, there are operational constrains such as congestion, out of
sequence work, multiple stops and starts, in ability to do detailed planning in
advance, obstruction due to stocks of materials, trying to cope without suitable
equipment due to lack of planning and preparation, interruptions in regards to
lack of materials, tools or instructions, overtime, and over sizing of the crew.
About two-thirds (62%) of the firms practising lean principles recognize that
existing standard construction processes are insufficient to generate competitive
advantage (Lean construction, 2014).
Some argue that lean based solutions such as acquiring design by the lowest
cost consultant leads to reduction in fees but may increase corner-cuttings in
design work. Similarly, sub-contracting may lead to contract management
instead of optimizing execution management. Moreover, procurement of
components from competitive bidding may steal time from prefabrication that
may further lead to schedule slips (Lauri Koskela, 2008).
This research will attempt to find whether or not an optimistic solution could be
derived by embracing lean transformation process by means of validating
Toyota Way model as it not only addresses the social and technical aspects of
lean concept but also arguably, could fill the renewal and innovation gap that
Denmark is experiencing at the moment (EVM, 2014).

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2. Aims for PhD

According to Spear and Bowen (1999) Toyota way-style attributes defines a
specification to establish sets of hypotheses that can be tested. A theoretical
framework for the Toyota Way model within the construction context will be
developed to see whether or not Toyota Way-styled attributes fit into the
construction context.
Though the main validation focus will be given to the Toyota Way model other
existing frameworks of lean construction such as Theory of Constrains (TOC)
will also be compared and contrasted to ensure the comprehensiveness of
Toyota Way model, which in principal contain four layers viz. the process
model, the people and partners model, and the problem solving model.
Firstly, process means the eliminating waste from the processes for example by
creating flow by using pull system and standardizing tasks (Lean Construction,
2014). Secondly, people and partners means respecting, developing and
challenging people, teams and suppliers. Finally, problem solving means team
based problem solving, continuous learning and improvement (Liker 2004)
(Krafcik, 1998). A part of validation process this research will also examine
framework of McGrill and Slocum (1993) before reaching conclusions on cost
value equilibrium.

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3. Relevance to Existing Literature

One of the inspirations in taking up this research work is Jeffrey Liker (2004),
literature on lean framework also known as "Toyota Way". Earlier
implementation frameworks such as Frederick Taylors mass production
framework is based on scientific management that requires huge inventories and
large amount of capital which is hard to generate in a competitive world that is
witnessing economic turmoil's almost every now and then.
Furthermore, its successor framework also known as Ohno's lean framework
adopts a process decomposition method to reduce waste, improve quality,
minimize inventories with the help of separate craft and mass production
processes. Subsequently, the foresaid framework realizes savings by deploying
high skilled craftsmen on craft processes and low skilled, inflexible and
standardized machinery on mass production jobs which in turn underpinning
agility (ISSUU, 2014).
On the positive side, one of the well known existing literatures such as Egan
report in the UK states that there is no constrains in transferring methods and
practices from manufacturing to construction (Egan Report, 2014). On the
negative side, IGLC emphasises reinterpretation of lean theory as construction
is fundamentally different from manufacturing (IGLC Report, 2014). With the
above mentioned leverages and pitfalls elsewhere and having used
decomposition in corporate construction firms, namely, work breakdown
structure, Gantt chart where the duration is decomposed with regard to
individual work packages and budget where the cost is decomposed with
regards to individual work packages and tasks, it can be said that revalidation of
Toyota way-system could derive useful insights towards developing optimistic
framework to better enable synergies in corporate construction firms.
Nonetheless, while considering revalidation of Toyota lean model, it would be
worthwhile to have a look at the root cause of the quality issues that surfaced
recently in the Toyota system. It can be argued that root cause of the quality
issues can be linked to growing technological complexity rather than Toyota
way-style attributes. For example, a typical auto sold in the United States or
Europe has more than 60 electronic control units and more than 10 million lines
of computer code - a fourfold increase over what was common a decade ago
mainly because of the stringent environmental regulatory measures and abrupt
innovation process (MIT Sloan, 2011). Therefore, it can be said that Toyotas
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quality related issues are insignificant in the context of construction industry as

the latter has not witnessed tremendous technological up gradations with the
above said implications.
However, it can be argued that still there will be huge scope for research to
improve planning and control progress processes of Toyota way system with
regards to capturing and meeting the requirements of diversified customer base
alongside with the quality and safety compliance improvements (Toyota, 2010).
4. Research Methodology
A mixed research method of data gathering and analysis will be used at
different stages of the study. To begin with, structured questionnaire will be
developed based on the identified Toyota Way- styled attributes. Subsequently,
the kick-off analysis will be carried out on the feedback received from the
identified high performance construction industry executives and managers.
Notes will be taken for the specific reasons of appreciation or rejection on
actionable attributes derived from the Toyota model.
Moving forward, structured observations of day-to-day construction site and
construction management office will be conducted, using Toyota way Model
attributes though this will require further investigation to ascertain the validity
of using such approach. Field notes will be maintained to achieve appropriate
key contextual indicators of the visited sites and base offices including subcontractors and preferred suppliers sites and offices.
Qualitative interviews will be conducted with seven functional managers and
six construction managers alongside with the evaluation of project case studies
and close-out reports. A thematic analysis will mostly and probably underpin
the analysis of the archives. Managers participating in this study are those
associated with high accomplishment and success rate of completing their
nominated construction projects. SWOT analysis will be carried out on the
resultant of overall findings to present a picture that addresses the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the implementation of Toyota model in
Switzerland.

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5. References
EVM (2014) Denmark in the Global Economy (Online) Available at:
http://www.evm.dk/resources/oem/publications/FE03AC2FA29144789354A84
C40A7342F/978-87-786-2329-4-KER_UK/kap03.html accessed on October 10,
2014.
Eagan Report (2014) Egan Report Rethinking Construction (Online) Available
at:
http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Egan_Report_Rethinking_Constructi
on accessed on October 10, 2014.
IGLC Report (2014) Identifying Lean Construction categories (Online)
Available at: http://iglc.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/EtgesSaurinBulhoes2012-Identifying-Lean-Construction-Categories-of-Practices-in-the-IGLCProceedings.pdf accessed on October 10, 2014.
ISSUU (2014) Lean Magazine#10 (Online) Available at:
http://issuu.com/softhouse/docs/lean_magazine_10 accessed on October 10,
2014.
Krafcik, J., (1988), Triumph of the Lean Production System, Sloan
Management Review, Fall 1988, pp.41-52.
Liker, J.K. (2004), The Toyota way: 14 management principles from the world's
greatest manufacturer, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Lean Construction (2014) Making a Business Case for the Growth (Online)
Available at:
http://www.leanconstruction.org/media/docs/LEAN_Practices_ENR_Feb2014.p
df. accessed on October 10, 2014.
Lauri Koskela (2008) What is Lean Construction - Project Management
Research (Online) http://pmchair.uqam.ca/upload/files/conferenceinvitation/lean-construction-industry.pdf accessed on October 10, 2014.
MIT Sloan (2011) What Really Happened to Toyota (Online) Available at:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-really-happened-to-toyota/ accessed on
October 10, 2014.
TIMETRIC (2014) Construction in Denmark - Key Trends (Online) Available
at: https://timetric.com/research/report/CN0183MR/ accessed on October 10,
2014.
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Spear, S. and Bowen, H.K. (1999), Decoding the DNA of Toyota Production
System, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1999; pp. 97-106.
Toyota (2010) Special Story-Toyota Motor Corporation (Online) Available at:
http://www.toyotaglobal.com/sustainability/sustainability_report/special_story/the_quality_issue_
background_and_future_prospects.html accessed on October 10, 2014.

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