Systematic review of Lean Construction: an approach to sustainability and efficiency in construction management

Abstract

The construction sector is a fundamental pillar of the economy and should consequently lead in implementing effective management systems. Lean Construction (LC) philosophy sees production as a transformation, flow, and value process. Its objective is to establish efficient production systems that minimize delivery times. Previous studies indicate that integrating LC into construction project management processes can address issues such as cost overruns, labor expenses, and material waste. However, this emerging philosophy still lacks a complete understanding of its advantages, limitations, and synergies with sustainability. This paper presents a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of relevant topics to evaluate its potential. Through the analysis of 36 documents, publication trends and the state of the art on Lean Construction are identified. The research method proposed for the development of this study consisted of two stages. The first stage focused on studying the interactions between Lean Construction and construction project management through a systematic literature review. The second stage focused on the study of the main connections and latest trends in the field of Lean, based on a qualitative analysis. The results show that Lean construction focuses on optimizing and sustaining construction projects by taking advantage of the potential benefits of BIM through methodical and intelligent management. The emergence of new tools offers a promising perspective for the future of Lean construction in project management.