Improving the Performance of Precast Concrete Production Processes by Simultaneous Implementation of Lean Techniques and Root Cause Analysis

On-site construction challenges and the efficient performance of off-site construction methods have led the building industry toward applying different industrial construction methods such as precast concrete construction. Despite the significant capabilities of industrial building construction, the wastes of the off-site production processes are still substantial. Lean techniques are implemented to reduce or eliminate production wastes. However, lean techniques must be selected based on each production system's characteristics to maximize its impact that could be implemented using root cause analysis (RCA). As a result, the current research investigates the impacts of the simultaneous application of the RCA technique and lean techniques on the total time, costs, and idle time of the precast concrete components (PCCs) production processes. To find wastes effectively, the 5 Whys technique is implemented as RCA. Based on the RCA outcomes, 5S and just-in-time (JIT) techniques are implemented as lean techniques (LT) to improve the production stage of PPCs. According to the results, the total time, cost, and idle time of the production processes showed 39%, 33%, and 90% reduction, respectively, which indicates a more significant improvement than using lean techniques individually. Graphical abstract