Investigating the application of one piece flow from lean manufacturing in the construction delivery of mass housing projects

Mass-housing projects (MHPs) are often delivered using mass construction to save time and cost. However, it actually leads to large work in progress (WIP), delays, and cost overrun. Moreover, to finance mass construction works, housing developers often sell off-plan large number of housing units leading to financial losses especially during economic downturns. Accordingly, this research evaluates the effectiveness of adopting the lean concept "One-Piece Flow (OPF)" for delivering MHPs instead of mass construction. OPF-based construction relies on batch production which helps reduce WIP, production cycle time, and rework. A comparative analysis, using an actual case study, was conducted between mass construction and OPF-based construction in terms of performance and economic worthiness. Moreover, despite completing the project in more time and cost, the results showed that the OPF-based construction delivery achieved, on average, 43% higher profitability and reduced time waste by an average of 47% per building. Thus, this research confirms the potential of adopting OPF-based construction for MHPs.