The applicability of lean management on construction companies in Malta

Abstract

The local construction industry has seen drastic growth year after year, with the increase in demand for both real estate and construction in general being a major driver of GDP in Malta. This growth affected the market dynamics and the industry itself, driving constant change and leading to bigger challenges for construction companies. Various factors, particularly lack of labour supply and an increase in price of raw material have nowadays become a limiting factor for the productivity of the Maltese construction industry. This makes it that much more imperative to understand what methodologies are currently being applied within the core structure of local construction companies to identify ways on how these processes can be made more efficient. Within the field of project management, studies have been conducted in various countries to incorporate the advances made within the automobile manufacturing industry and adapt them in a way which can improve the efficiency and also reduce waste throughout the whole process. In fact, the adaptation of Lean management aims to minimize the waste, time and effort in order to generate the maximum value for the client. Thereby, the purpose of this study is to better understand what is currently being done and analyse how the implementation of lean management can ultimately affect the local construction industry. Through a detailed analysis of the current practice, the study aims to provide an overview of what is currently being done and the drivers behind it. By means of a non-empirical study, a series of interviews were conducted with various key companies within the industry to understand how lean management could be implemented locally. These interviews were structured in a manner to provide an insight on the current environment and see how such companies would react to the introduction of these tools. Finally, a comparative analysis is made between the findings of the nonempirical study and the existing research done throughout the years.