LEVEL OF AWARENESS ON LEAN THINKING CONCEPT IN CONSTRUCTION AMONG HIGHER LEARNING STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Lean construction has been implemented throughout the construction industry in order to increase the profit by minimising non-value adding activities. Lean is a technique that manages the construction process to eliminate wastes, reduce costs, and deliver projects on time by breaking the construction projects to smaller parts of activities. Previous studies found that the most critical barriers to implementing lean construction approach in Malaysia are lack of knowledge on the lean concept and lack of commitment from management. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential barriers in implementing lean thinking within the construction industry in the future in Malaysia. In order to implement lean thinking in construction activities, involved parties should understand the lean principles, lean construction techniques and causes of waste. As a result, postgraduate students from the faculty of civil engineering and built environment were evaluated regarding their knowledge on lean construction and management commitment. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey distributed to 140 postgraduate students who involved in the construction industry afterwards. The results showed that construction management students are familiar with the concept of lean thinking. However, there is a need to enhance the knowledge of students from the faculty of civil engineering and built an environment of UTM in terms of lean thinking concepts. In terms of management commitment, the construction management students are entirely aware of their responsibilities in implementing lean construction.