Teaching and learning lean construction in Spain: A pioneer experience

Abstract

This paper presents the origins, approach and outputs of a course on Lean Construction developed at the Universitat Politècnica de València within the Master of Planning and Management in Civil Engineering: a unique experience in the Spanish academic system so far. This course takes into consideration most of the key issues of lean construction: historical evolution, flow and value stream mapping, pull management, last planner system, standardization, optimization of construction operations, building information modelling, and integrated project delivery, among others. The main element of the course is the last planner system of planning and control. An average of 30 students per year has attended this elective course in the M.Sc. degree since its implementation in 2011, indicating the extraordinary success of the course. The teaching and learning method is dynamic and is based on lectures, exercises, games in the classroom, and a project course. This paper presents this pioneer introduction of this graduate course in the Spanish academic system and some of the outputs obtained.