Digital Asset Production Using Lean Design Management: A Conceptual Framework

While design management is advancing in construction management research and professional practice, various questions were raised on the interactions between social and technical dimensions. The technical dimension provided prescriptions and standard methods to manage design workflows using BIM methodologies and linked digital tools. The social dimension streamlines basis for collaborative information production and identifies the relationship between the involved parties during developing and exchanging the digital asset. Hence, the concepts of waste and value are the basis for current guidelines to improve design productivity and information reliability. Therefore, this paper reviews the theories of lean design management and lean practice in information production management using communication tools for BIM workflows. The paper qualitatively analyzed lean design methods at directive and operational levels during planning for digital asset production. Finally, the paper explores the connections between lean design and BIM Execution Plan (BEP) and Level of Development (LOD) communication tools. A thorough literature review is applied to the current standards of construction information management and lean design management in the same field. The study found that lean construction concepts are implicitly applied in the current information management standards, but the social dimensions were rarely captured, and the existing task management software is external to BIM standards and functionalities. The study provides a general understanding of waste in information and production, and it explains the shortcomings of the current information management practices using traditional methods.