How is AI unlocking continuous improvement in Lean Construction?
By Jessica Herrala, Regional Director North America, Buildots
Everyone who practices Lean Construction is – at their core – an optimist.
That’s because Lean operates on the idea that every project and process can be made better. This ‘continuous improvement’ can take many forms, such as reducing waste, boosting the quality of project outcomes, improving resilience, strengthening communication and supporting long-term sustainability.
But to know how to improve your project, you need to understand exactly how healthy it is. “Sure,” you might say, “That’s what my morning huddles and lookahead plans are for.” While these practices are crucial, they aren’t a cure-all. After all, it’s impossible to track every activity in detail this way, and you have to rely on subjective reporting. For instance, you might not notice that one trade is responsible for almost half of return visits. Or that another is consistently working just 10% lower than its target pace – a subtle difference that will cause delays in the long run.
What if there was a way to complement your huddles with objective, granular data that revealed hidden issues before they escalated into larger problems? There is. This is where AI progress management comes in, helping you achieve continuous improvement through precise, granular and objective data.
Improving projects week-on-week
In construction, identifying constraints often comes too late, leading to delays, rework and inefficiencies. AI progress management changes this. By continuously tracking variances, delays and performance metrics over time – something impossible using the human eye alone – project teams can catch problems early, understand their root causes and address them proactively.
One practical example comes from a healthcare construction project. The general contractor (GC) overseeing the project used AI to analyze the pace of work across different trades. When the AI progress management platform flagged that some trades were lagging behind schedule, the GC worked to address the issue proactively. By realigning resources and recalibrating the workflow, it reduced delays by 75%, demonstrating the power of AI in driving immediate improvements. As Andy Steele, Buildots’ Chief Strategy Officer, explains, “AI and machine vision provide accurate, unbiased data presented in actionable metrics. It’s the only way teams can make informed decisions and unlock continuous improvement.”
Chris Vine LCI-CPC, Project Superintendent at Hensel Phelps, echoes this, citing variance tracking as a prime use case for AI progress management: “We track variances. In my experience, this is one of the top two metrics that prevent you from hitting commitments. But to get real value, you need variance data over time, not just a single snapshot. This lets you understand which variance types are really impacting your project. Not the one-offs, but those responsible for 10, 20, 30% of the trouble.”
Data-driven learning and cross-project improvements
Beyond the immediate benefits, AI progress management can also facilitate long-term improvements by identifying patterns and trends across projects. Collecting data over time helps highlight recurring issues and enables teams to implement solutions that prevent them from reoccurring.
Consider this example. GCs can share lessons between projects to amend future designs and schedules and feed them back into pre-construction activities. As teams continue to apply this learning across projects, schedules become increasingly achievable over time, and the overall efficiency of the organization improves – a hallmark of Lean’s continuous improvement principle.
The future of Lean and AI
AI progress management isn’t just a tool but a strategic enabler that complements Lean’s continuous improvement tenet. By providing real-time data, improving decision-making and fostering a culture of accountability, AI helps teams drive consistent improvements in project efficiency, quality and value delivery.
As AI technology continues to evolve and become more accessible, its role in Lean Construction will only grow, allowing more organizations to unlock the full potential of continuous improvement. Embracing this means setting yourself up for the future – aligning with the core values of Lean and delivering superior project outcomes.
Want to learn more? At Buildots, we’ve been exploring how AI can supercharge Lean Construction and have compiled our thoughts in this white paper: ‘How can AI help you drive Lean Construction performance?’. Download your copy today.