Towards creative lean (clean) construction : From lean production to lean consumption

The current approaches in lean construction are primarily production oriented. More recently, there has been greater attention towards what we design, based on approaches such as Target Value Design. Despite these developments, the need for production is taken as the default starting point in the design explorations. On the other hand, new business models and approaches such as Space-As-A-Service may at times eliminate the need for any production at all, and yet deliver the desired functionalities and values to the target users and customers. Such solutions, based on principles of shared resources and sharing economy can be viewed as 'Lean consumption models that eliminate waste in consumption patterns itself. Since such alternative approaches require divergent thinking, there is need to integrate creative design methodologies in lean construction practice. Therefore, this paper aims to initiate this discussion on Creative Lean (CLean) Construction, as a step from lean production to lean consumption.