Lean Wood Engineering

Competence platform for value added wood processing

LWE facts

• Cooperation between 15 Swedish partners – a distributed network R&D programme.

• Competence platform coordinator is Luleå University of Technology.

• 3 years, December 2006 – December 2009 (project formulation nearly finished)

• € 5,9 Million budget.

• Co-funded by VINNOVA, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, participating companies and universities (1/3 each).

LWE will

• Integrate R&D between technology and management, within three value chains:

- Industrialised timber housing,

- Industrial wood components, products and systems and

- Furniture and interior solutions.

• Adapt and progress the theoretical understanding of the Lean Philosophy

• Perform research as:

- “value chain specific” projects, e.g., efficiency and costreduction in industrialised timber housing

- “disciplinary” projects covering more than one value chain,e.g., functional sales in business development

LWE Partners

Participating companies

Flexator - Timber construction manufacturer

IUC Sydpoolen - Industrial development company

Lindbäcks Bygg - Timber construction manufacturer

Moelven Byggmodul - Timber construction manufacturer

Moelven Töreboda - Glulam manufacturer

NCC - Construction company

Norvag Byggsystem - Timber construction manufacturer

SCA Timber - Saw mill company

Setra - Saw mill company

Träriket – Furniture and interiors interest organisation

Tyréns – Technical consultant company

Vasakronan- Real estate company

Academic partners

Luleå University of Technology

Linköping University of Technology

Lund University, Faculty of Engineering

LWE project matrix

Interiorsolutions

Industrialized wood manufacturing

Industrialized timber housing

Façade systemsColumn-and-beam

systems

Product develop-

ment

Installation coordination

Technical platforms & systems

Low-energy houses

Simulation of production economics

Rule-based designStandardized design process

(2 projects)

Configuration systems Architectural

design

Process develop-

ment

Optimized assortment of sawmill products

Logistics systems for prefabricated construction

Development strategies for office furniture companies

Marketing towards the D.I.Y. business

Strategic assortment of wooden housesBusiness

develop-ment

The theoretical core

LWE projects takes their theoretical viewpoints in:

• Lean Production/Lean Thinking and the transformation of this paradigm to timber housing construction,

• Prefabrication and modularization strategies of industrialised systems and components of timber

• Timber engineering dealing with structural engineering and reliability of timber systems

Industrialized housing asan example

• The prefabrication strategy changes construction companies to process oriented manufacturers taking a larger control of the building process.

• Industrialized housing is an example with potential in application of lean principles due to the process orientation.

Limnologen, Växjö Vällingby centrum Kretsloppshuset, Umeå

Two connected but different

strategies and appropriate

theoriesare possible

The present construction process is fine-tuned and gradually changed to

achieve improvements

A client decides to initiate a project

Design Construction production

Operation/usage

A larger office

Lean Thinkingand

Lean Production

A product and whole process owner takes command of the process

Industrialized housing

Lean Thinkingand

Lean Construction

Lean Production‘

Lean Production‘

Lean ConstructionLean Construction

Industrialized housing is the interface between construction and manufacturing

Lean Thinking‘

Lean Thinking‘

Timber element volume prefabrication as a project example

Perceived Lean characteristics Lean principle Volume

Value

V manufactures and assembles prefabricated volumes offered straight to the customer, often through long-term contracts with landlords.

Value stream

V controls the whole value stream which consists of long-term relations with subcontractors who are brought in-house, with assembly teams for on-site construction and with suppliers for a stable supply chain.

Flow

V has a well developed, stable and continuous value stream which is continuously reviewed so that work can be improved upon.

Pull

V offers a well known, high quality product with predefined characteristics. Client involvement is mainly limited to interior and façade design which allows for shorter lead times.

Perfection

V is continuously striving towards capturing more and new market shares. The stable value stream enables them to utilize transparency and to generate improvement programs.

Lean tools development for TVE prefabrication

Factory production in need of standardized work flow Implementation of 5S