The 4th annual WIT Lean Forum highlighted advancements in lean management practices among Irish organizations, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and knowledge exchange within various sectors, particularly construction. Keynote speaker Professor Peter Hines focused on the foundational principle of respect for people in lean enterprise excellence. The event showcased practical case studies and discussions on the integration of lean thinking into diverse industries, promoting Ireland as a center of excellence in lean practices.

1. June 2016 CONSTRUCTION 69
WIT CONFERENCE
Highlights from the 4th
Annual WIT Lean Forum -
Waterford Institute of
Technology
he Annual WIT Lean Forum
provides a key opportunity for
Irish organisations of all sizes that
are adopting, or seeking to adopt,
Lean thinking and practice in
order to remain competitive in the
national and global marketplace.
This industry-academia conference
focuses on cutting-edge developments
in Lean management thinking and
practice, continuous improvement, and
organisational and service excellence.
A distinctive feature is the multi-sectoral
audience listening to presentations and
stories from various sectors – the Lean
community of practice is sector neutral
and the cross-pollination is enormously
impactful.
Lean Forum Topics included:
• People within Lean Enterprise
Excellence
• Lean Thinking in Construction Design
• Lean & BIM
• The Business Case for Sustainability
• Value Stream Mapping
• A3 Problem-Solving
T
• Lean Start-Up
• Visual Management
• Reward & Recognition
• Technology as an enabler for Lean
• Idea Generation for Innovation
• Lean Service Design Thinking
• Lean in SMEs & Micro organisations
The Keynote Presentation was delivered
by Professor Peter Hines, global thought
leader in Lean, senior certified Shingo
facilitator, academic, practitioner,
consultant, award-winning author and
Visiting Professor at WIT School of
Business.
The title of Professor Hines’ presentation
was: “People Within Lean Enterprise
Excellence” and it emphasised the respect
for people principle upon which Lean
is founded, but which is far too often
forgotten or ignored, as companies focus
on tools only or are too short-termist in
their thinking.
The annual WIT Lean Forum allows industry practitioners to network and to
exchange knowledge about their experiences, successes, failures, and learnings
as well as the opportunity to participate in presentations and breakout sessions
delivered by experienced Lean practitioners and subject matter experts. This
year’s event drew record numbers including a sizeable delegation from the
Construction industry. by Darrin Taylor
PhotographybyPatrickBuckland
Registration
Professor Peter
Hines addressing the
main audience in his
Keynote Presentation

2. 70 CONSTRUCTION June 2016
Lean in Construction in Ireland
The Irish Construction sector is making
steady progress in adopting Lean, and
it has established its own community of
practice (CoP) – “Lean Construction
Ireland (LCI)” – to develop awareness
around Lean in Construction and to
encourage the adoption of Lean Thinking
and Practice in public and private capital
projects.
Integral to the LCI CoP is inclusivity
and free and open access to all interested
parties with all stakeholders represented
within the community of practice.
As part of the LCI’s work it hosts regular
events throughout the year, and it has allied
with WIT to include the Annual WIT Lean
Forum as one of the LCI’s calendar events.
Kevin White, Co-Founder of the Lean
Construction Institute (LCI) in Ireland,
attended the Lean Forum and noted that:
“The vision of the LCI CoP is: ‘Ireland
as a Centre of Excellence for Lean in
Construction where Everyone in the Chain
Shares Value’.
“Events such as this Annual WIT Lean
Forum provide the LCI CoP and the
Irish Construction sector, clients, firms,
suppliers, representative bodies, and other
stakeholders with a wonderful opportunity
to attend Lean Construction presentations
and also to attend other presentations on
Lean themes common to all and delivered
by organisations from various sectors
that have been on their respective Lean
Journeys for some time.
“Such knowledge exchange and
integration can only be good for us all and
for Ireland Inc.”
Also in attendance was Sean Downey,
Director at the CIF and LCI Core Group
member.
Said Sean Downey: “It was a fantastic
event which, in its 4th year shows clear
evidence of the special engagement that
exists between WIT and the regional FDI
group.
“During the conference we heard
evidence from clients that set out their
expectations on Lean ability in the
construction sector which suggests CIF
members need to develop their own
awareness and skill set in continuous
improvement.”
Brian Clare, Lecturer in Building
Services Engineering at DIT and LCI Core
Group member, noted:
“This was my first attendance at the WIT
Lean event and we in the LCI are delighted
to be linked with this excellent event.
“While all of the presentations were
of a very high standard I found that the
NYPRO presentation struck a chord with
me as it demonstrated how a construction
project team should be set up to ensure a
successful outcome”. (See below).
Lean in Construction
Presentations
In addition to presentations on generic
aspects of Lean that were relevant to all
sectors, there were three specific Lean-in-
Construction presentations.
Aidan Clancy, IT Systems Manager
at Clancy Construction, presented
on “Applying Lean Thinking to Data
Management in a Construction Firm”.
This presentation provided audiences
with a simple and focused case study on
the application of Lean principles and
tools in order to improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of Clancy’s project data
management processes.
Integral to this initiative was the
realisation of the need to enable and
empower those who actually work at the
coalface, known in Lean terminology
as the “Gemba”, through the creation
of a “Gemba Coalition” sponsored and
supported by the senior leadership team.
A key learning was to think systemically
and involve all internal customers –
“Voice of Customer” – in the process
improvement project.
Robin Stubbs, Lecturer in BIM and
co-director of the BIM Collective Research
Group at WIT, presented on “LEANing
into BIM”.
Robin discussed the complementary
nature of BIM and Lean, both based on
ideologies of collegiality and collaboration.
Robin noted the key role that BIM can
play in implementing Lean in Construction
as it facilitates the Voice of Customer, it
is systemic in nature, it enables design for
excellence and it brings projects closer to
being right first time (RTF) which is a key
aspect of being Lean.
Ken McClannon, Senior Director
The Irish Construction sector is
making steady progress in adopting
Lean and it has established its own
community of practice – “Lean
Construction Ireland (LCI)” – to
develop awareness around Lean
in Construction and to encourage
the adoption of Lean Thinking
& Practice in public and private
capital projects.
Such
knowledge
exchange and
integration can
only be good for
us all and for
Ireland Inc.
‘‘
’’
Aidan Walsh, Co-
Director WIT Lean
Enterprise Excellence
Group, enjoying
proceedings
Checking the busy
programme schedule
(L-R) Darrin Taylor (WIT); Derek Sinnott (WIT Head of
Department of Built Environment); Brian Clare (DIT);
Seán Downey (CIF)
(L-R) Darrin Taylor,
WIT; Breda O’Toole,
IDA Ireland; Richard
Keegan, Enterprise
Ireland.

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WIT CONFERENCE
C
An overview of Lean in Ireland
“In response to international competitiveness,
recent years have seen an increased focus
worldwide on Lean Thinking and Practice by
organisations of all sizes and across all sectors,”
notes Darrin Taylor, event organiser, and co-
director of the WIT Lean Enterprise Excellence
Group.
Says Taylor: “Many organisations now consider
the effective adoption of Lean as critical to
their strategic effectiveness as well as to their
operational and enterprise excellence.
“The importance of Lean is further reflected
in Irish Government policy and strategy. Lean
features prominently in recent and current Action
Plans for Jobs – and the Forfás Making it in
Ireland: Manufacturing 2020 report and Forfás
Future Skills Needs reports emphasise that
Lean principles cannot be ignored by any firm in
Ireland today.”
What is very interesting and hugely
encouraging is that we are seeing Lean being
implemented within both public and private
organisations, observes Darrin Taylor, “as well as
across all sectors: from the pioneering Medical
Device, Pharmaceutical and Aerospace sectors
into Food & Drink; Traditional Manufacturing;
Engineering; Contact Centres; Retail; Healthcare;
Hospitality and Construction.
“And now we see Lean increasingly
implemented by SMEs and Micro organisations
to enable them make step-changes in their
development, growth and innovation.
“And of course to enable them better serve
their clients as well as the wider value and supply
chains they contribute to.
“Integral to this Lean movement is the
generosity of spirit amongst and between Irish
organisations.
“Such a national community of practice in
Lean is enormously beneficial for Ireland Inc.,”
says Darrin Taylor. “It also helps position the
country globally as a centre of excellence in
Lean.”
Ireland has much to be proud of in the Lean
space with global exemplars across the country,
notes Darrin, including Shingo accredited
companies – “the world’s highest standard
for operational excellence” – like Lake Region
Medical (New Ross); Covidien (Athlone);
DepuySynthes (Ringaskiddy); Abbott Ireland
Vascular (Clonmel) and Abbott Ireland Diagnostic
(Longford).
The State is also playing a key role with
Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland providing
crucial supports for companies on their Lean
journeys via their respective “Lean Business
Offers”.
“At WIT,” says Darrin Taylor, “we play our part
through our portfolio of cutting-edge executive
education programmes in Lean and of course via
the Annual WIT Lean Forum which has grown to
become the leading Lean conference in Ireland.”
of Programs & Engineering,
Pharmaceutical Delivery Systems,
at Nypro Healthcare, presented on
“Lean Design of a new Healthcare
Manufacturing Facility”.
In what was possibly a first in the
world in terms of a Lean Construction
presentation involving the Client
Owner and their entire AEC Design
Team, Ken was joined by the following:
• Stephen Carr, Stephen Carr
Architects, Site Master Planning &
Assigned Certifier
• Finbarr Marrett, Ardmac Ltd.,
Mechanical Design, Cleanroom
Specialists & Main Contractor for
the project
• John Mernagh, Healy Kelly Turner
Townsend, Quantity Surveyors &
Project Management
• Dermot McClannon, McClannon
Electrical Ltd., Electrical Design &
Electrical Contractor for the project
• Arthur Murphy, Arthur Murphy &
Co, Structural Engineer
• Jim Staples, Jim Staples Ltd., Fire and
DAC Consultant
In this presentation Ken spoke
about the application of his and his
company’s experience and expertise
in Lean Thinking & Practice from
their core manufacturing business to
the rapid design and build of this new
facility.
A highlight and consistent thread
in the actual design and build project,
as well as in the presentation and later
discussion, was the honouring of the
core Lean principle of “respect for
every individual”.
Prominent
Also prominent was the trust and
collaboration that existed between
the client and the design team as well
as amongst the design team as they
worked together in a systemic way to
fulfil the client’s requirements.
According to the entire design team
the most critical success factor in the
ultimate completion of this award-
winning and exemplar facility was the
client’s absolute clarity, from the start
and throughout, in terms of what he
wanted and what was required.
Further Information: you can email
event organiser and co-director of
the WIT Lean Enterprise Excellence
Group, Darrin Taylor at dtaylor@
wit.ie, or see www.wit.ie/Lean, for
details on WIT’s executive education
programmes in Lean, Annual Lean
Forum, Lean Practitioner Seminar
Series, and other activities.
See www.leanconstructionireland.
org for further information on Lean
Construction Ireland, LCI events, and
how to become a member of the LCI
community of practice (events and
membership are all free of charge).
or,
ole,
hard
se
Above: Robin Stubbs,
Lecturer in BIM at
WIT, delivering his
presentation
Right: Attendee
speaking about
undergraduate
work placement
with Elizabeth
Shanley, Lecturer in
Management
William Power (tli
Group) and Deirdre
Travers (Lake
Region Medical),
classmates on
the WIT Master of
Business in Lean
Practice.