The document outlines lean principles for the homebuilding industry, focusing on maximizing customer value while minimizing waste through strategies like value stream mapping, improving flow, and establishing a pull system. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration, mistake-proofing, and preventative quality control to enhance process efficiency and responsiveness. Continuous improvement and a commitment to engaging all workers in the process are highlighted as essential for achieving long-term operational success.

1. 1. Identify
Customer
VALUE
Lean
Principles
2. Map the
VALUE
STREAM
4. Establish
PULL
3. Create
FLOW and
eliminate
waste
5. Pursue
PERFECTION
(Continuous
Improvement)
Maximize
Customer VALUE
While Minimizing
WASTE
HYPHEN
SOLUTIONS
Only two-way,
collaborative
supply chain
solution for the
homebuilding
industry
LEAN THINKING
How Hyphen can help you improve process
performance and lean your supply chain

2. 1. Identify Customer VALUE
Variance Analysis
“Construction variances are a major
cause of profit erosion for a home
building company…In addition, the
amount of administrative effort
needed to handle these variances
can be substantial.”
- Improving Profits by Controlling
Variances, C. Shinn, Jr.
Accuracy
It’s the essence of human nature to make occasional mistakes;
even a simple typo or transposition of characters can cause
significant issues both upstream and downstream in supply chain
communications and efficiency. Automated communications and
information exchange can dramatically improve accuracy.
Efficiency & Responsiveness
Optimized order management processes, supply chain design and
customer fulfillment can drive not only enhanced profitability for
suppliers, but also allow those efficiencies to be passed downstream
in the form of more competitive pricing and reaction time.
“Ease of Doing Business With”
• Greater customer satisfaction
• Fewer order “touches”
• More reliable outcomes
• Better adherence to schedule
• Higher quality
What is Value?
A capability provided to a customer…
 of the highest quality,
 at the right time,
 at an appropriate price, and
 as defined by the customer

3. 2. Map the VALUE STREAM
Future State Map
“The focus of future-state mapping is to eliminate the root
causes of wastes and to link the value stream in a smooth
flow. Unlike manufacturing, where the fundamental
problem is overproduction caused by “batch and push”, the
home building industry suffers most from variability.”
- Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2009
“Kaizen Bursts”
“…to harness the ideas and creativity of
your workforce in creating a step change
improvement in a specific area of your
business”
- leanmanufacturingtools.org
Systematic Process Improvement
“Value Stream Mapping, in its
simplest term, sets out to observe
every step of a process and identifies
areas where improvements can be
made to eliminate waste.”
- Lean Construction, 2013
Collaborative Engagement
“It gives you an opportunity to go
out there, observe, really see what’s
going on and eliminate waste, which
is going to improve your flow and
productivity… And it really improves
communication between the field
and management because you’re
collaborating together on this
solution.”
- McGraw-Hill, 2013
Sustain!
“Use it properly and completely and it will
provide a direct path to process optimization and
an operation that is assured long-term survival.”
- Industry Week, 2013

4. 3. Create FLOW and eliminate waste
Poke Yoke (Mistake Proofing)
With your own accumulated data in our system and
in aggregate across the entire network, get a true
understanding of defect trends and hot spots, and
put measures in place to prevent them in the future
Workflow Variability
“Flow variability greatly influences lean construction
practices because the late completion of one trade can
affect the overall completion time of a project”
- Lean Construction: From Theory to Implementation, 2006
Preventative Quality Control
Because defects are difficult to find before
installation, quality in construction has
traditionally been focused on conformance.
Lean construction concentrates efforts on
defect prevention. Failsafe actions can be
implemented on a job site to ensure first-
time quality compliance on all assignments
Standard Work
Codify improved processes and
efficiencies into your order management
and fulfillment processes with more
consistent and systematic operating
procedures for each key function
Sustainability / Paperless Orders
Hyphen automated connectivity solutions allow
computer-to-computer interactions and
communications without the need for reams of
paper, multiple copies or trips to the fax machine

5. 4. Establish PULL
Demand Visibility
…is the key ingredient to an effective pull
system and can significantly improve supply
chain efficiency, cycle times & risk mgmt
Collaboration
“A construction project requires
intensive coordination among teams
from multiple companies, and
decisions made to improve schedules
and Just-In-Time deliveries of
materials and services have to include
the entire project team.”
- Lean Construction, 2013
“Look Ahead” Scheduling
“…simply a view of your current project but
looking ahead for 2,4 or 6 weeks…used to
plan ahead and make sure you have the
required tools and equipment and resources
to allow this work to happen”
- constructionpmt.com
“Short-term work plans developed on the
basis of wishful thinking and in absence of
reliable promises from trade experts are
more likely to fall short during execution.”
- Lean Construction Journal, 2011
Pull Planning
A method of advancing work when the next in line customer
is ready to use it. A “Request” from the customer signals
that the work is needed and is “pulled” from the performer.
Pull releases work when the system is ready to use it.
- The Lean Construction Institute
Postponement
Late stage customization of your
product lines can allow for significantly
reduced inventory levels and lead times
Keep the End in Mind
“You got to be careful if
you don’t know where
you’re going, because you
might not get there.”
- Yogi Berra

6. 5. Pursue PERFECTION (Continuous Improvement)
Gemba Walks
“I’m no longer a trailer rat…I can walk
homes and do what I need to do”
- Big Builder Construction Manager
Using SupplyPro Mobile
Workforce Flexibility
Order management personnel can be trained
to facilitate orders from all Builders, which
will allow more flexible assignments and
resource allocation in constrained conditions
Enhanced Visualization
More advanced methods of displaying, reviewing and understanding data and
information can not only accelerate and enable fact-based decision making, but can also
highlight trend & performance insights not easily gleaned from more traditional views
Change Management & Culture
“Lean construction is not limited to
individual practices; it is a commitment
to continuous improvement that must
engage all workers on a project, from
management to craft workers in the
field.”
- Lean Construction, 2013
Balanced Scorecards & Causal Thinking
Systematic and disciplined performance
understanding & review serve as the
cornerstone of kaizen and continuous
improvement efforts. These two ideas,
balance & causal thinking, are central to that
comprehensive understanding of how things
are working and what outcomes to expect

7. Ask us how Hyphen can help you
improve process performance and
supply chain efficiency through the
application of LEAN PRINCIPLES