Supply chain management and lean concept in construction: a case of Ghanaian building construction industry

Abstract Supply chain management (SCM), for the past two decades, has been identified by manufacturing industries as a new way of doing business. Construction, similar to manufacturing and other services industries, is experiencing emerging trends that are aimed at giving ultimate satisfaction to the end user. Lean construction is a way to design production systems in order to minimize waste of materials, time and efforts which generate maximum possible amount of value. This research looked into how SCM can benefit the Ghanaian building construction industry through the application of lean concept. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of collaboration and coordination in planning of activities among construction industry players and investigate into the sources of waste in construction. The study, employing survey and case study approaches, collected data through structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews and direct observation of ongoing projects on KNUST campus. One sample t-test was used to analyse the data. The findings pointed out that the level of coordination and collaboration in planning among industry players were very appreciable though there still exist room for improvement.