The Magic of the Last Planner System for Nigerian Construction

Extremely poor economic performance of the Nigerian construction industry suggests that non-value adding activities are prevalent, which result not only in the reduction of contractors' profit margin but economic loss for the country in general. This study analyses non-value adding activities in Nigerian construction sites. The research seeks to establish potential antidotes within the Last Planner® System (LPS) and reveal the elements of the LPS which could be abstracted into Nigerian construction to improve performance. It was found that these elements form the theoretical basis for developing a lean approach that was labelled Last Planner® thinking. The research design comprises mixed quantitative cross-sectional survey and qualitative-exploratory approaches. Registered contractors and construction professionals in academia who are based in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria, form the population for the study. The instrument for data collection was survey questionnaire and semi-structured open ended interview. Forty questionnaire and three interview responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study reveal various incidences and contributory factors to non-adding value activities, with long approval process been the most prevalent and the identified solution embedded in Last Planner practices. It also identified current practices that indicate Last Planner System practices. The study concludes that Last Planner thinking has the potential for minimising non-value adding activities and proposed that Last Planner thinking should be developed as a precursor framework to ensure that participants are already thinking in a way that aids the implementation of the Last Planner System. The study provides evidence that the developed framework built more confidence in the organisation for continuous improvement.