Abstract
Lean production is a management philosophy that creates competitive advantages and provides important savings opportunities for companies and organizations. However, there is limited evidence showing to what extent lean production can improve productivity and organizational performance in the mining industry. Mining is a critical industry in Chile, so to understand the impact of lean production, this research provides details regarding the implementation of lean production methodologies in three underground mining development projects belonging to a Chilean mining company. In all of the case studies reviewed, the implementation of lean methodologies generated performance improvements in related projects and construction organizations, with statistically significant improvements in workflow, actual production capacity, operational reliability, productivity, time utilization, and organizational performance. The main findings of this study suggest that the incorporation of lean methodologies has significant potential to improve the performance of mining operations, which is critical given the current and future challenges in the mining sector.
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Acknowledgments
The researchers want to thank FONDECYT (Project 1120485), the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (GEPUC) and CODELCO, Teniente Division, for supporting the implementation of the lean tools in their mining projects and for making this research possible.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 141 • Issue 1 • January 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 16, 2013
Accepted: Jun 27, 2014
Published online: Aug 25, 2014
Published in print: Jan 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Jan 25, 2015
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