Understanding the Interaction Between Virtual Design, Construction and Lean Construction

There have been important advances regarding the synergies between Building Information Modeling (BIM) – as part of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) – and Lean Construction. However, the literature does not fully explore the nature of these synergies nor the conceptual reasons behind them. This better understanding of these synergies would allow the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry to achieve better Lean and VDC implementations and would provide a stepping-stone for the academia to continue building on these synergies. This article presents a thorough literature review based on leading international journals, conference proceedings and books, to explore the synergies between Lean Construction and VDC, including BIM (product), process and organization modeling. As part of this review, the article tests mechanisms about interaction mechanisms, previously mentioned in the literature. The findings indicate that using the entire VDC framework, the positive interactions between Lean and VDC increased significantly with respect to the same analysis restricted to the interaction between Lean and BIM. Identifying these new interactions and interaction mechanisms can help the AEC industry take a more holistic approach and generate improvements in every project phase.