The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ organised Wednesday 23 October 2019 the International Conference & Workshop on “Recognising Lean Transformation in Public Sector - LIPS Qatar 2019”, which will be held for the first time in Doha and the Middle East in Ashghal Head Office and lasts for two days.
H.E. Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi President of Ashghal has opened the event in the presence of experts and speakers from Qatar, the United States, the United Kingdom and Finland, in partnership with Qatar University's College of Engineering, and the Lean Construction Institute - Qatar.
LIPS primarily aims at expanding Lean design and construction ideas to the government construction projects, based on the importance of public sector projects and their role in urban renaissance. Since 2014, this aim has evolved to include the application of Lean Thinking to government operations and non-profits in general, supporting the development of new and more effective ways to deliver projects, in addition to improving the efficiency and quality of government services.
H.E. Ashghal’s President said in his speech: “Ashghal started implementing lean construction initiatives in 2017 on many infrastructure projects and programmes. Changing a business culture takes partnership, perseverance and continuous improvement and this is exactly what we are going to do. Lessons learned from the different stages of implementation are shared across the projects and programmes as well as our partners".
He added, “The lean construction approach has been implemented in 13 projects so far. The effectiveness of this initiative is essentially dependent on the support of senior officials and managers from all participating entities”.
H.E President of Ashghal stressed the need for continuous monitoring the projects implementation and follow-up with contractors closely to achieve the desired results of productivity and high quality in delivery.
He also emphasised the importance of lean construction on reducing time, waste and the cost of projects implementation by up to 50% as happened in one of the sub-divisions projects, urging contractors and projects engineers to apply the latest technology methods in project implementation such as BIM and Lean Construction, to deliver world-class infrastructure projects and achieve the excellence.
H.E. added: “We intend to continue to focus on our implementation strategy and to lead the application of the best practices in the Middle East, while we remain flexible and agile to ensure we focus on the relevant areas and components of lean. This will ensure that we maximise benefits realisation for all involved and the return to Ashghal and the government and all concerned entities”.
Engineer Ahmad Ali Al Ansari, Technical Office Manager at Ashghal, said that the lean construction of infrastructure projects is achieving positive results. He pointed out that the consulting company "WSP- Middle East" has played an important role in adopting lean transformation approach and applying it in "Ashghal" local areas infrastructure programme projects since 2017, in collaboration with the technical office and projects affairs in Ashghal. It was also included in the project’s contracts since March 2018, in parallel with the launch of KPI system to measure our progress in this regard.
Dr. Eng. Abdulla Yaqoub Al Sayed, Director of the Lean Construction Institute- Qatar and Chief Development & Project Delivery Officer – Asia & Africa at Qatari Diar, pointed out that lean thinking of its multiple benefits is a demand for time and a promising investment towards Qatar Vision 2030. As the Qatari infrastructure is witnessing a rapid and significant growth, major public sectors such as the Public Works Authority and Qatari Diar play a key role in adopting the lean principles within their projects.
These efforts have been embracing lean approaches to execute projects to generate value, eliminate waste, increase efficiency, and maximise productivity.
Dr. Khalid Kamal Naji, Dean of the College of Engineering, expressed his happiness in participating in the conference and its workshops, to add the value of practical training for young engineers on the basics of lean design and construction. This is in addition to the benefit of the presence of many experts from different countries to share their experiences and expertise in this field.
In the future, we aspire to have a state-level council for lean construction that brings together all experts and specialists in this field to benefit from them in the development of engineering education, Worth to be mentioned that Ashghal's hosting of this important international event is part of its strategic partnership with the “Lean in Public Sector LIPS” organisation in Michigan, USA, which was established in 2007. It is an international forum to help individuals and organisations from around the world gain a better understanding of the research and implementation of Lean concepts and tools in the domestic and international public sector projects, in addition to sharing lessons learned and experiences in this field.
The conference and workshop “Recognising Lean Transformation in Public Sector - LIPS Qatar 2019” has been welcomed by the construction and engineering industry in Qatar, supported by the Platinum Sponsor Al Jaber Engineering, the Platinum Sponsor WSP - Middle East, the Platinum Sponsor Consolidated Contractors Company, the Gold Sponsor Tekfen Construction, the Gold Sponsor Sacyr Medgulf JV, and the Gold Sponsor Qatar Trading & Contracting Group.