Pollesch, P., Rovinsky, A., Alvarado III, R., and Alves, T.C.L. (2017). “House of Cards – a Simulation of Lean Construction Principles” In: LC3 2017 Volume II – Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC), Walsh, K., Sacks, R., Brilakis, I. (eds.), Heraklion, Greece, pp. 373–380. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24928/2017/0212 HOUSE OF CARDS – A SIMULATION OF LEAN CONSTRUCTION PRINCIPLES Paul Pollesch1, Alexander Rovinsky2, Raul Alvarado III3, and Thais da C. L. Alves4 Abstract: The "House of Cards" simulation was developed to stimulate discussion and improve the application of lean production concepts (5S, flow, waste, kaizen, transparency, and collaboration) to construction engineering and management. It is a simple, scalable, hands-on exercise that enables a facilitator to lead teams to intuitively grasp lean concepts and their benefits to construction processes. The simulation requires minimal resources for each team: 3-4 players, a deck of playing cards, a timer, and a playing surface. “House of Cards” presents six phases of gameplay, and progresses from a worst-case scenario to an optimized ideal. The objective is to play the cards as quickly as possible to construct a 13-story building. As in construction, there is a logical sequence of work required. Lower floors must be built before upper floors, structural work must precede mechanical, and mechanical must precede finish work. This simulation was developed with a construction project context, but can easily be adapted to other industries. The analogies can be tailored to meet other industrial processes, and the floors can be changed to different parts of assembly or production lines. Keywords: Lean construction, simulation, continuous improvement, 5S, flow improvement. 1 INTRODUCTION This paper presents a simulation to introduce students or workers in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry to lean principles, as applied to construction engineering and management. The goal was to develop a simple, scalable, repeatable, hands-on group exercise that would enable a facilitator to lead groups to intuitively understand the benefits of lean concepts applied to construction processes. Basic lean concept definitions are included so that participants unfamiliar with lean production, and without the guidance of a facilitator, can still benefit from the simulation whether as an observer or watching the video developed by the authors. Simulations have become one of the most important ways to teach lean concepts over the years. Academics, practitioners, and consultants use simulations to engage people and enhance the learning experience in an applied setting. Tsao et al. (2012) identified the use of simulations across academic curricula in three different universities. Simulations help bridge the gap in conceptual understanding when paired with readings and cases that provide additional background to the implementation of lean in real 1 Civil Engineer Corps, United States Navy. Currently enrolled as a graduate student at San Diego State University. [email protected] 2 Civil Engineer Corps, United States Navy. Currently enrolled as a graduate student at San Diego State University. [email protected] 3 Graduate Student, San Diego State University, [email protected] 4 Associate Professor, J.R. Filanc Construction Engineering and Management Program, Dept. of Civil, Constr., and Env. Engineering, San Diego State University, USA, [email protected] House of Cards – a Simulation of Lean Construction Principles construction projects. Simulations are constantly being created and re-invented to support lean education. Mitropoulos et al. (2014) developed a simulation to automate the 'Parade of Trades', which was originally developed by Tommelein et al. (1999) to evaluate the effects of variability on a sequence of interdependent construction activities. Rybkoswki et al. (2016) have upgraded the “marshmallow simulation” to teach concepts related to target value design. Similarly, teams of practitioners have developed the Villego simulation to mimic the implementation of the Last Planner System in the construction of houses (Villego 2016). The 'House of Cards' simulation was developed at San Diego State University, where students were challenged to develop new forms of teaching lean principles. This paper describes basic aspects considered by the first three authors while developing the simulation, how it was implemented, and how they collected feedback and identified areas for improvement along the way. 2 LEAN PRINCIPLES USED IN THE SIMULATION The “House of Cards” simulation exposes participants to the following lean concepts: waste reduction, flow improvement, continuous improvement (kaizen), and 5S. Additionally, collaborative teamwork, which is also related to the lean principle ‘improving transparency’, is used in phases 3-6 to improve performance. After starting the game in Phase 1 with the worst-case scenario, phases 2-6 introduce one improvement at a time to demonstrate how that one change can improve team performance. Players will observe that cycle times are reduced as a result of the continuous improvement made from phase to phase. The simulation was developed to demonstrate performance gains realized by improving flow and reducing waste. Continuously improving flow and reducing wastes are important principles of lean thinking (Womack and Jones 2003), and have been applied to construction (Koskela 1992). The first of Koskela's eleven lean construction principles applied to production system design is the 'reduction of non-value-adding activities'. This principle is tightly related to the other principles due to their symbiotic relationships. For example, 'simplify by reducing the number of steps, parts, and linkages' contributes to 'reducing waste', ‘reducing variability’, and ‘increasing process transparency’. There are many ways to eliminate waste in production processes. Improving process transparency is a key principle that improves understanding of the production system, the ability to identify and mitigate wastes, and the ability of team members to effectively collaborate. Visual representation and management of transparent processes allow system wastes to be more readily exposed and eliminated (Galsworth 2005). The 'House of Cards' simulation uses multiple steps to gradually improve process organization and improve flow. This effort is very much related to the 5S process (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain), in which the goal is to promote an uncluttered and disciplined environment (Galsworth 2005). The use of 5S in this simulation improves transparency through process simplification and by reduction of waste. Monitoring and recording team cycle times for each of the six phases leads participants to predict, evaluate, and discuss the improvements realized through application of lean principles. Collaborative teamwork is another principle used in the simulation. In the AEC industry, short-term teams are assigned to individual projects, and seldom have the advantage of long-term relationships to foster alignment, trust, and collaboration. Each project team must make efforts to quickly align the various stakeholders and build the Paul Pollesch, Alexander Rovinsky, Raul Alvarado III and Thais da C. L. Alves trust needed for true collaboration. Design-build (DB) contracts and integrated project delivery (IPD) projects have contributed to improving collaboration among project stakeholders. IPD projects provide an operational system to enhance collaboration, such as physical collocation in 'big rooms', pain- and gain-sharing, pull planning sessions, etc. (Lichtig 2005). Integrated forms of agreement (IFOA) replace the traditional construction contract on IPD projects and make participants accountable to each other for the success of the project. Successful collaboration supports achieving target goals, boosting profits, and improving flows. 3 THE HOUSE OF CARDS SIMULATION “House of Cards” presents six phases of gameplay, and progresses from a worst-case scenario to an optimized quick process. The objective is to play the cards as quickly as possible to construct a 13-story building. The three players represent three trade contractors, each responsible for different construction activities: structural, mechanical, and finish work. As in construction, there is a logical sequence of work required. Lower floors must be built before upper floors, structural work must precede mechanical, and mechanical must precede finish work. The game is complete when the finish contractor plays the last card (King of Hearts) representing completion of the finish work on the 13th floor. Each floor of the building, visualized by a row of cards, is represented by face value of the card, e.g., ace = first floor, 2 = second floor, and so on, with the king = 13th floor (Figure 1). If desired, the analogies can be tailored to represent processes and context of other industries, such as an assembly line. The simulation can be used for a small team of 3 people, or multiple teams of 3-4 members each. The set-up for each team includes: 3-4 players, one table or playing surface, a standard deck of 52 playing cards, 30-60 minutes to complete all six phases, and a timer or stopwatch. The timer is used to monitor cycle time for each phase of play. Cycle time is the main indicator in this simulation, and is the basis for evaluating performance improvements. The simulation is easily scalable, from a small group of 3