Takenaka Corporation is one of the largest general contractors in Japan and has built many landmarks across the country.

Its history goes back to more than 400 years starting in 1610 and originates from master builders of shrines and temples.

The company primarily works with the design-build processes enabling consistent services for clients from the planning stage to maintenance of completed projects.

Takenaka is also the first company in Japan to implement an IPD contract-based project.

While Japan is the birthplace of the “lean” concept in manufacturing, the terms such as lean or IPD are not well known in the construction industry in Japan.

This is due to the fact that the Japanese construction practice has been able to deliver short-term, low cost, high-quality projects enabled by unspoken rules defined over time, and has not seen the need for change to new ways of delivering construction projects.

Shojiro (George) and Koichi (Coby) have been working in Takenaka to introduce BIM in the production phase.

They both have experiences as construction site managers in many projects across Japan.

Shojiro also worked in R&D as well as construction planning before focusing on BIM and digital promotion.

Koichi has been working on agile software development for tools used in various phases of construction projects.

In this presentation, they will share their learnings about Lean Construction from a perspective of one of the biggest General Contractors in Japan.

The presentation will include the latest examples of projects utilizing the Takt Planning method and their efforts to spread the values of Lean Construction - bringing change to existing ways of working while respecting the cultural tradition of the Japanese construction industry.

I have 5 years of experience as a Construction site engineer, 2 years in the R&D department, 4 years in the Construction Planning department, and 4 years in the BIM and Digital Promotion department.