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Quadrant Homes Applies Lean Concepts in a Project Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Karen A. Brown

    (University of Washington Bothell, Campus Box 358533, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, Washington 98011-8246)

  • Thomas G. Schmitt

    (School of Business, University of Washington Seattle, Campus Box 353225, Seattle, Washington 98195)

  • Richard J. Schonberger

    (Schonberger & Associates, Inc., 177 107th Avenue NE, #2101, Bellevue, Washington 98004)

  • Stephen Dennis

    (Dennis and Associates, 1314 Lake Sammamish Parkway NE, Bellevue, Washington 98008)

Abstract

Quadrant Homes, a subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Corporation, provides transferable lessons for applying lean-manufacturing concepts in project environments. The company has obtained impressive market and financial results, using an even-flow, predictable scheduling model in which it starts six houses per day and finishes each one in exactly 54 days. Quadrant follows recognized lean principles, including (1) designing its value stream around customer needs, (2) balancing work so all stages flow evenly, (3) operating on the basis of customer pull, and (4) continuously improving. Quadrant makes the lean principles work in a project environment by (1) knowing what can be standardized and what must be customized, (2) carefully setting and consistently managing customer expectations, (3) aligning goals of all stakeholders, and (4) recognizing that variances will occur, and designing routines to handle them when they do.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen A. Brown & Thomas G. Schmitt & Richard J. Schonberger & Stephen Dennis, 2004. "Quadrant Homes Applies Lean Concepts in a Project Environment," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 34(6), pages 442-450, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:34:y:2004:i:6:p:442-450
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1040.0108
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul S. Adler & Avi Mandelbaum & Viên Nguyen & Elizabeth Schwerer, 1995. "From Project to Process Management: An Empirically-Based Framework for Analyzing Product Development Time," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 458-484, March.
    2. Thomas Schmitt & Bruce Faaland, 2004. "Scheduling recurrent construction," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(8), pages 1102-1128, December.
    3. John J. Kanet & V. Sridharan, 2000. "Scheduling with Inserted Idle Time: Problem Taxonomy and Literature Review," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 99-110, February.
    4. Brucker, Peter & Drexl, Andreas & Mohring, Rolf & Neumann, Klaus & Pesch, Erwin, 1999. "Resource-constrained project scheduling: Notation, classification, models, and methods," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 3-41, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xin Xu & Yao Zhao & Ching-Yu Chen, 2016. "Project-driven supply chains: integrating safety-stock and crashing decisions for recurrent projects," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 241(1), pages 225-247, June.
    2. Karen A. Brown & Thomas G. Schmitt & Richard J. Schonberger, 2015. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Three Challenges for a Lean Enterprise in Turbulent Times," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 45(3), pages 260-270, June.
    3. Schmitt, Thomas G. & Kumar, Sanjay & Stecke, Kathryn E. & Glover, Fred W. & Ehlen, Mark A., 2017. "Mitigating disruptions in a multi-echelon supply chain using adaptive ordering," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 185-198.

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