Lean Means Building Smart in a Complex Industry

Lean isn’t just a bunch of processes; it’s a mindset. At the 2025 Lean Construction Institute (LCI) Congress in Arlington, TX, DPR Construction joined more than 1,700 industry peers, united in the goal of advancing Lean thinking and transforming how the industry designs and builds. Forty-three DPR attendees participated in 13 different presentations and panels, with the Sutter Health East Santa Clara team winning Best Presentation, as voted on by conference participants.

Chris Dierks, who leads Lean and healthy team practices across DPR, notes the value of industry forums like the Congress. “It’s a place where we can connect with like-minded partners in the industry and discuss how we can improve project delivery. We don’t pause enough these days to stop and reflect on the improvements we need to implement, and Congress is the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Lean construction focuses on creating flow and eliminating waste, which provides increased value for all project partners. At DPR, Lean principles are woven into every phase of construction as part of its project planning and execution framework. From early design collaboration to field operations, Lean thinking drives decisions that create value, reduce wasteful activities, and elevates overall safety and quality.

“Lean allows us to implement processes that help drive efficiency and increase predictability, both during design and construction. That’s the type of added value our partners seek,” Dierks said.

Safety is a critical outcome. Studies from OSHA show that 80–90% of serious injuries in construction are caused by human error, and over 99% of incidents are preventable—making proactive planning and Lean practices essential countermeasures.

Two Lean methods highlighted at LCI, takt planning and pull planning, are especially visible in DPR’s project approach.

Joshua DiGloria, DPR project executive and conference panelist, alongside Daniel Wrenn, senior superintendent in DPR’s Northeast region, co-presented with trade partner F+F Mechanical and Robert Leicht from Penn State University. Their panel was titled "The Messy Process Needed to Get to a Good Takt Plan." Takt planning organizes work into smaller, consistent chunks to maintain rhythm and avoid chaos. DiGloria compared it to getting into a groove.

“It's like setting up a rhythm, smaller bites that keep moving. Instead of cramming for your midterm the last two nights, you chip away every week. That’s what keeps projects flowing,” he said.

Joe Ferrucci, executive vice president at F+F Mechanical, said takt helps bring clarity to complexity. “If you’re driving in the fog and going too fast, you’ll crash. If you’re going too slow, you’ll get rear-ended,” Ferrucci said. “Takt planning removes the fog so everyone can drive at the proper speed and in the same direction.”

Thomas LaMay, DPR Southeast region leader, presented on pull planning and the science behind creating collaborative environments in a panel called "Executing the Playbook: Precision and Safety in the Field." He explained the science behind collaboration, from optimal viewing angles for planning boards to mathematical methods for analyzing work density and direction.

“When you do this level of study, it has an organizing effect. Movements of workers, materials and equipment become predictable, and when we’re predictable, we’re incredibly safe,” he said.

Sutter Health’s East Santa Clara Medical Campus, which opened to the public last year, involved the conversion of roughly 300,000 sq. ft. of 1980s office space to medical facilities. A keystone of this project approach was an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) - Integrated Form of Agreement (IFOA), under which parties work as equal partners sharing risk and rewards. With that in place, the team executed a collaborative preconstruction phase guided by Lean principles.

“Our team worked to maximize the six tenets of Lean and we [saw] some interesting and innovative results in the field,” said Dan Tran, who served as the DPR project executive. “Lean is a contact sport. If we want to be optimal and remove waste, we can’t work in silos.”

The Sutter team adopted a data‑driven approach that blended Lean planning with advanced digital tools. A major innovation was using 3D work‑density studies and model‑based quantity takeoffs to create balanced takt zones grounded in real field conditions. This allowed the team to establish a reliable production baseline and ensure each trade’s workload was evenly distributed.

To keep work predictable and visible, the team relied on several complementary Lean tools and technologies, including:

• Synchro 3D animations to visualize the takt sequence
• Power BI dashboards for real-time plan vs. actual production
• Resource‑loaded schedules to align labor to takt zones
• Daily/weekly/monthly PDCA cycles to resolve issues early
• Automated data capture (Doxel and SiteMetric) for work‑in‑place and labor tracking.

Together, these tactics created a highly transparent environment where teams could adapt quickly, maintain flow, and make decisions using real‑time field data.

“The entire process was a Lean process that pulled all these things together, including takt, prefabrication and just in time delivery,” said John Eberhard, general superintendent for the project. “When you think about the IPD-IFOA, it encourages teamwork, new ideas, and learning from one another in order to be successful.”

DPR was the builder behind the 195,000-sq.-ft. expansion and 55,000-sq.-ft. renovation for Connecticut Children’s Clinical Tower, delivering a LEED Silver facility designed to transform pediatric care in Hartford, CT. From the start, collaboration was key.

“The project started out as highly collaborative from the owner side,” DiGloria said.

That spirit of collaboration extended across the design team, trade partners, and DPR’s field leadership, creating alignment early and often. While takt planning was one of several Lean tools used, it was the team’s shared rhythm, early involvement, and decision-making unity that drove the project’s success.

“Takt really refines the flow of work into predictable zones,” Wrenn said. “When each trade works in its own zone without overlap, efficiency skyrockets. It’s not just faster—it’s safer and more organized.”

F+F Mechanical was one of the key trade partners on the project, responsible for HVAC, plumbing, medical gas and sheet metal systems.

“Hospitals today are packed with systems—ductwork, piping, electrical,” said Ferrucci. “Takt planning helps us sequence everything so it fits and flows efficiently.”

The results speak for themselves. Connecticut Children’s achieved aggressively set milestones, from topping out to substantial completion, meeting an ambitious schedule that many thought was unattainable. Lean tools played a major role:

• Early pull planning helped identify supply chain constraints and prompted early release of steel and MEP packages.
• Takt planning kept trades in rhythm during fit-out, especially overhead mechanical work.

Lean principles aren’t new, but DPR’s application is distinctive. Lean planning and the associated mindset are not just used on select projects, they’re embedded across DPR’s portfolio, from healthcare to data centers. It’s not about isolated tactics; it’s about an integrated system that links design, planning and execution. From Choosing by Advantage decision-making to Target Value Delivery, to The Last Planner System (add trademark symbol), DPR embeds Lean into every phase of the project.

“Other contractors might have similar parts and pieces, but DPR has an entire system, end to end and universal across the company,” said LaMay.

That system doesn’t just build projects; it builds confidence. For DPR teams and projects, it’s a disciplined approach that drives measurable results. From healthcare facilities that transform patient care to industry forums that advance best practices, Lean-focused teams are helping shape the future of construction.

“There are many opportunities to put a framework in place to elevate project delivery for and with our partners, and we believe embedding Lean into this framework will provide increased value in every aspect of a project,” said Dierks.