INTERFACE MANAGEMENT—A FACILITATOR OF LEAN CONSTRUCTION AND AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Abstract

This paper aims to establish and clarify the close relationships between Interface Management (IM) and the two emerging construction management philosophies: lean construction and agile project management (APM). The applications of these two approaches face great challenges from a project’s complexity. IM, managing and controlling interrelationships or interactions among elements of complex project systems, can help augment these two strategic approaches and facilitate the implementation of related techniques and methods in the dynamic built environment. This paper first briefly introduces the new concept of IM and its benefits to construction management. Then, it reviews lean construction and APM respectively. During the review, this paper simultaneously investigates the benefits that IM can offer to these two approaches in regard to philosophy and technique. In conclusion, it is assessed that IM can greatly improve the implementation of lean production and APM in construction and help optimize overall performance of construction project systems.