Lean Construction Strengthens the Management of Social Infrastructure Works

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), executing social infrastructure projects—such as hospitals, health centers, schools, or community facilities—remains a challenge. Delays, lack of planning and coordination among stakeholders, adverse weather conditions, and logistical limitations often affect timely delivery and construction quality. The result: projects that fail to meet both deadlines and the expectations of the communities that need them most.

Against this backdrop, an innovative management methodology has begun to prove its value in practice: Lean Construction. Inspired by the principles of continuous improvement and efficiency from the automotive production system, Lean Construction adapts these concepts to the construction sector to improve planning, reduce waste, and enhance collaboration among all project stakeholders involved.

At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), we have promoted its application in critical projects across the region, aiming to unblock stalled works, recover schedules, and ensure better delivery for citizens. Our experience in projects in Brazil, Suriname, and Peru demonstrates that this methodology helps improve timelines, coordination, and quality in social infrastructure works.

Lean Construction seeks to maximize client value and minimize waste at every stage of the project. Its collaborative approach enables contractors, supervisors, executing units, and specialists to work together to identify constraints, anticipate problems, and make informed decisions.

Although projects should ideally be planned this way from the start, the methodology can also be applied at critical moments—especially when works face significant delays or adverse conditions. With IDB support, Brazil, Suriname, and Peru have successfully implemented this methodology through workshops, training sessions, and technical assistance, delivering tangible results.

In Brazil, Lean Construction—combined with a series of management actions and process improvements—helped restore the pace of a hospital project that faced critical delays and complex logistics, enabling the facility to remain operational.

As part of the Program to Strengthen the Health Network Care Model in Paraíba, the hospital expansion and renovation project experienced a 140-day delay and a 20% deviation from the schedule. The situation was critical: the hospital had to remain operational during construction, requiring complex logistics to relocate services and patients.

The implementation of the Last Planner System® tool made it possible to identify constraints affecting project execution (including materials, information, human resources, among others), assign responsibilities, and establish weekly commitments. Collaborative meetings were held with the executing agency, the contractor, and the supervision team.

This resulted in a progressive recovery of the work pace and a reduction in delays. In July 2025, part of the diagnostic imaging center was inaugurated, the maternity expansion was completed, and the renovation works are expected to conclude by February 2026. The experience delivered a clear lesson: collaborative planning and visual management are essential to unblock complex projects.

In Suriname, the methodology was applied from the early stages to coordinate multicultural teams engaged in a large-scale infrastructure project.

The new Ministry of Health office construction, under the Health Services Improvement Project, encompassed more than 29,000 m² distributed across multiple construction fronts. From the beginning, the project faced numerous challenges, including schedule modifications, communication complexities among multicultural teams, and logistical considerations related to the international procurement of materials.

Although planning was the contractor’s responsibility, the IDB team contributed by promoting a phased implementation strategy: initial diagnosis, collaborative planning, weekly monitoring, and continuous improvement. Visual tools were used for progress tracking, clear commitments were established among project stakeholders, and an official translator was hired to facilitate communication.

The result was a substantial improvement in progress tracking, efficiency, and milestone compliance. The main building was delivered in February 2025, meeting the schedule despite initial delays, and is now advancing toward EDGE green certification (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies), integrating sustainability indicators into supervision.

Finally, in Peru, Lean Construction demonstrated its flexibility and versatility when applied to a project that was nearly abandoned.

The construction project for a treatment area in Caracoto, part of the Agricultural Health and Food Safety Development Program, had been abandoned by the original contractor with only 3% progress. With just 10 months left to complete the work before the operation’s closing date, Lean Construction was applied at an advanced stage of the project. Critical activities were identified and organized into biweekly work blocks, with schedules adjusted to account for weather conditions.

Prioritizing equipment procurement —including the generator and furniture — was essential, and visits were made to workshops to verify the manufacturing status.

The result was decisive: the project was delivered on time, meeting all closure requirements. Supervision played an active role in verifying progress, and the team worked with a single common purpose: completing the project on schedule, with high quality and reasonable costs.

Lessons Learned: Beyond Planning

These experiences show that Lean Construction can be a powerful tool when applied with commitment and collaboration. Key lessons include:

• Initial diagnosis: Understanding the real status of the project is essential for informed decision-making.
• Continuous technical support: Constraints analysis and continuous monitoring proved to be fundamental.
• Methodological flexibility: Lean Construction adapts to project conditions, even for works already underway.
• Collaborative teamwork: Engaging all project stakeholders fosters commitment and improves results.

What's Next?

Lean Construction is proving to be a key tool for strengthening public works management in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its application—from design through execution—helps to anticipate problems, improve efficiency, and ensure on-time delivery. At the IDB, we are actively promoting its integration with other methodologies such as BIM (Building Information Modeling), opening up new possibilities for digital and collaborative planning of social infrastructure across the region, with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the projects we support.

Francisco Ochoa, Senior Health Specialist in the Social Sector, and Giselle Dziura, Architect Consultant in the Social Infrastructure Group of the Infrastructure and Energy Sector, were responsible for the execution of the project in Brazil on behalf of the IDB; Ian Ho-A-Shu, Senior Health Specialist in the Social Sector, and Héctor Hernández, Engineer Consultant in the Social Infrastructure Group of the Infrastructure and Energy Sector, were responsible for the execution of the project in Suriname; Luis Miranda, Specialist in Agriculture and Rural Development in the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sector, and Eduardo Peláez, Architect Consultant in the Social Infrastructure Group of the Infrastructure and Energy Sector, were responsible for the execution of the project in Peru. All of them also contributed to this publication.