Plagued With Lawsuits, UCSF Adopts Lean Construction
When Michael Bade arrived at the University of California, San Francisco, in 2004 as director of capital programs, he walked into the middle of what he calls "a litigation storm." Four of UCSF's previous five projects were in court or mediation. What's more, many local contractors refused to bid on projects due to the school's reputation.
Bade, now assistant vice chancellor of capital programs and campus architect for UCSF, sought ways to build future projects without brewing up similar storms. His search for a better way to build led him to lean construction, which uses principles he observed during the 12 years he worked in construction in Japan. Last month, he described his experiences using lean at a Construction Users Roundtable meeting in St. Charles, Mo.