Implementation of Lean Engineering Practices in Projects and Programs through Simulation Based Training

Teams in engineering projects face complex decisions on a daily basis. In order to meet or exceed stakeholders’ needs and expectations project teams must plan and re-plan their project to keep it on track. Their decisions are made in an uncertain, dynamic and constrained environment spanning a large variety of areas such as outsourcing decisions, design decisions, risk management decisions, resource related decisions, budgets and schedule related decisions etc.. Their purpose is to lower cost, reduce rework minimize paperwork, and eliminate duplicate efforts. Teamwork is essential in this challenging environment and a shared understanding of the project goals and constraints is the foundation of teamwork. This paper describes our experience in using Simulation Based Training (SBT) and in particular, its contribution to the implementation of Lean Management Practices (“Lean Enablers”) among project team members and stakeholders in two different industries in order to lead to better project outcomes in terms of time, performance, cost, and stakeholders’ approval.