Not enough workers, too many delays, and a housing shortage that’s a political hot-button issue. In construction and infrastructure, waste isn’t just costly—it’s holding the Netherlands back. Failure costs in the construction sector average between 8% and 12% of total project costs, with peaks of up to 15% in complex infrastructure projects. This is not bad luck or inevitability; it is the result of processes that were not designed for the complexity of the work: too many parties working at cross-purposes, information arriving too late or incomplete, work planning cut short under time pressure, and failure patterns carried over from project to project without any structural changes.

For more than 20 years, LMI has been working with contractors, project developers, and infrastructure companies on Lean —the application of Lean the specific context of construction and infrastructure. Not as a management theory, but as a practical approach on the construction site, within the project organization, and in the boardroom. With clients such as Dura Vermeer, Van Wijnen, VolkerWessels, and Hollandia Services, and partnerships that sometimes span more than a decade.

Common challenges in construction and infrastructure

The issues that construction and infrastructure companies bring to LMI are concrete and recurring. Failure costs that resurface project after project, while the root causes are never truly addressed. Lead times from sales through preparation to completion that are too long and filled with downtime not caused by the work itself. Chain collaboration that is well-organized on paper but runs smoothly on the construction site, because parties follow their own schedules rather than the project’s. A tender approach that lacks differentiation, where the lowest price wins instead of the best approach.

And then there are the strategic questions: how do you steer a group or holding company toward ambition and improvement when each division or operating company charts its own course? How do you build a culture of improvement in an industry where every project is unique and learning effects are traditionally not captured? How do you maintain control over complex infrastructure projects where dozens of parties, long lead times, and changing circumstances constantly lead to unexpected situations?

Why Lean works differently Lean construction

Lean its roots in the manufacturing industry, but the construction sector requires its own adaptation. Every construction project is unique. There are no identical products, no fixed production lines, and no stable working environment. The supply chain is complex: the client, general contractor, subcontractors, suppliers, designers, and supervisors all work on the same project but with different interests and schedules.

Lean recognizes this complexity and builds an approach around it. The Last Planner System makes short-term planning reliable by letting the people doing the work determine what is feasible, rather than relying on the master schedule drawn up weeks earlier. Obeya spaces and visual management provide project teams with a daily overview of progress, bottlenecks, and actions, without endless meetings. Kaizen improvement weeks bring teams together to structurally resolve specific bottlenecks—in logistics, handoffs, quality control, or safety—in a short period of time. And Strategy Deployment (Hoshin Kanri) helps construction organizations translate strategic ambitions into daily action at all levels of the organization.

How LMI Works in Construction and Infrastructure

The way LMI collaborates with construction companies aligns with the long-term, project-driven nature of the sector. Some initiatives begin with a specific construction project, such as setting up an Obeya, facilitating board meetings, or conducting Kaizen improvement weeks on the construction site. This is what LMI does at Hollandia Services, which works on infrastructure projects of national significance such as the Delta Works: Kaizen improvement weeks, Visual Management, and Obeya board meetings provide control and clarity over a complex, multi-year operation.

Other collaborations have evolved into long-term strategic partnerships. The collaboration with Dura Vermeer has been ongoing for more than ten years. What began with support for Obeya boards and construction projects has grown into a collaboration at the strategic executive level. In 2026, LMI will implement an extensive Hoshin Kanri process for all divisions of the company—an organization-wide strategy implementation in which Dura Vermeer’s long-term ambitions are translated into concrete priorities and measurable actions across all operating units. That’s not a project; that’s a partnership.

Van Wijnen has also collaborated at multiple levels in the past: Lean Black Belt for internal improvement specialists, visual management at the project level, and guidance for improvement initiatives.

Lean various sub-sectors

Residential Construction
In residential construction, there is constant pressure regarding lead times, quality, and cost. The combination of labor shortages, rising construction costs, and a political mandate to build faster makes the costs of failure unaffordable. Lean helps housing developers improve work planning, structure supply chain collaboration, and break recurring error patterns. Van Wijnen and Dura Vermeer are examples of housing developers where LMI is active at this level.

Commercial Construction and Real Estate
In commercial construction, more complex projects involving multiple parties, longer lead times, and stricter delivery requirements are the norm. Obeya management, supply chain integration, and rigorous project management based on visual management are the approaches that yield the best results in this context.

Infrastructure and Civil Engineering
Infrastructure projects involve long lead times, numerous stakeholders in the supply chain, and high costs associated with delays. Visual management, Obeya, and Kaizen improvement weeks give project teams daily control over complex situations. Hollandia Services, VolkerRail, and VolkerWessels are examples where LMI has been or is currently active in this context. We also collaborated with EraContour TBI and Bruil on process improvement in an infrastructure context.

Precast and building components
Manufacturing companies in the construction supply chain, such as precast concrete suppliers, also benefit from Lean that originate more from the manufacturing industry: OEE improvement, 5S, Value Stream Mapping, and standardization of production processes. Betonson is an example from this segment.

What are the benefits?

Construction companies that systematically Lean see results on three levels. At the project level: shorter lead times, lower failure costs, and improved collaboration across the supply chain, which translates into higher customer satisfaction and a stronger position in future tenders. At the organizational level: a culture of continuous improvement where lessons learned are applied from project to project, internal improvement specialists who independently address bottlenecks, and a management team that makes daily decisions based on the right metrics. And at the strategic level: an organization that achieves its ambitions, not despite the sector’s complexity, but by bringing structure to it.

The partnership with Dura Vermeer shows that it can be done. CEO Ronald Dielwart:
‍"We have been working with the LMI since 2011, and they assist us with various issues that are important to our operating companies and our customers. For example, how we can make our homes and apartments more affordable and improve our internal processes. We are very satisfied with our partnership."

Lean and consulting for the construction and infrastructure sectors

LMI offers in-company Lean tailored to the construction industry, ranging from a targeted Kaizen workshop for a project team to a comprehensiveBlack Belt for process improvement specialists and project leaders. For strategic challenges, we provide Lean, with our consultants contributing ideas at the executive level and offering hands-on guidance on the construction site. The breadth of this approach—from the shop floor to the boardroom, from a single workshop to a multi-year partnership—makes all the difference in an industry where improvement traditionally stops after the first project.

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