Building indicators of design quality

Performance measurement has become a vitalpart of the machinery to improve practices inthe UK construction sector (Construction Task Force, 1998). The basis for most of the newapproaches to measurement has been adaptedfrom methods used in the manufacturingsector, with the main emphasis on processmanagement and logistics. Lessons have beendrawn from the literature on lean productionand Japanese approaches to qualitymanagement (Monden, 1983; Schonberger, 1982; Womack and Jones, 1996). This hasresulted in the introduction of a suite ofbenchmarking techniques and the developmentof key performance indicators (KPIs). The focushas primarily been on the measurement ofprocesses, in which headline indicators haveincluded metrics relating to time and cost ofproduction. Measurement associated with thequality of production has also been developedand implemented, with the focus on waste anddefects.