The principles of Lean Construction haven't really been adapted to infrastructure construction because there haven't been tools nor need for this. Across the globe the demand for cost effectiveness towards the private sector has risen and private sector in their part have tried to find solutions from the principles of Lean Construction. This way also the contractors have started to contribute in the development of new methods for finding cost effective solutions. Adapting Lean Construction principles in infrastructure construction means minimization of mass haul amounts and distances. In order to adapt Lean Construction principles to infrastructure construction, projects need to be managed through mass economy point-of-view. Mass economy means cost minimization for both mass handling and mass haul. Decisions for mass handling procedures and mass haul timings and transfers are made in project's mass economy plan. The decisions are made so that costs for these are minimized. Different planning alternatives can also be examined. To ensure functionality for production control project is divided into independent mass economy areas. These areas help in defining contract boundaries and in production monitoring and control. This way schedule disturbances and their cost effects can be decreased. To overcome these difficulties a software program has been developed. To help the planner program has linear and genetic optimization algorithms, which try to minimize the costs for resources, mass hauls and schedule. To help the contractor program has production monitoring and control tools, which can be used to predict and control costs and schedule.
