A systematic review of lean simulation games in the construction industry

Lean philosophy has garnered attention in the construction industry world-wide and lean simulation games have arguably played a vital role in lean’s uptake by the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Although numerous lean simulation games are already being used extensively both in industry and academia, there has been, as yet, no systematic investigation in this area. In this context, this paper reports a systematic literature review to analyse existing lean simulations and games. Relevant databases were identified, and a search strategy was devised to uncover relevant literature. Peer-reviewed papers were vetted according to a set of pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Following the screening process, 52 documents were identified from the databases. From the final set of papers, 96 games in total were identified. The papers were analysed for a variety of factors including distribution along a timeline, database homes, authorship and countries of origin using social network analysis, and depth of discussion of particular simulations. Findings showed that the popularity of lean simulation games in the construction sector has grown in recent decades. According to our systematic review of the literature, the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) serves as a significant contributor to the emergence and dissemination of new and existing lean games and simulations. The analysis also indicated that most contributions have originated in the United States. Our social network analysis also indicated that a few key authors collaborate extensively, while others in the periphery are beginning to publish and collaborate.精益理念（Lean philosophy）已在全球建筑业获得广泛关注，而精益模拟游戏（lean simulation games）可以说在建筑、工程与施工（AEC）行业对精益理念的推广中发挥了至关重要的作用。尽管目前已有大量精益模拟游戏在工业界与学术界得到广泛应用，但该领域迄今尚未开展系统性研究。在此背景下，本文通过系统性文献综述对现有精益模拟工具与游戏展开分析：研究人员首先确定了相关数据库，并制定检索策略以挖掘相关文献；随后依据预先设定的纳入与排除标准，对同行评审论文进行筛选。经过筛选流程后，共从数据库中获得52篇文献，最终从这些入选文献中共梳理出96款游戏。研究人员通过社交网络分析（social network analysis），从多个维度对入选论文展开分析，包括随时间线的分布情况、数据库来源、作者与原产国，以及特定模拟工具的讨论深度。研究结果表明，近几十年来精益模拟游戏在建筑业的受欢迎程度持续提升。通过本次系统性文献综述可知，国际精益建造工作组（International Group for Lean Construction, IGLC）在新型与现有精益游戏及模拟工具的研发与推广方面发挥了重要作用。分析同时显示，绝大多数相关研究成果源自美国。社交网络分析结果还显示，少数核心作者间存在广泛的合作，而处于外围的研究者则刚刚开始发表成果并参与合作。