Lean Production of Sandcrete Blocks: Environmental Implications of Seasonal Climatic Sequence for Waste Generation

A fundamental principle of lean production is anticipating the needs of production and consumption. Lean production seeks to provide a just on time supply of products without maintaining intermediate stock, which would inevitably lead to the generation of waste. This paper explores the effects of seasonality of weather conditions on the consumption of sandcrete blocks, with a view to spotlight discrepancies resulting from seasonal consumption levels. Using the t-test, the study investigates statistically significant differences between consumption and production means for dry and rainy season months on samples collected from fifty randomly selected construction sites and fifty block making industries in Port Harcourt, over a one-year period, to establish their seasonal variation. Significant discrepancies were observed between rainy season and dry season consumption, which did not match the variation in production outputs. The observed discrepancy in consumption and production implies that producers of sandcrete blocks do not fully anticipate consumption demand during the rainy season, leading to excess stock and wastage. The study outcome provides an empirical platform for establishing productivity goals for the production of sandcrete blocks necessary to avoid wastage under unfavourable weather conditions.