Dear LCI-Q Members,

I trust you and your families are keeping safe in these uncertain times.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, the world around us is shifting rapidly. While many things are changing, the commitment of LCI-Qatar has remained the same. During this tough time facing the entire humanity with the outbreak of COVID-19 reaching every corner of the globe, LCI-Qatar is concerned with the health, safety, and wellbeing of its members and their families. We understand the special circumstances of our industry and the responsibilities carried by our members towards organizations, clients, and wider community. This, coupled with Qatar having a high percentage of expatriates in the workforce, increases the challenges faced by our members. Therefore, we encourage you all to take the utmost safety precautions to avoid contracting the virus. As many of us are leaders in their fields and might be responsible for a large workforce, we should all observe our responsibility towards the safety of the labors attending to the construction sites. In fact, taking care of every individual in our sites and offices is a core value of the Lean Construction principles which we are collectively committed to.

Additionally, in line with our commitment to serve our community and Qatar to improve efficiency and reduce waste in the construction industry, it is our duty to support the efforts put in place by the authorities to fight the spread of COVID-19. Accordingly, we call upon you to respect and always adhere to the directives of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management by enforcing social distancing and controlling the spread of the virus by all means.

I believe that in observing these new norms in our daily routines, we can generate value and create opportunities. Practical practice of Lean tools and methods is the need of the hour. For example, going paperless, eliminating unnecessary meetings, and reducing meetings’ attendees to the absolute minimum are great initiatives to remove waste and improve efficiency. Furthermore, the positive thing is that our communities are uniting and we are working together towards a common goal to keep everyone healthy.

Meanwhile, we expect all ongoing projects will be negatively impacted by this unprecedented disruption, which dictates us to come up with innovative ways to be resilient and overcome this impact. Hence, I find in this adverse situation an opportunity for the Lean Construction advocates and enablers to prove to the industry how Lean principles can save the day.

While we are forced to slow down our pace, I take this opportunity to encourage all members of LCI-Qatar to be engaged to open discussions on how Lean principles can assist the industry in getting through this challenging period. Moreover, we are currently working on increasing our Online education programs as well as releasing suitable platforms and forums to facilitate learning and discussions.

On behalf of LCI-Q Board of Directors, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support to our community and to Qatar. Life will go on. Keep on learning!

 Regards,

Dr. Abdulla Yaqoub Al-Sayed 

President