LeanIT: The Industrial Lean Construction Project

Introduction

Lean isn’t a new concept. Adapted from Lean manufacturing workflows, Lean construction principles have been broadly employed in the planning and execution of construction projects, primarily in the commercial and infrastructure sectors. Demonstrated improvements in cost and schedule performance, predicated on the use of Lean, has increased global interest and adoption of Lean construction workflows within the industry.

Lean construction has been leveraged only sparingly in the heavily industrial construction sector. A lack of engagement with Lean principles isn’t the result of a lack of applicability, but often a lack of awareness. This whitepaper delves into the application of Lean construction practices in heavy industrial construction, thereby providing project teams with a foundational awareness and understanding of how Lean can drive project improvements in safety, quality, cost, and schedule.

Where Did Lean Come From?

Contrary to popular belief, the Toyota Motor Company, or more specifically Taiichi Ohno, did not invent Lean. Rather, the principle foundations of Lean were formulated in the 1920’s by Henry Ford Sr. The Ford Motor Company is renowned for having brought to scale the mass production of automobiles; Henry Ford senior made significant advancements to production line assembly by reducing labor requirements and streamlining workflow.

The Ford Motor Company achieved significant success with its production system, however the company’s success can be credited in part to a steady-state environment. Ford was not required to manage dynamic shifts in material availability, production capacity, or demand. This wasn’t the case for other auto manufacturers.

Toyota didn’t have the same steady-state luxury. Proceeding World War II, the automobile demand was variable and unpredictable. Survival of the automotive industry in Japan appeared tenuous. To operate efficiently, and compete with manufacturing behemoths like Ford and Chrysler, Toyota was required to derive a production system based on the demands (pull) of consumers rather than bulk manufacturing (push) methods of achieving the lowest per-item cost. The Toyota Production System was born.

Essential Principles

Lean isn’t a program; it’s a set of principles that drive the activities of a team, an operation, a project, or an organization. As such, teams must understand that Lean is a system which must be integrated into the project workflow, from design through commissioning.

Lean Construction is a system which reduces the amount of waste in workflows. Derived in the manufacturing industry, it may be applied in construction sectors with modification. In manufacturing, products move; in construction, people do. Reducing waste in construction, therefore, requires variation in the application of Lean concepts. Done effectively, the results are well worth the effort.

Two Pillars

There are two pillars of Lean Construction: automation and Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery. Automation is the shift of workload from human-performed to machine-performed, thereby reducing the need for human intervention in an open or closed system. JIT is a method of material management predicated on the efficient delivery of materials to the worksite, based on need rather than availability. These two pillars must be implemented in any Lean system, in any industry, to drive the reduction of waste and improvement of workflow.

Automation

Automation can be enabled by high-tech solutions such as simulation software or robots but may also be enabled by low-tech solutions such as infrastructure modifications. For example, a construction worker may be required to manually carry bags of material to grout foundations. That same task may be accomplished by a Forklift or Zoomboom, thereby freeing up the worker to grout foundations rather than transport material.

Automation has been heavily implemented in industrial construction. Due to the size and scale of industrial material and components, mechanical means of transport have become standardized. However, there are often areas where teams can employ automation to reduce manual labor that doesn’t add value; this automation then enables the redeployment of project team members value-add activities. Teams that are implementing Lean should exhaustively seek out opportunities to improve value and reduce waste through automation.

Just-in-Time Delivery

Construction teams that are leveraging JIT don’t stockpile material at their work area. Rather, material is delivered when it is required; it is pulled based on the needs of the workface rather than pushed based on the capacity of the supplier.

JIT delivery requires a fundamental shift in the management of construction materials; this shift often makes teams uncomfortable. It limits the amount of material stored at site, which in turn reduces the costs of overhandling that material, a key waste on projects. However, by limiting materials stored on site the risk of productivity loss is increased significantly in the event of work shortages. In industrial construction, JIT material management isn’t always practical.

Taken to the extreme, JIT principles would limit the production of facility components until such time as they were needed at site. Pipe and steel fabricators would produce spools and structural members just prior to transport and installation at site. While this seems logical in principle, it is illogical in practice. In heavy industrial construction, one cannot simply find a replacement part if a component isn’t available. If material is delayed to site, for any reason, the costs can be excessive as a result of unproductive labor and equipment.

As such, teams are encouraged to employ JIT principles by transporting material from laydown to worksite at the point of need. Crews may then pull material as required, reducing the oversupply and overhandling of material that creates waste at the workface. JIT is applicable to industrial construction; however, augmenting the approach is necessary to reduce cost and schedule risk in dynamic work environments.

Kaizen

The success of any Lean program is predicated on the implementation of a Kaizen methodology. Kaizen, Japanese for improvement’, is a system of identifying opportunities where waste may be minimized or greater value may be created; when identified, team members are entrusted with the authority to identify and establish an improvement.

Every individual working within the system has an obligation to seek out opportunities for continuous improvement. From the CEO to front-line workers, every team member is empowered to identify opportunities to improve performance. This approach shifts responsibility and accountability for project performance from senior management, distributing it across the entire project team. By engaging and empowering front-line workers, opportunities to improve schedule and reduce costs may be rapidly realized; these individuals experience where current workflows are ineffective, therefore, they are the most knowledgeable system agents to improve the workflow.

“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” Pat Riley NBA Coach

Why Use Lean?

Most assume that implementing Lean necessitates an opportunity cost; by implementing one program another must be foregone. This isn’t necessarily the case. Industrial construction teams can implement Lean workflows in conjunction with other productivity, process, or technology programs. Lean is an enabler and can augment other programs to improve value. Lean may also be implemented as a standalone system. The most effective approach is dependent upon the existing systems and the needs of the team.

Lean construction is used because it’s proven to yield value. First and foremost, Lean programs improve safety benefits as workers are empowered to identify and improve workflows. These improvements reduce manual labor requirements which cause sprains, strains, and the potential for falls. Productivity rates are improved by the streamlining of work and reduction of the 7 types of waste.

Project quality improvements are inherent to the implementation of Lean programs. By empowering front-line workers to identify deficiencies and derive performance improvement opportunities, construction quality increases and a reduction in defects and rework rates may be observed. Kaizen methodologies are critical to ensuring those quality improvements are sustained through the duration of the project lifecycle.

Lastly, cost and schedule reductions have been reported on a swathe of projects. By streamlining workflows, and reducing waste, project teams can improve value to the project team. Drastic cost and schedule reductions have been reported across several industry sectors as a result of Lean construction implementation.

Lean methodologies have the potential to improve industrial construction project performance; teams would be well positioned to implement Lean construction workflows into their project delivery systems, either to augment existing programs or as a standalone system. Significant project benefits have been repeatedly observed and reported across other industry sectors. Those benefits may be captured by industrial construction teams that are willing to take the next step in improving project performance potential.

Implementing Lean in Industrial Construction

As aforementioned, Lean principles aren’t frequently employed in the industrial construction sector. This isn’t due to lack of program value, but rather due to the prevalence of other programs such as Advanced Work Packaging and ad hoc work packaging. Lean principles are spotted from time to time, albeit teams may not realize they are Lean. Examples include work package planning on sticky notes and constructability reviews which focus on designing out the need for human construction labor activities. Lean is already being employed in the industry, although usually not in a formalized manner.

Identify A Coach

Lean coaches are critical to the success of the program. These individuals are responsible to guide, mentor, and educate project stakeholders throughout the Lean implementation journey. They are not a decision maker; they are an enabler. These individuals empower project teams to develop the understanding, processes, and tools necessary to develop and deploy a fully integrated program.

Often, Lean coaches are external stakeholders. Internal employees are often too entrenched with existing workflows; this can make it difficult for these individuals to switch gears and evaluate existing systems with ‘cold eyes.’ Consider bringing in an external consultant to provide short-term coaching services or long-term support for Lean program initiatives.

Educate the Team

Education is the foundation of Lean success. If teams don’t understand the purpose of the program or how it affects their current activities, program resistance will develop early. Developing and deploying an education program is one of the first steps in any Lean program. Education should be tailored to the needs of each role; executives may require awareness of program essentials while front-line workers may require knowledge and skills-based training to be successful in their roles.

Process Mapping

Next, teams must map their construction processes throughout the project lifecycle. Only when you understand, and can visualize, your current processes can you identify and implement improvement opportunities. Teams should collaboratively map their processes through all key project stages, including front-end planning, design, procurement, construction, and commissioning. This may be completed initially using whiteboards but should be copied to a digital workflow for ease of later update.

5S

A 5S system is a foundational Lean principle for an organized workface. It may be applied in design, construction, or commissioning environments. Using the 5S systems, teams may ensure that work areas are established to provide maximum opportunity to create value and reduce waste. The 5Ss are as follows:

· Sort — Ensure that items at the workface are in the proper place.

· Set in Order — Arrange tools and material in such a way as to ensure they are easy to locate and access when they are required.

· Shine — Maintain a clean work area.

· Standardize — Document and employ formal processes to ensure consistency and quality across all facets of the project.

· Sustain — Communicate and provide education to ensure that standardized processes and continuously employed and utilized.

Lean Enablers

The success of Lean in construction is reliant upon several principles, or enablers. These include the following:

· Optimized Work Area Layouts — A productive team requires an efficient and effective work area.

· Rapid Machine Switchover. This could refer to equipment set-up and change out in construction.

· Empowered Teams — project team members must be able to identify problems and resolve them without management intervention.

· Cross-trained Teams — project stakeholders should be able to ‘float’ between roles to improve productivity and reduce lags in the value stream.

· Flexible Work Processes — Teams must be able to sift directions in-the-moment as required to maintain streamlined construction.

· Just-In-Time delivery — Material is a work constraint. It must be ready, available, inspected, and delivered only at such time as crews require it at the workface.

Pull Planning

One of the primary principles of Lean programs is the pull or work as opposed to the push of materials. Pull planning is a system of work planning that facilitates the levelling of work across the value stream by pulling work activities based on project completion targets. Pull planning is a foundational principle of the Last Planner® system developed and curated by the Lean Construction Institute.

Pull planning systems are supported by several phases. Beginning with early task sequencing, plans increase in granularity as the task execution date nears. Pull planning as a system requires complete commitment and engagement to ensure success. Teams that employ it routinely cite value yield including schedule duration reductions and cost improvements.

Phased Pull Plan

Teams first develop a Phased Pull Plan. The team selects a portion of the Master Schedule, usually 8 to 12 weeks in duration, and complete a detailed work plan. Typically, teams will plot this plan on a whiteboard, with each task being identified by a sticky note. Tasks are sequenced beginning with the last task in the sequence (the final deliverable). Additional tasks are added and linked to successor tasks, therefore pulling work toward the final completion target. No lags or float are included in this plan.

Commissioning and completions requirements should be used to pull work. Developing pull plans is an effective way to ensure that teams are sequencing construction activities to support commissioning priorities. This process may also be employed in the sequencing of design and procurement activities, using construction milestones to drive the pull of earlier deliverables.

During the pull planning process, an emphasis is placed on streamlining the handoff of work. Tasks must be completed in full when handed off to the next task owner in the value stream. As a result, task owners become accountable to successor task owners for completing their work fully and on-time.

This phase planning process is repeated chunk by chunk by the teams who are responsible for completing the actual work. These plans are not crafted by the scheduler or project management team; as such, the plan is the teams’ plan. They own it and are therefore accountable to deliver upon it.

Phased pull planning can be challenging due to project complexity and the large number of stakeholders participating. To successfully develop a phased pull plan, teams should:

· Designate a competent facilitator

· Ensure the right people are in the room

· Ensure that attendees have a solid understanding of the project scope

Benefits of phased pull planning include:

· Cross-disciplinary and cross-contractor collaboration

· Early identification and removal of constraints

· Increased accountability

· Value stream optimization

· Minimization of downtime

Six Week Look Ahead

The Six Week Lookahead is an extension of the Phased Pull Plan. To develop the Six Week Lookahead, teams select a single phased Pull Plan and lay out the tasks on a calendar planning board. The planning board is set up like a grid, with columns denoting weeks and each box within a column representing a single day. Swimlanes are created to organize tasks by contractor or area.

Tasks are identified on sticky notes, each sticky note denoting 1 day of work. Sticky notes are color coded to visually identify trade or contractor; each designated group has their own sticky note color. When work has not yet begun, task cards are aligned level. Once started, the card is turned to the right; when complete, the card is turned to the left. The placement of the card also provides a visual indicator of task status, providing visual cues for successor task owners on the status of their predecessor tasks.

During this planning process, durations are assigned to each activity. These durations, and the sequencing of tasks, will enable teams to generate a granular execution schedule which may be used to streamline workflow. Task owners are required to make commitments to the durations of their tasks; they will be held accountable to these performance metrics.

Constraints must be identified, documented, and assigned to a team member to resolve throughout this process. Common construction constraints include (STREAMS):

· Safety

· Tools and equipment

· Resources

· Equipment

· Access

· Materials

· Supporting documents

It is important that while tasks are being sequenced and organized, conversations between task owners occur. These conversations will yield opportunities to identify constraints and waste. As a result, these planning sessions take longer than an hour to complete. Ensure that you allocate an appropriate amount of time to drive collaboration and minimize a rushed effort to produce a plan.

The Six Week Lookahead provides value to the team through:

· Enabling visualization into the project workflow

· Identifying and removing constraints

· Increasing accountability of team

· Reducing lags and downtime

Weekly Work Plan

Weekly work planning is conducted to facilitate focused execution planning for the project. Teams meet weekly to refine their plan and work out any remaining issues to make work ready for execution. This may include resolving any remaining constraints or clarifying task handoffs. Teams finalize their commitments for the week at this time.

Weekly work planning is a highly collaborative process. It should engage all involved stakeholders to:

· Finalize the work plan for the week.

· Update the constraint log. Teams should identify outstanding concerns and assign responsible parties to prevent work stoppages and improve workflow.

· Create and update a parking log — a list of questions that must be answered to appropriately plan the work for the week.

· Incorporate incomplete tasks from previous weeks.

· Update and track Percent Planned Complete (PPC) — PPC is a metric that compares the percentage of work actually completed against the percentage of work planned complete during a defined time period. PPC goals usually range from 85–90%. It is imperative that the team consistently exceeds PPC targets to ensure that schedule durations may be achieved or exceeded.

Throughout this process the Plan, Do, Check, Adjust (PDCA) process is employed. Teams are encouraged to review previous work cycles to ensure that commitments have been met and that all previously planned tasks have been completed and closed out. This process engages teams in the work validation cycle, increasing ownership and accountability.

By effectively executing weekly work plans, teams will:

· Identify and resolve outstanding constraints

· Discover improvement opportunities

· Track the achievement of PPC targets

· Make modifications to future work plans where necessary.

Daily Huddles

Daily huddles are regular meetings held each morning before work begins. Collaborative in nature, these meetings are designed to ensure alignment of team members to the day’s activities. Participants review the work scope, ask questions, clarify responsibilities, and identify any potential issues that may prevent work from being completed safely and efficiently.

These meetings usually last 15 minutes in duration; they may be combined with the daily toolbox talk. A supervisor or General Foreman may lead the meeting to ensure expediency. Where possible, the daily huddle should be conducted in front of the weekly work plan board.

Deficiencies of Lean in Industrial Construction

One of the primary deficiencies of Lean construction for industrial applications is the lack of focus on work packaging. Construction teams on industrial projects often record lower time-on-tools values than commercial construction teams. Industrial teams work with highly complex equipment in large expansive facilities with operating equipment. Recent productivity improvement efforts in work packaging have proven effective in the industrial construction sector.

Work packages facilitate granular work execution while minimizing the time required for Foremen to source information and documentation. Improvements in safety, quality, cost, and schedule have been documented using Advanced Work Packaging and WorkFace Planning programs. To improve the potential of Lean construction in the industrial construction sector, teams would be well suited to augment their program with a work packaging methodology.

Conclusion

Due to the high success rate and documented performance improvements that commercial and infrastructure teams have achieved with Lean programs, industrial construction would benefit from greater pilot and analysis of Lean performance gains. A historical lack of Lean implementation in industrial construction isn’t an indicator of lack of value; it’s an indicator of potential growth. Teams that are willing to pilot, analyze and refine these programs have an opportunity to develop a competitive advantage in their sector.

Lean is a way of working, which people, processes, and technology will support. To effectively implement Lean on an industrial construction project, teams must support these three pillars of program deployment. Education, processes, and tools should be selected and deployed to initiate and sustain a Lean program on a project or within an organization. Simply deploying a new process or purchasing new technology will not provide the gains that teams desire. These pillars must be fully integrated into the way teams work.

Bentley Systems has a suite of design, construction, and commissioning collaboration tools that support Lean workflows. If you’re interested in learning more about how Lean may improve your industrial construction project delivery workflows, reach out to our team. We look forward to supporting you on your Lean journey.