Our partners at LeanTakt explain it so well!
Experienced Field Leader & Career Superintendent | Founder & Chief Operating Officer @ Elevate Construction | Leader in Business, Planning, Lean, FPS™, Takt (TPS®), LPS®, Supers, FEs, & Foremen
🚀 I am so excited about the methods we are discovering to speed up projects WITHOUT HURTING PEOPLE! These are working throughout the world to bring projects in more efficiently, & they can be implemented right away!!! 🏗️ 👷♂️ 👷♀️ If you really want to speed up your project, try the following in whatever order you can: ↗️ Improve Your Bottlenecks: Projects do not have a critical path according to CPM theory. They have a Critical FLOW Path that includes the activity, logic, sequence, Line of Balance, and the BUFFER. That is a much different thing than just activities with logic ties. Within the Takt framework of Time x Location, you will see Zone Bottlenecks, Trade Bottlenecks, and your most limiting constraint. If you want to go fast, make sure you are improving your bottlenecks in every phase. ↗️ Adjust Your no. of Zones: It is a mathematical fact that you will go faster the smaller your zones are. If you want to go fast, make sure you are using our calculator and sizing your zones properly. ↗️ Design to the Work Package: If you have optimized your bottlenecks and zoned your project properly, the next step is to STOP installing per design, and START designing to the work package that is ideal for production. Ideal means you know the work package scope, LOE, desired duration, and Takt time stagger, and that you design to that. This will include many of the following ideas: 〰️ Prefabricate bottleneck assemblies. 〰️ Pre-kit and pre-cut materials. 〰️ Bring materials out JIT that are packaged by zone. 〰️ Adjust logistics to support the work package. 〰️ Integrate technology to support the delivery and install. 〰️ Adjust the selection of systems and materials to optimize the work package. The idea is to design to what is needed at the place of work. If you want to go fast, design it to go fast. ↗️ Be Lean & PDCA: Being lean with construction means we Plan at 30% or more, Act at 60%, Check at 5%, and Adjust at 5%. It means we focus on planning so work goes in on time with amazing quality. That means we hold to our systems of: 〰️ Pull planning. 〰️ Hosting effective Pre-con meetings that prepare the work package. 〰️ Perform effective look-ahead planning and weekly work planning. 〰️ And monitor the supply chain and align it to install dates with buffers. PDCA from there. These create stability, which is a key tenant of lean. If you want to go fast, you must hold to the basics, do them well, plan the work, and create stability. ↗️ Align WIP: And last but not least, align Work In Progress. If you want to go fast, you cannot exceed the capacity of your resources. If you level and align your WIP, you can go at your ideal and optimal speed. Pushing is slower. If you ever need help implementing these, please let us know. Construction is hard, and it does not need to be harder. If you want to go fast, accelerate with production theory and NOT by pushing--pushing doesn't even work--it only slows you down. What would you add? Love, Jason