2018Case10Clancy

41 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 Case 10 – Clancy Our mi ss ion i s to provide comprehensive construction and design solutions for what our clients desire in terms of service, quality, safety, and budgetary requirements. As a result, our company has grown in recent years and now employs 90 people directly. Clancy cont inual ly invest in new technologies that raise our profi le within the industry and allow us to compete at the highest level . Innovations such as BIM and Lean Construction are key aspects that help us to continuously improve, and this has resulted in significant increases in turnover. We have worked on sites all over Ireland in sectors including: • Education • Healthcare • Commercial • Industrial • Retail • Refurbishment • Residential • Fit Out C O M P A N Y W E B S I T E OVERVIEW OF THE LEAN INITIATIVE This project was the Church Road Social Hous ing Development in Blackrock, Cork. The budget was € 8M; the programme was 60 weeks duration, and due for completion July 2018. The works comprised of the construction of a 28 Unit Apartment Block over a reinforced concrete underground car park to accommodate 54 spaces, an additional 15 by 2 & 3 bed houses, and associated site works. LEAN INITIATIVE UNDERTAKEN – LEAN THINKING, TOOLS, TECHNIQUES https://clancy.ie/ AUTHORS Eddie Costello Based on general observations and gathering data through interviews with established staff members, a pattern was beginning to develop. The priority of most members of our company was to be involved in the successful completion of a project on time, within budget, and to a high-quality standard. This was universal amongst the directors, right down to site managers, engineers, and quantity surveyors. It was becoming apparent to us that many obstacles were preventing team members from achieving this goal, including: • The flow of information from Client to contractor (Clancy) to subcontractor led to program overruns and resulted in unnecessary delays on site that cost money. • The number of snags/defects that occur dur ing the construction phase of a project and the impact they have on the ability to release retention within the contracted time. • Over-purchasing of materials that are unnecessarily wasted or damaged on sites. Lean thinking and practice, in the traditional sense, was mostly involved in construction through the manufacturing element. The goal of Lean thinking is to maximise performance in a highly competitive sector. The Clancy motto, ‘Built on Partnership’, served as the platform for selecting snagging, information, and waste management as areas of focus on this project as we strove to change the mindset within the company and proceed through a collaborative effort. This involved improving communications between the design team and the construction team on possible upcoming difficulties. It also ensured that the Client placed desired changes as soon as possible in the early stages of the project to minimise chances of disputes or variations down the line. A reduction in defects and snags undertaken in the later stages of the project was deemed high priority. This was achieved through thorough investigation and analysis by the sub-contractor and the main contractor of work carried out during the build and not prior to handover – the goal being to have zero defects upon handover. Figure 1. Collaboration Between Trades. BACKGROUND TO THE LEAN INITIATIVE Historically, many involved in the construction sector are fixated on improving profits, and Clancy was pricing work on a competitive basis and with very tight profit margins. While in discussions with the directors and senior management on what approach to adapt to, it was clear that reducing costs as opposed to raising profits was more important in the long- term. This conclusion came about when analysing some of the estimating department’s tenders and a pattern began to emerge. The higher the percentage added to preliminaries the further we were pushed out in competitive tendering. Through analys i s we found that margins were being compromised due to excessive costs on site which were not accounted for in submitted tenders. These costs ranged from excessive waste of materials, lack of personnel or resources, and unrealistic lead-in times for sub-contractors. Time was another issue that was difficult to foresee for project planning. We would always incorporate a contingency into the works programme for unforeseeable circumstances, but design issues, design variations, and general lack of information – leading to lots of requests for further information (RFIs) – invariably led to programme overruns. Another issue we have with many subcontractors is snagging and defects, which put the reputation of the company on the line. COMPANY OVERVIEW Aidan Clancy