2018Case11KirbyGroupEngineering

44 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 Case 11 – Kirby Group Engineering Founded in 1964, Ki rby i s an internat ional mul t i -di scipl inary engineering company operating across Ireland, UK, and European markets offering an extensive range of high- value engineering and contracting services. We aspire to be the most trusted provider of high-value engineering and construction services through a cul ture commi tted to collaboration, innovation, safety, and excel lence. Cl ients trust Ki rby to deliver a quality installation, safely, on- t ime, at a sat i sfactory cost . We specialise in Mechanical, Electrical, Power T&D, Instrumentation, Data Technologies, Design & Engineering and BIM for indigenous and multinational clients. We currently employ over 1,000 employees across these regions and service offerings. C O M P A N Y W E B S I T E OVERVIEW OF THE LEAN INITIATIVE This case study encompasses various unnamed projects within Ireland, with budgets ranging from € 1M to € 25M in value. LEAN INITIATIVE UNDERTAKEN – LEAN THINKING, TOOLS, TECHNIQUES www.kirbygroup.com AUTHOR Martin Searson The snagging (“defects”) process was selected to apply Lean principles to internal business processes. If this process was not improved the costs of an inefficient defect management (“snagging”) system would continue to increase. The goal was to prove the concept that an improved snagging process can bring significant benefits and reduce snag processing time. An internal Green Belt project was selected as the initial focus for this continuous improvement initiative. The DMAIC methodology was applied to improve the defect management process. A Data Centre Client project and a Commercial fit-out project were selected for the baseline data analysis, which allowed Kirby to frame and validate the problem. Define Phase • A SIPOC Diagram was developed to identify the critical elements of the snagging process. This allowed us to scope the project correctly and define what elements were to be included and excluded from the improvement process. • A Critical Quality Requirements tree was drawn-up to identify the customer requirements, needs, drivers, and critical to quality (CTQ) metrics. • Stakeholder Analysis was completed to identify the interested parties in the project and how they defined success of this Lean Construction project. • A Communication Plan was developed to ensure the Kirby Group stakeholders were informed throughout the project of the project’s KPIs, thus ensuring ongoing buy-in from these key stakeholders. Measure Phase • An 'As-Is' process map was developed for the current snagging process. • A baseline was created based on existing data to identify the following: BACKGROUND TO THE LEAN INITIATIVE The construction sector is considered highly inefficient with productivity gains stagnant or declining since the 1950s whi le other sectors have significantly improved their processes . Research has indicated the cost of non- conformance to be between 10% and 20% of the total construction project costs. In addition, this author’s own research found the cost of rework in the M&E (Mechanical & Electrical) services sector to be between € 80- € 100 per defect raised to rectify. In early 2015, Kirby set about to strategically improve this process company-wide as a key Quality Improvement and Lean objective. This resulted in a Green Belt project on transitioning from a Manual to an Automated Process which focused on the following three key elements: 1.The systematic elimination of administrative time. 2.Data gathered to shape our decision-making on site. 3.Enhancing our culture of prevention and customer satisfaction (on final handover of our systems). This Green Belt project was split into three stages: 1.A Feasibility Study and Software selection from May 2015 to August 2015. 2.Trialling on two M&E projects from September 2015 to February 2016, with 2% savings to be made at each stage. 3.Phase 1 Roll-out in February 2016 (over 12 months), with a “wash, rinse, repeat” process being applied, namely the PDCA approach. A second Phase 2 Roll-out went company-wide in January 2017, again over 12 months, on over 50 live projects utilising the software solution across the Group. The Green Belt project was completed over 10 months in May 2015, led by our Strategy & Innovation Manager, and sponsored by our Managing Director, Mr. Jimmy Kirby, with a team of four Kirby people supporting (a Kirby Project Manager, Group IT Manager, Group QA, and QC personnel). This was to create a platform and to build from this into Phase 1 and 2 roll-outs. Kirby’s goal in the early stages was to streaml ine and automate our Defect Management system, to feed into our monthly Quality KPI reports, and to reduce our own overall project costs. We focussed on the admini strat ive process (rather than addressing the defects head-on). So, it became a standardised process, thus cutting through any complexity and conflicting opinions that may be encountered with defect management and to harness the rich data gathered electronically. COMPANY OVERVIEW