2018Case12BAMIreland

47 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 Case 12 – BAM Ireland Operating successfully for over 60 years, the bedrock of BAM’s success has always been an understanding of our clients’ needs and a wi l l ingness to del iver innovative solutions that ensure cost savings and surpass envi ronmental expectations. BAM Ireland is the top Civil Engineering company in Ireland and it is in the top two of the country’s largest construct ion bus inesses . We employ 2,000 people di rect ly and indirectly with a forecast turnover for 2018 of € 550M. Operating across all construction sectors and throughout the complete project lifecycle, our principal activities are building contracting and civil engineering in the public, private, and PPP sectors. Other activities include facilities management (FM), property development, and rail infrastructure. It is BAM’s mission to build sustainable environments that enhance people’s lives by enabling the right people to capitalise on state-of-the-art knowledge, resources, and digi tal technologies whi le al so providing solut ions across the total construction lifecycle for BAM’s clients and generating maximum value for its stakeholders. We are a member operating company (OpCo) of Royal BAM Group of the Netherlands – a stock market listed PLC that is answerable for performance – which has a turnover of € 6.6Billion and employs 19,500 people worldwide. At BAM we are building the present while creating a sustainable future for all. C O M P A N Y W E B S I T E OVERVIEW OF THE LEAN INITIATIVE This initiative is a brief overview of BAM’s journey to date to learn the Lean methodology and culture from the manufactur ing industry and translate them into the more traditional construction environment. In Ireland, thi s journey has been evidenced on the following projects: • Semi -Conductor Faci l i t ies – East Coast. • Schools Bundle Programme – PPP Nationwide. • National Children’s Hospital – Dublin. • Brewery Quarter Development – Cork. • Horgan’s Quay Development – Cork. LEAN INITIATIVE UNDERTAKEN – LEAN THINKING, TOOLS, TECHNIQUES www.bamcontractors.ie AUTHOR Perry Haughton As a construction company we could clearly see the Lean Pillars and foundations as they applied to our industry at the most fundamental levels. So, the application of these principles led to the rationalisation of our processes and the development of our “2020 Digital Vision” and the “BAM Digital House”. Figure 1. BAM Digital House. In a very traditional industry that has historically resisted the advantages that modern technology can bring, BAM made the decision to take advantage of the upheaval that results from the inevitable cultural change and to implement both Lean thinking and digital technologies simultaneously. This bold strategy touches all aspects of our business and accounts for both the inertia of implementing such a cultural shock and the benefits of the evolution. BAM’s 2020 Digital Vision has set the foundations of our company’s path into a future where we will deliver projects in the most collaborative, efficient and effective manner possible. For BAM Ireland, our primary goal was the successful deployment of digital technology (BIM) to our sites which was key to the on-time delivery of the Schools Bundle Programme and the collection and delivery of the asset information for the subsequent facility management requirements. In parallel to our digi tal deployment (BIM) was the des ign and BACKGROUND TO THE LEAN INITIATIVE In 2012, the BAM Group recognised that the construction industry was changing and we had to change too. Traditionally construction projects are cost-driven and not task-readiness- driven. BAM Ireland took the initiative to look at how projects were delivered and what improvements could be made. Focusing on safety, quality, material waste, and time and motion studies, we identified many opportunities to improve traditional construction practices. BAM’s Lean journey started in 2014 with the launch of the Lean Construction Ireland (LCi) community of learning and practice comprising clients, construction companies, and individuals willing to share knowledge and the successes of Lean. The idea was for LCi to act as a catalyst to transform the construction industry in Ireland. Additionally, whilst working at a major semi-conductor client site, I personally became aware of the success of Lean manufacturing principles and could see how Lean principles and techniques were an opportunity to transform construction as we knew it. Since then, BAM has embraced and implemented Lean principles on several pilot projects, and, together with the development of our 2020 Digital Vision, Lean implementation is having an immediate effect improving safety, quality, waste, and cost savings. Our Lean journey will take time, but we all understand that it is a necessity for the industry to both survive and thrive in our modern world. BAM’s journey is one of progressive and evolution-based learning that is guiding our cultural growth towards a more effective and efficient model for the construction environment. Over the 6 years since 2012, BAM has taken the initiative to look at how we deliver our projects and we have worked hard to constantly improve that delivery. By 2014, BAM leadership had realised the benefits of Lean methodologies and moved to implement them across the Group. COMPANY OVERVIEW