2018Case13SuirEngineering

50 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 Case 13 – Suir Engineering Suir Engineering is an Electrical & Mechanical Services Provider. It was established in Ireland in 1984, and is part of the Imtech UK & Ireland group of companies that generates € 400M in revenue annually. Suir Engineering’s projected turnover in Ireland for 2018 is € 130M. We have over 800 directly employed staf f in Ireland, wi th a further 2,000 in the UK. We have offices in Dublin, Waterford, London, and across the UK. C O M P A N Y W E B S I T E OVERVIEW OF THE LEAN INITIATIVE Since 2015, Sui r Engineer ing has continuously increased its investment in i ts strategic and company-wide improvement initiative entitled “Suir Way”. In 2015 Suir partnered with LCi to sponsor and organi se an LCi Community Event entitled “Lean as Ideology & The Ability to Change”. In 2016, a number of employees were suppor ted on higher educat ion programmes to Black Bel t level competency in Lean management. Between 2017 and early 2018 Suir secured approval to undertake a ‘Lean Transform’ project suppor ted by Enterpr i se Ireland, and wi th the ass i stance of an external training partner Suir is presently experimenting with a new process for managing its projects as well as the overall business. This has necessitated a significant amount of both off-site and on-site training, and the company is now seeing some large step-change improvements on various pilot sites. Thi s case study presents Lean Construction projects completed by several employees as part of their recent Black Belt projects. LEAN INITIATIVE UNDERTAKEN – LEAN THINKING, TOOLS, TECHNIQUES www.suireng.ie AUTHORS Johnny Crowley Ensuing from meet ings wi th the s i te management , supervision, trades people, and a voice of customer session with the Client, the following process improvement areas were selected: • Waste Walks; 8 Wastes; 5 Whys; Measurements. • Work Standardisation. • Information Centre Meetings using whiteboards. • 5S and Visual Management. • Quality Improvements and Snag Reductions. BACKGROUND TO THE LEAN INITIATIVE The construction sector has significant productivity issues, with several reports identifying substantial non-value-add (NVA) or “waste” in its processes. Suir Engineering, along with the wider construction sector, is currently facing the challenge of delivering projects on ever-tighter schedules and budgets. Clients, who themselves are increasingly familiar with Lean thinking and practices, are demanding that their contractors follow in the pursuit of waste reduction. Whilst concerns about the levels of waste in construction are nothing new, the destructive impact of the recent prolonged recession has made it clear that, even as the economy recovers and construction activity increases, business as usual is no longer acceptable in construction. Lean Construction offers opportunities that allow companies to thrive in any economic conditions, and Suir Engineering has made a strategic commitment to the adoption and implementation of Lean thinking and practices internally and on its capital projects. This case details the improvements Suir Engineering has achieved by implementing Lean thinking and tools on the electrical installation component of the construction works associated with a significant extension of an Irish medical device faci l ity, including the instal lation of two new manufactur ing l ines . The ini t iat ive included the implementat ion of waste walks , the 8 wastes (TIMWOODS), quality improvements, visual management, and 5S. This project illustrates how the implementation of Lean enabled Suir Engineering deliver this project on time, on schedule, with notable improvements in our specific processes, and also evidence of improved quality and staff morale. A new perspective has enabled us to see that there was a lot of waste in our processes on-site, including: • Materials leftover after project completion. • Materials damaged due to poor storage and excess ordering. • Reworks due to poor coordination. • Excessive snag/defect lists. • Lack of planning. • Inefficient workflow. • Poor design. • Inefficient processes. • Overruns on project schedules and costs. • Poor site layout. • Inefficient plant and tools. The Client ultimately absorbed these inefficiencies and wastes, and they also led to project cost escalation and project schedule overruns. As the Client is a manufacturing company fighting to maintain its market share, it has adopted Lean thinking and practices into its own core work environment with the aim of delivering added customer value. For this reason, the Client demanded that its contractors joined the effort to reduce waste everywhere. This aligned to Suir Engineering’s own strategy, which has targeted quality improvements, productivity, and workf low as key to achieving sustainable competitive advantage. COMPANY OVERVIEW Leo Doherty