2018Case1JonesEngineeringGroup

11 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 • Stop rather than continuing regardless. • Prioritise, do late in process, and finish early. • Set up regular processes. • Carry out audits. 5.Ongoing Improvement: • Keep the same routine and flow. • Identify root causes of issues and adapt. • Make targets a challenge. • Continually identify and eliminate waste. • Question traditional methods. Schedule Variability One of the measures used to track improvement of the overall project was schedule variability. Reducing the variability enabled the flow of the work and allowed the teams to work on defined scopes, thus reducing changes in work activity and the subsequent associated wastes. Some of the methods applied and shared via collaborative platforms in the “BIG Room” environment included an integrated frozen schedule, the al l - in-one project management information system (PMIS) platform, and LPS (see Figure 2). These collaborative methods enabled over 30% reduction in schedule variability, thus promoting much smoother hand-overs between disciplines and less changes at the workface. Figure 2. Schedule Variation Reduction Waste Reduction & Increased Value Following an initial workshop plus analysis of the categorised results from the online poll, several processes were agreed for process evaluation using “Improvement Activity Reports” (IARs). The teams agreed the scope through the workshop and then set about evaluating the processes identified having been trained how to evaluate using time analysis through video or stopwatch evaluation (see Figure 3). By timing the activities and categorising them through direct observation, the reduction of waste and improvement of value-added (VA) time was realised. The opportunities in construction activities for reducing waste and increasing VA enable buy-in from the construction teams and provide flexibility in their work planning and increased certainty in LPS when planning hand-overs between trades. Figure 3. Waste Reduction & Increased Value Evaluation sheets were used to demonstrate the process steps and the time each step takes, and then each step was categorised as either VA or non-value-adding (NVA). Following this categorisation, all the activities were weighted as a percentage of the overall process and evaluated for improvement. The activities were then prioritised for ease of implementation and possible percentage effect on the overall process. If a countermeasure could be identified from the list of activities, then a target was set for possible improvement. Af ter that , the process was carr ied out wi th the countermeasures in place and re-evaluated through the time analysis. The actual improvement was then documented, and the percentage improvement communicated. The findings of all the process evaluation sheets were rolled-up into IARs that enabled clear communicat ion of lessons learned and facilitated possible financial benefit reports also. Promoting Innovation Innovative ideas rather than just process improvements give the best results. The research showed that through using an innovative change from the traditional process, the highest yields in terms of cost and quality were realised. Specifically, using BIM for containment manufacture was a step-change rather than just an incremental improvement. One does need to do both, and innovation needs to be encouraged, plus receiving feedback (such as latest equipment seminars) was a welcome response in the research showing a desire to look at new ideas and innovative equipment. In this regard, equipment suppliers are only too delighted to showcase their wares; however, any Lean improvement requiring purchase of new equipment needs to be offset in the cost comparison sheet. Also, it is advised that one does not assume that the worker on the floor knows what the latest technology available is, and contractors need to educate the workforce in this regard to improve overall. Combining multiple innovations yields the greatest results. Direct Observation The direct observation carried out throughout the project allowed for statistics to be generated directly from the sheets used by the workers on the site. The excel format used also allowed for graphical representation of the results, such as those illustrated in Figure 4, with the percentage of time analysis per sector achievable. Direct observation allows for a deeper understanding by work crews of VA work, NVA work, and Waste. Figure 4. Direct Observation of Work (all categories) Prioritising activities can be key to getting immediate results, and, as can be seen in Figures 4 and 5, the process evaluation sheet allows for identification of the VA, NVA, and Waste elements, thus enabling prioritisation. The waste identified in the process clearly showed where most of the waste t ime was being spent , and, by applying a countermeasure directly to the issues identified, the improvement was dramatic and amounted to over 25% overall.