2018Case2Ardmac

16 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 Training on LPS – As Lean is a relatively new approach for the Irish Construction sector it required a leap of faith by Ardmac under the guidance of an experienced facilitator, namely Kevin Hallahan, who proved to be invaluable to the transition process. Kevin outlined the advantages of LPS over CPM and gave Ardmac the tools to demonstrate this at a practical level. The mounting evidence of these advantages helped break down fears of change and new systems, and enabled Ardmac be responsible for the implementation of its own Lean programme. Col laborat ive Approach – The project requi red a collaborative approach to creating a master schedule and the Pull Plans. This involved bringing all primary sub-contractors together, def ining durat ion of tasks , and agreeing predecessors and handovers. This process created a great team approach to the project and in turn opened avenues for constraints and barriers to be removed by mutual agreement within the project team. Each week, a six-week look-ahead was issued along with a constraints log and a WWP. Root Cause Analysis – One of the key learnings Ardmac found from using LPS was that by applying 5 Why root cause analysis, along with variance analysis, its management and site leads got an increased understanding of where the root cause of repetitive problems initiated and realised that some of these issues had been inherent for years without being resolved. For example, Ardmac had a period during a summer where it was missing completion of planned tasks due to unavailability of qualified and skilled labour. The reason historically would have been explained as someone was not on site to do the task and they moved on to get the task closed-out. By using LPS and 5 Whys they found that there was a trend around when schools were closed and the weather was better, and that most of the days off were ad hoc. In order to mitigate this, Ardmac put in place a stronger holiday planner which is project-based so that it is clearly visible and so that constraints of this nature can be mitigated in advance. As a result of understanding the root cause of issues, there was a significant increase in control of the site and it enabled greater project f low wi th a substant ial reduct ion in communication by phone and email, thus leaving the team with more time available to plan the works accurately, check the works, and act on any improvements required. Figure 4. Collaborative Planning Lessons Learned On completion of the project, Ardmac conducted a lessons learned review on the approach that had been adopted, and found significant and consistent positive feedback from all personnel on the project, from construction management, sub-contractors, safety, quality, to deliveries. There was substant ial improvement in safety audi ts , schedule improvement, reduction in labour usage, and reduction in defects. Overall, LPS was a huge success, and so much so that there was an instant buy-in from senior management within Ardmac and a direct strategy was put in place to develop the use of LPS so that it would be adopted on all Ardmac projects across all sectors. LEAN INITIATIVE IMPROVEMENTS & IMPACT The key benefits arising from using LPS on this project include: • Safety – Zero first aids or near misses. • Defects per € 50k – Reduced from 9 defects at Client walk- down to 3.4. • Labour Ratio Actual:Budget – Reduced labour to budget ratio (approximate 10% reduction). • Margin Actual:Budget – Margin improvement on project last planner. • Unplanned Stoppages per € 50k – Unplanned stoppages on project with last planner were less than two per € 50k works complete. • Team Ethos – Increased engagement and throughput on following projects. Last Planner System: Next Steps After the success of the MSD project, Ardmac’s leadership team identified Lean Construction as a strategic function of the business and directed the roll-out of LPS on all projects across the business as the primary focus area of its Lean deployment. This has proven to be very successful and provided significant benefits across various functional facets of projects, including site management, safety, quality, commercial, and schedule. Some benefits to date include: • Safety – Projects are seeing less task change at the workface which means increased control , risk reduction, and improved safety audit scores. • Quality – By planning the works in an agreed sequence with predecessors, and with hand-offs clearly understood as well as all constraints being removed in advance, there has been a significant reduction in rework and a reduction in the waste of making-do. • Schedule – Improved schedule functionality in two forms. End dates that have been committed to are achieved with little or no works to complete post practical completion. On top of that they are finding that the stress and effort required to close-out the project in the last few weeks is reduced, thus leaving more time to assess standard of finish, safety control, and ultimately deliver projects to clients with maximum value. • Commercial – Due to improvements in safety, quality, schedule, and labour, they have seen improvements commercially allowing them to cost risk in a different manner and more competitively due to their supply chain utilising LPS and seeing less risk to their own output. To further support the benefits of LPS for Ardmac, results from a recent internal Lean survey highlighted that 100% of leadership and 87.5% of employees that use LPS found it of benefit. This survey was based on a number of sectors and regions across Ardmac. In comparing sectors, 96% of pharma found it of benefit, compared with 80% within fit-out and