2018Case2Ardmac

17 L EAN C ONSTRUCTION I RELAND A NNUAL B OOK OF C ASES 2018 67% within data centre sectors. External recognition also came in mid-2018 when Ardmac was awarded the Irish Construction Industry award (ICIA) for the Innovation in Construction category for their Lean strategy which highlighted the MSD project as an exemplar case study. Figure 5. Ardmac’s Jason Casey and Colm Casey presented with the Innovation in Construction Award at the Irish Construction Industry Awards 2018 LPS: Process-based Approach Ardmac began to utilise LPS across all new projects from January 2018. A process was set-up to report results to senior management bi-weekly. The purpose of this process is to monitor and review both PPC and variance trends across the business, thus aiding strategic direction for the company as a whole. Additional Lean Activity Ardmac’s Lean culture is continuing to grow and there is an open attitude to develop the commitment to Lean project integration. Ardmac is looking at the implementation of other Lean tools, with localised trials being run on 6S, Waste Reduction Walks, and Value Stream Mapping. Over 20% of managers have received Yellow/Green Belt training, and further training programmes are now in place for the remainder of 2018. The Future of Lean at Ardmac The implementation of Lean Construction has demonstrated significant improvement for Ardmac, in particular with the deployment of LPS. Given this success, Leadership has identified Lean as a key enabler to achieve its business strategy. A Lean Strategy was developed including the following key elements: alignment of the business to the business goals, process-based approach to manage the business, data-based decision-making within all these processes, and training of personnel to support the processes to deliver the business goals. Ardmac is deploying a process- based approach to managing the business, with a focus on training and the implementation of key Lean systems. Lean thinking is expanding into all business processes, including off-site elements. Business processes will also maximise the benef i ts from software solut ions as part of Ardmac’s continuous improvement initiative. Employee feedback from the Lean Survey i s al so incorporated into the Lean Strategy, in particular, in the area of training requirements. Computer-based training is a key business system to share Lean knowledge across the business. Ardmac manage the progress of this strategy implementation monthly, with key senior leaders providing support to each of the business system owners who present on the status of the strategy. The ultimate aim is to create a culture where everyone will know, understand, and live the culture of continuous improvement to deliver Ardmac’s brand promise of “Ardmac, Building Better” and support our vision as “the contractor of choice for clients and the workplace of choice for great people”. The use of digital construction techniques is becoming more prevalent across the industry. Ardmac maximise the use of modern construction methods such as BIM by overlaying a Lean approach, and has formed a Digital Construction Department, focusing on industry trends. The National BIM Council launched the “Digital Transition Roadmap” and developed an excellent guide for companies to follow. The use of Laser Scanning, Drones, and Virtual Reality are becoming more common and are certainly beneficial to construction organisations. The use of tablets and cloud- based collaboration platforms ensure all project personnel have access to current project information in real-time. Field management applications and software also allow for data capture in the field in digital format, thus drastically reducing paper waste and saving time. Trends show that utilising BIM to design elements for offsite manufacture will become more common in the future. Augmented reality, while still in developmental mode, will become business as usual for contractors on site. The ability to identify the location of services in 3D while in the field will greatly improve understanding of complex installations by site personnel. There is also a heavy focus on data analytics, allowing organisations to identify trends at a business level and react accordingly. Figure 6. Ardmac Win the Leadership in Lean Category at the Lean Business Ireland Awards 2018