2020Case2DPSGroup

Contents Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2020 10 Ca e 2 DPS Group is a global consulting, engineering, and con- struction management company serving high-tech industries around the world. DPS has sector experts in key locations in Europe, USA, Asia, and the Middle East, bringing world- class resources and the latest innovative technologies to every project. DPS delivers full-service Engineering with a ‘client first’ mentality and personal touch across a range of disciplines: Project and Programme Management, Procure- ment, Design, Construction Management, Health & Safety Management,Commissioning, Qualification, and Start-up. DPS employ more than 1,850 people worldwide, including 300 in its Cork operations where this case study is based. DPS Group The company modestly prides itself as being an early adopter of Lean thinking and practices in both Irish and International construction sectors. The company invests heavily in staff subject matter experts, in Lean education and training, and in internal process improvement initiatives. DPS Group has previous case studies on Last Planner® System and Target Value Design published in the 2018 and 2019 LCi Annual Book of Cases respectively. As teams become more familiar with tools like LPS, further improvement opportunities become apparent and encourage innovative solutions. One such case is the application of Takt planning to complement existing LPS implementation. A member of the DPS team had attended a client training session on Takt implementation for use on another client project, and subsequently DPS decided to trial and experiment with Takt on one of its own construction projects. This case study presents the challenges and learnings gleaned from the latter pilot implementation. Takt is the German word for beat – the regularity with which something gets done. Takt encompasses core concepts of Lean, but is rarely witnessed in traditional construction planning. It aims to break the construction process down into smaller work tasks of equal duration that can be completed at a steady rhythm, and which leads to greater predictability in the planning and delivery process. Takt planning introduces the concept of the assembly line, rooted in manufacturing (especially automobile assembly lines), into construction processes. This model makes Takt particularly useful when repetitive tasks exist in the construction process. Whilst the Phase and Look-ahead functions of LPS break the tasks into finer levels of granularity, Takt can complement the planning process by forcing consideration of space and time, and capacity (crew sizes). This trial of Takt focused on complementing the Phase and Look-ahead functions of LPS. Company Overview DPS dpsgroupglobal.com Overview & Background to the Lean Initiative Lean Initiative Undertaken – Lean Thinking, Tools, Techniques William Power Eddie Doyle Chris Solorz Authors Overview The Project Takt Methodology The case project is a 4,000m2 warehouse at a pharmaceu- tical manufacturing facility incorporating high-level rack- ing, clean room storage, goods reception, dispatch area, office, canteen, locker room, and welfare facilities. It is a stand-alone building with varying spatial areas and, at first glance, little suitability by way of repetition for an effective Takt implementation. However, DPS Production Planners considered elements of Takt would lead to deeper analysis of task planning and would contribute to better prepared Weekly Work Plans (WWPs) in LPS. The Takt methodology employed was adapted from Use of Takt Planning in Production System Design Workshop on Takt Planning by Patrick Theis (Drees & Sommer), Iris Tommelein (University of California, Berkeley), and Samir Emdanat (vPlanner) at UC Berkeley on 26-27 September 2017.