2020Case9Modubuild

Contents Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2020 38 Ca e 9 In all, there are now 20 steps to the process containing 30 key tasks that are central to tender completion. These tasks are, for the most part, allocated and accountable to personnel within the department and there is a wider input from other department leads who are consulted and informed regarding certain decisions. There have been various unexpected impacts during this action research project (ARP). The success in delivering the expected impacts brought much satisfaction to the process owner and team; however, it has been the unexpected impacts that have had the greatest effect on the company. These impacts have been apparent at the gemba, through the people who are directly involved and visible through the improved department performance. Additionally, from a financial perspective, the impacts have been considerable to the business. An example of an unexpected impact was the identification of reduced project commercial management. This finding has enabled the recruitment of a dedicated tendering team. In further developments, it has been agreed by senior manage- ment that the new tendering department has been a success. The improved work and communication flow coupled with role clarity has ensured personnel are working efficiently and effectively. Flow is streamlined, with a specific owner who has responsibility or accountability of the allocated task. The dual function of the QS and time allocation towards tendering caused concern. Using the pertinent data, the QS was completely removed from tendering. This enabled the QS to focus on project commercial management, ensuring the projects are run on budget and protect profit margin. It is no coincidence that removing the QS from the tendering function coincided with improved project financial prudency and resulted in improved project financial reporting and performance. The practical impact of the improvement has been the intro- duction of workload delegation through the RACI matrix to inform personnel of their responsibilities. The implementa- tion of a standardised format for delegation has resulted in improved efficiencies across the tendering process. The core objective from the outset was to reduce the NVA tasks that were being carried out by the commercial estimator and to delegate ownership of these tasks to personnel who added most value. Additionally, the intervention has enabled CI and for the complete removal of various wastes. It is difficult to measure whether the intervention has enabled faster completion of tenders. It certainly has created a work environment with improved information flow, timeline aware- ness, reduced role confusion, less ambiguity, and simplified decision-making. Furthermore, workload allocation is now spread efficiently across the team, with tasks delegated to personnel who bring greatest value add. Critically the inter- vention has enabled the creation of a fit-for-purpose delega- tion model and allowed for a detailed process review. These alterations to the SOP, coupled with efficient delegation of tasks, has allowed personnel to apply greater attention to their work and subsequently allowed for improved due-dil- igence, consistency, and quality, with reduced errors and rework. Prior to the intervention, revisions were not measured and were accepted as part of the job. Since carrying out the waste and why analysis, personnel have been acutely aware of the need to remove or at least reduce reworks. The large volume of rework was primarily a result of defective or insufficient information being received from the client and the quotation proceeding with a list of assumptions and qualifications. Subsequently, the client raised queries and requested clarifications which resulted in a tender being revised. Following detailed review of tender packages, personnel are now empowered to raise RFIs from clients. Prior to this improvement, personnel did not believe that they had the responsibility nor the authority to issue queries to clients – they believed this was a task only to be carried out by the PCM. This intervention was completed in May 2020, and the Modubuild CI journey continues based on its impact and learnings which have enabled the wider organisational development of an enthusiastic team of proactive problem solvers seeking enhanced value both internally as well as for our partners and clients. Figure 5. Post-Intervention Task Analysis