Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 61 Figure 4. Forecast Approval vActual Approvals The next step was the integration of the dashboard into the overall project master schedule. By having a data-based metric for design, the planning team was empowered to accurately plan the design stage and subsequently provide clients with certainty and confirmation that their hand-over would not be affected by inefficient activities. Integration of the dashboard into the schedule provided a compressed overview of the project, intended and actual performance, and brought up red flags, potential pinch points, and other issues at an early stage.This allowed for energies to be focused on the right areas to find solutions to issues before they became insurmountable problems. It also provided a platform for successes, wins, and outstanding items to be recognised and celebrated. Though the initiative is still developing, and with improvements and trial and error being applied, in the context of change management success the initiative is proving to be a success as it brings an amount of waste avoidance measures to the surface. Figure 5. Overall Capacity Planned Vs. Actual Case 16 This initiative formed the basis for all tasks within the design department to be measured and tracked, with the intended outcome of enabling efficient design execution and removal of waste.As expected, it provided efficiency and accuracy within the design process, but also for the subsequent procurement stage and whilst also removing and surfacing various wastes from within the project cycle. Linking design priority and completion to key procurement dates ensured Modubuild could prioritise the design of specific design elements to integrate procurement and ensure material delivery did not affect the critical path of a project. In an unexpected result, the big value-add for the clients was financial as it allowed Modubuild to provide accurate payment forecasting from the outset and empowered the client with certainty in cost planning. Internally, the initiative offered significant benefit and waste reduction. Firstly, it created an environment for accurate planning and integration of the total project cycle. It helped remove siloed work patterns and isolated department planning, subsequently enabling the internal customers to be confident that each other was performing and not having any significant or negative impact on one another’s activities, and thus not impacting on time milestones and project delivery. It allowed the design team to support the planning department with accurate metrics that could be used to plan and give clients full information and certainty. It ensured that materials could only be purchased when actually needed,whilst ensuring long lead-time materials could be prioritised early.Through pull planning, the design department could prioritise design release and enable the commercial and procurement teams to order what was needed in line with lead times and schedule demand.This removed significant waste in inventory staging, thus allowing for JIT deliveries and further allowing the client to manage costs. Additionally, it created an underpinning for the creation of a department resource planner, or resource forecaster,where future design workload could be planned months in advance based on tendered packages at a weighted probability of success.This gave the talent acquisition team latitude for forward recruitment and thus remove reactive recruitment.This was another unexpected impact as allowing for forward recruitment and on-boarding ensured that new personnel were embedded into the company culture and design process early, thus being able to understand the deliverables and expectations and not be thrown into the deep end.The success Lean Initiative Improvements & Impact
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