Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 10 What was the Lean solution? GRAHAM evaluated the capabilities of a range of software development systems, and, after a rigorous selection process, VisiLean was identified as the most suitable solution.VisiLean is a simple yet powerful Production Management Platform for managing large programmes of work. As a cloud-based platform developed on proven Lean Construction principles,VisiLean ensures flow, value generation, and waste minimisation across workflows. Figure 1. Primary components of VisiLean VisiLean allows organisations to visualise project plans at a programme level, with a typical Gantt that supportsTask creation and even Plan import from P6,MSP and Excel, for example.Teams then utiliseVisiLean to drive the Last Planner® System (LPS) for collaborative planning. It allows all teams to par ticipate, visualise their commitments, discuss any potential issues, and map them in the look-ahead planning view. Once a clear look-ahead picture is defined with the teams par ticipating on the platform, each member usesVisiLean, either through the browser or the Mobile App (LiveSite), to update the progress on their commitments and flag any issues that require the team’s attention.They supplement this with Notes that allow for healthy discussions during the collaborative review sessions. Figure 2. Clear capture of shor t-falls, constraints, and conversations Finally, all of this data populates a completely automated Dashboard that promotes a focus on Value Drivers that can help improve the planning and delivery of commitments as a team. As the commitments did not form par t of our delivery programme, we had to try and organise the commitments into more manageable sub-groups.The sub-groups were identified as function areas which exist within GRAHAM, for example, customer, stakeholder, quality, or Lean. Next, we completed Master Planner sessions where we placed all 80 commitment milestones on a programme and then worked backwards to understand what other sub-tasks we may have to deliver to ensure that we would meet the commitment milestones. GRAHAM now has a solid and more detailed 5-year programme for delivery.The commitments programme could have been produced directly intoVisiLean, but we used spreadsheets and then impor ted them intoVisiLean. As our commitments are only over 5 years, we decided to run the collaborative planning meeting at 10:00 on the first Tuesday of every month. Challenges Setting up the LPS was challenging for the commitments for several reasons: • There was no existing programme for the commitments, and the original dates that were identified in our tender were from almost 4 years prior.As expected, the programmes had changed significantly since then. • Some commitments have evolved since the contract andtherefore more in-depth conversations had to be had with National Highways surrounding the amendment of contractual commitments to suit the current environment. • Setting up the initial workshops and allocating owners to provide updates. • Adaptations had to be made withinVisiLean to make the system suit non-construction-related activities.TheVisiLean team worked closely with us to swiftly make amendments. Meeting Format • Discipline leads within GRAHAM meet virtually on the first Tuesday of each month. • The leads will have submitted progress updates throughout the month using their mobile devices. • During the meeting, each discipline lead will take turns to run through their commitments for that month. Case 2
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