2022 ANNUAL BOOK OF CASES
Crossings Block F,Adamstown (Image courtesy of Mannings Construction Group).
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 2 e a n ual f se 0 2 struction Ireland Annual Bo k of Cases 2021 Contents Contents I e n f C e Editor Darrin Taylor Waterford Institute of Technology [email protected] wit.ie/lean Editor Trevor McSharry is Head of Depar tment of Civil Engineering and Construction at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Sligo since 2011 and has over 26 years’ experience within both the multinational and the higher education sectors. He is passionate about bridging the gap between education and industry through collaboration. Trevor has led the development of Ireland’s largest suite of construction related online par t time educational programmes, which includes industry par tners such as Irish Water, the Depar tment of Transpor t, TII and the SCSI. As a founding member of Ireland’s Civil Engineering Apprenticeship Consor tium, he has been instrumental in leading the development of civil engineering apprenticeship programmes with national par tners from the private and public sectors. Trevor is a Char tered Engineer and Fellow with Engineers Ireland and a cer tified Project Management Professional (PMP). He holds an MBA with DCU and a Post Grad Cer tificate in BIM and the Digital Environment. His research and consultancy interests include project and change management, lean and process optimisation. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Maynooth University with a research focus on change and leadership. Having worked in the multinational manufacturing and project management sectors,Trevor has developed a practical understanding of lean thinking and has assisted many companies on their lean journey and has presented lean research at international conferences. With Dr David Collery at ATU, he developed a Post Grad Cer tificate in BIM and Lean Construction Management and will be soon launching Ireland’s first free Lean Construction Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) funded by the HEA. Trevor has been a Director with Lean Construction Ireland (LCi) since 2018 and is leading the Capability Development Pillar. As par t of this role, he is rolling out the LCi Course Por tfolio and has compiled and edited this year’s LCi Book of Cases. i [email protected] atu.ie Trevor McSharry Atl ntic TU
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 3 l f s s 2 Contents Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 Contents Managing Director: Production: Sales & Marketing: Ronan McGlade Susan Doyle & Paula Dempsey John McNamee Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases is designed and printed by BoxMedia. 616, Edenderry Business Campus, Edenderry, Co.Offaly Tel: + 353 46 9773434 BoxMedia and its Directors can accept no responsibility for the accuracy of contributors’ articles or statements appearing in this publication. Any views or opinions expressed are not necessarily those of BoxMedia and its Directors. No responsibility for loss or distress occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the authors, contributors, editor and publisher. A reader should access separate advice when acting on specific editorial in this publication. (BoxMedia is a Premier Business Media Ltd Company) Printed by GPS Colour Graphics. To cite this book: Lean Construction Ireland (2021), Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021, Ed. D. Taylor, Dublin, Ireland: Lean Construction Ireland. Conte ts Editor Profile,Trevor McSharry . . . . . 2 Foreword by Richard Fitzpatrick . . . . . 4 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6 Chapter 1: Integrated Project Delivery • Michigan State University . . . . . 8-11 Chapter 2: Operational Excellence • Coffey . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-18 • Duggan Brothers . . . . . . . . 19-21 • Hawthorn Heights . . . . . . . 22-24 • Kirby Group . . . . . . . . . . 25-28 • Mace Group . . . . . . . . . 29-32 • Office of PublicWorks . . . . . 33-34 Chapter 3: Digitisation • Arup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-38 • Errigal . . . . . . . . . . . . 39-42 • John Paul Construction . . . . . 43-46 • Mannings Group . . . . . . . . 47-49 • SISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-52 •Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53-55 •Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56-57 Chapter 4: Modern Methods of Construction and Resource Management • ACB Manufacturing . . . . . . . 60-62 • Horizon Offsite . . . . . . . . 63-66 • Ardmac . . . . . . . . . . . . 67-69 • DPS Engineering . . . . . . . . 70-73 Chapter 5: LCi Course Por tfolio Development . 76-78 Sponsor Pages . . . . . . . . . . 80-81 Chapter 6: Glossary of Terms & Concepts . . . 84-88 To cite this book Lean Construction Ireland (2022), Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2022, Ed.T McSharry, Dublin, Ireland: Lean Construction Ireland
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 4 n ual Bo f 2 Contents Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 Foreword Foreword Richard Fitzpatrick Chairperson of Lean Construction Ireland Foreword On behalf of the Board of Lean Construction Ireland, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Lean Construction Ireland’s Book of Cases 2022. The publication continues to be the “go to” Lean Construction reference document for the Irish construction sector providing core knowledge and case studies on Lean implementation for clients and their professional services providers, contractors, sub-contractors, and suppliers, and this Book of Cases prepared by Lean Construction Ireland continues to be the only such publication in the world. The Book of Cases 2022 provides clear evidence the Irish construction sector is beginning the process of normalisation of Lean thinking and practices aligned with the complementary areas of digitalisation and sustainability. It clearly demonstrates where sectoral organisations have adopted Lean for both internal operational excellence purposes as well as to enhance value-add in the design and delivery of capital projects this has resulted in better outcomes. The construction sector continues to face many challenges including the need to grow our skills, knowledge and exper tise, the need to reduce the cost of construction including the elimination of waste as well as managing the impact of inflation. By adopting Lean thinking and practises and looking at alternative contracting arrangements that embrace a respect and relationship-oriented approach to capital project design and delivery, the challenges the sectors faces can be managed and addressed. It is the case collaborative contracting arrangements are increasingly accepted as being the most optimal approach to deliver value on capital projects – a point referred to in the National Development Plan 2021-2030. The Government’s Housing for All plan requires not only an increase in the current construction workforce and construction skills but also requires reducing the cost of residential construction including the adoption of innovation in areas such as Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). Actively employing Lean thinking and practises in the design and delivery of residential projects will contribute greatly to addressing these needs and achieving the Housing for All plan objectives. I wish to acknowledge all involved in the publication of our Book of Cases 2022, namely the case contributors, the book sponsors, our publishing par tner, Box Media andTrevor McSharry for his role as Editor and in coordinating and compiling this invaluable publication for the Lean Construction Ireland community of learning and practice. I hope that this book inspires you and your organisations to continue your Lean journey. Sincerely, Richard Fitzpatrick Chairperson, Lean Construction Ireland Foreword
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 5 l f s s 2 Background The LCi Book of Cases 2022 builds on the excellent work done over the previous years to identify and share best practice of lean construction.These books have become a great asset to the construction sector and a key component of many academic courses across the country, which have incorporated lean within their curriculum. In order to continuously improve the book of cases, LCi arranged a survey to listen to the voice of the customer.All LCi corporate and individual members were surveyed, and the following are some of the key findings: • 72% of survey participants said that their company was at the early to intermediate stage of lean adoption within their organisation. • 93% agreed/ strongly agreed that the book of cases was appropriate to their organisation and provided a valuable snapshot of lean construction activity. • 92% of participants said that they read at least a few, if not all the case studies. • Suggestions for improvement included the following: the addition of an introduction section, which would provide a summary of the cases; a dedicated section on BIM/ Digital Technology; making case titles clear ; break cases into categories. Based on this feedback, a new template for the cases was developed to include a case“Title”as well as a“Summary and Lessons Learned” section. In addition, the overall book of cases has been structured to include an “Introduction Chapter” and cases have been separated into appropriate chapters to make the book easier to navigate. Summary of Chapters Chapter 1: Integrated Project Delivery In Chapter 1, an international case study of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is presented.Written by Amr Abdel-Azin, Senior Architect at Michigan State University, the case demonstrates the positive impact that collaborative contractual arrangements can bring to a large pavilion project, which included €1m of savings returned to the customer and the project delivered three months ahead of schedule. Chapter 2: Operational Excellence In Chapter 2, case studies which focus on lean tools and techniques used for operational excellence are presented. Coffey lean and collaborative planning is the first case. Coffey started their lean journey in 2020 and have made significant progress in relation to lean adoption.The Coffey Pillars of Lean include 6S, 8Wastes,Visual Management, StandardWork,DMAIC and the Last Planner.Duggan Brothers provide an overview of their lean journey which started in 2014.The case identifies 107 tasks for improvement through the involvement of 27 senior managers across 8 departments. The next case study is written by Hawthorn Heights, which is a company that deals with landscaping and civil engineering projects as well as the design and build of playparks etc.Through their collaboration with ATU via a cross border Fusion Project, they mapped out their supply chain process, carried out an audit using the LCi Lean Audit Tool and then optimised processes. As well as incorporating 3D design into their organisation, significant improvements were achieved in their tender success and profit margin. In Kirby’s case study, the focus was on developing a framework using DMAIC for determining the cost of quality. Fish bone diagrams and 5Whys were used for the analysis stage. Mace presented a case study utilising 5S to demonstrate the positive impact that can be made.An A3 was used to assess waste management, and the 5S and 8 waste tools were used to make significant improvement to the workplace which has improved safety, quality, productivity, and better schedule compliance. A case study was also provided by the OPW relating to their significant lift replacement programme. Instead of separate lift project initiatives, the OPW developed a Dynamic Purchasing System which was a two-stage process.This lean initiative has helped the OPW increase their lift replacement programme from 5 lifts per year to 30 lifts per year and their supervision and management costs have decreased. Chapter 3: Digitisation In Chapter 3 the use of Digitisation for productivity is the focus of the case studies.Arup provide an overview of their HIVE (Human ImmersiveVirtual Environments) which utilises advanced gaming technology to provide a virtual reality experience of projects.Among many benefits, this has helped clients gain a better appreciation of proposals.At Errigal,DMAIC and digital tools were used to develop a data driven framework to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in processes. A Mavic devise was fitted to every helmet and utilises machine learning to recognise unique movements and productivity. In addition, the Oculo device is used to generate a street view of the construction site to aid inspections, spot issues and make decisions faster. Errigal also developed phone applications (aps) to streamline staff inductions and training.As a result of these initiatives, they have seen an increase in employee morale as well as overall reductions in project costs and completion times.The John Paul Construction case study focuses on a large residential scheme called the Grange Development where they have demonstrated the benefits of using the Last Planner and the cloud-based FieldView system for achieving project milestones.Mannings Construction Group outline how they reacted to Covid to by upskilling staff in lean thinking and utilising digital solutions such as dashboards, timelapse cameras, vehicle recognition systems and the common data environment to improve overall efficiency.SISK provided a case study which demonstrates the use ofArtificial Intelligence (AI) to automatically read form data such as delivery notes and concrete cube test certs. Using the Microsoft Power Platform, they set up an automatic process for paperless form management.Through automation and digitisation, significant time is being saved and the quality of data capture has improved.Walls have provided two cases on digitisation. One case outlines the significant benefits of upgrading IT infrastructure and software to increase staff efficiency using standardised forms and flows,better communication,dynamic access to data and ultimately a better controlled environment with reduced administration and energy overheads.The other case fromWalls provides an insight into employee accessibility of BIM 3D models using Dalux BIMmobile viewer.This viewing software has eliminated waste associated with going to the workstation, checking the drawing version is correct, printing and returning to the work location. Introduction Introduction
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 6 l f 2 Chapter 4: Modern Methods of Construction and Resource Management Chapter 4 case studies relate to lean for prefabrication and resource management.The ACB group are working towards Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) using lean principles. In their case study, they utilised BIM and the PDCA tool to develop its prefabrication model further by seeking to incorporate the final 10% of building finishes such as flashings, gutters, louvres, and roof boxes.The next case is by Horizon Offsite,who give an overview of how they are adopting a continuous improvement culture across their design for manufacturing and assembly operations.Through workplace and factory optimisation, performance tracking and data visualisation,Horizon have increased productivity and reduced non-conformances. Ardmac have taken a data led approach to developing lean behaviours on complex projects in their case study. The case related to a hyperscale data centre on a brownfield site, where nine organisations needed to work on an integrated project team. By using a High PerformanceTeam model, human behaviour was improved to promote collaboration and increase productivity. In the next case study, DPS Engineering developed an effective resource mobilisation process using lean thinking.Using the DMAIC tool,DPS identified,managed, and controlled typical roadblocks and opportunities within the resourcing value streams and supply chain and made impressive improvements. Chapter 5: LCi Course Portfolio Development In Chapter 5, the LCi Course Portfolio is outlined. Some background to the development of the courses is provided as well as the objectives of the LCiWhite,Yellow and Green Belt.A summary of the first LCIYellow Belt course delivery at Coffey is also provided. To support the course portfolio, a training process was established by LCi to allow for the effective nomination and evaluation of trainers and access to standardised course material, templates and surveys. Several lean services providers were consulted to ensure this process will work with all stakeholders.To conclude, LCi highlight the significance of the belt portfolio and encourage companies to upskill their workforce, develop their lean capabilities and ultimately improve their productivity. If you would like to provide a case study in future publications, please email [email protected]. Chapter 6: Glossary of Terms and Concepts The main terms and concepts relating to lean in construction have been compiled into a useful glossary.This has been developed from many different resources, including the glossary available for the Lean Construction Institute. Introduction
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 7 l f s s 2 Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2022 CHAPTER 1 Integrated Project Delivery
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 8 l f 2 Michigan State University (MSU) is a Land Grant Research University established 1855 with 60,000 Students on 1 campus of 5200 Acres. It has one of the largest on campus housing systems in the USA and was first public institution to adopt Integrated Project Delivery (IPD),Multi-Party Agreement. The MSU Lean journey started in 2006 with an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Project, a true Multi-Party Contract that had early involvement and close collaboration of trade partners and contractors from the start of project design. The Business College Pavilion project is the second IPD project on MSU Main Campus. The new Graduate Pavilion provides the opportunity to create a highly visible, statement facility to support the rapidly evolving graduate education needs of the College of Business, one of the leading business colleges in the country. All five of the Business College’s academic units are ranked among the top 25 in the country and its flagship MBA program is ranked 11th among public institutions and 6th in terms of Return On Investment (ROI) in the most recent BusinessWeek rankings. This project needed to reflect both the current and aspirational positioning of the Broad College as a leader and innovator in business education. Approximately 100,000 square feet of new classrooms, laboratories, workrooms and gathering space are included in the expansion. Added flexibility in workspaces, coupled with new technology, will give students necessary experiences before they start their jobs at Google or similar companies. Change is constant in business; the forces of technology and globalization are revolutionising the ways in which business is conducted. Business College faculty and staff are working to provide a rigorous and innovative curriculum and a relevant educational experience to prepare MSU graduates for this changed business environment.With the new Pavilion,MSUwill take a significant step forward in its “we make business happen” approach to business education by providing the frameworks, tools, knowledge, and experiences that will fully prepare students for their business careers as leaders, strategic and analytic thinkers, entrepreneurs and team members. With a new interactive “collaborative” environment that reflects the real-world workplace model of people working within and across teams to bring products and ideas to market, the Business College Pavilion will support the development of a robust integrative culture for the MBA Program. It will help the college prepare its MBA students to be stronger at“making business happen” through a program that focuses on teamwork, analytical insight, and an Amr Abdel-Azim Author Case Study Title: “Success is not just to get to the top of your business, but to continue to improvement and maintain your ranking on the top” Michigan State University.
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 9 l f s s 2 integrated business perspective.The new facility, strong experiential learning component, and new emphasis on social impact,will further differentiate the program and enhance the national reputation and standing of the College program.The Pavilion will help achieve the aspiration to grow the MBA ranking and become a world-class destination for students and faculty from around the globe.Andmost importantly, it will enable MSU to graduate future dynamic leaders to become trailblazers, spearheading change at existing businesses or creating new ventures. The Pavilion will also enable the College to build on its mission to advance a platform of relationships with corporations, employers, alumni, and leading-edge thinkers, as well as capitalize on the strong portfolio of the college’s professional master’s programs in accounting, supply chain management, marketing research, finance, and business analytics.The facilities, corporate partnerships, faculty, and pedagogical approaches will create a new model of graduate education that will differentiate the Business College MBA and master’s programs from other business schools in the country and abroad. It will become a strong draw and strengthen efforts to recruit and retain top talent. The Business College Pavilion project contains: • Space for interactive learning, collaboration, conferences, competitions, and other events • Program specific, state of the art classrooms • “One Stop” student support services, including advising and career services • Strategic placement of conferencing areas, student support services and technology to enhance communication and collaboration among faculty • Improved and expanded technology • A “sense of place” for students, partners and other visitors, faculty, and staff. Why is MSU interested in IPD? We are all tasked with doing more with our capital funds. MSU is using explore techniques to help overcome institutional inertia and unlock innovation within their project delivery teams. As institutions work to mitigate risk and be more effective with their investment, IPD and aligned incentives are tools that should be considered for major capital projects. Major objectives of MSU for adopting Lean and Integrated Project Delivery IPD have been: • Responsibility to customers to provide maximum value • Strive for constant improvement and prove it • MSU wants to be a leader and innovator • Intrigued by stories of successful IPD project Understanding risk and opportunity with IPD project delivery: Integrated Project Delivery requires a committed contractor, architect, and owner’s representative working jointly under the correct contractual terms with sophisticated CAD Lean tools. The team needs to establish joint goals for using lean tools to enhance productivity, optimise the project schedule, and provide effective collaboration to add value during design and construction. Integrated Project Delivery contract structure depends on using a single contract for design and construction with a shared risk/reward model, guaranteed costs,waivers of liability between teammembers, an operating system based on lean principles, and a collaborative culture. Integrated Project Delivery teams are contractually tied together differently than traditional Design/Bid/Build, ConstructionManagement-at-risk, and Design/Build agreements. The typical IPD agreement includes the primary design firm, the primary builder, and the owner in a single contract for a single dollar value. The contract lays out the responsibilities of the designer, contractor and owner but also makes it clear that successful delivery of the project is the responsibility of all three. The biggest advantage of this delivery method is you have a contractor who is part of the solution from the very beginning. When construction begins,we have somebody who is very familiar with what they are going to build, where they are going to buy materials, who are the suppliers, and how much it will cost.The fact that they hit the ground running from day one is really the advantage. See Figure 1, Multi Agreement Contract Structure for the Business College Pavilion. Figure 1: Multi-Agreement Contract Structure A Lean Execution Plan The Project team started with putting together a road map for execution of the Project. A Lean Execution Plan was created on an A3 (11”X17”) sheet of paper that captured many important aspects of the Project: tenative schedule, teams, conditions of satisfaction, resources, etc. The plan set the tone for many organisational information,which promotes colaboration of the entire team at the very beginning of the design process. See Figure 2, Lean Execution Plan. Target Cost: To set the target cost for the Business College Pavilion, the Project Teamwent through aValidation Phase, in which the entire teamwas engaged in evaluating various design concepts to meet the project program.An early estimated cost was established, taking advantage of expertise of the construction manager and trade partners who were brought in early to the planning process. At the end of Validation
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 10 l f 2 Phase, the project team were able to present to the owner the various concepts, associated cost estimates, and anticipated schedule for construction completion. The primary concept of Target Cost is to drive down the cost or maintain cost and increase value of a project through the design and delivery phases without reducing the quality provided or impacting the schedule for completion.Target Cost is a process to make sure that the owner receives all three legs of schedule, cost and quality. Projects tend to increase in cost through the scoping, design, and construction phases.However,TargetValue Design offers strategies tomanage a project cost through its development and construction. Setting cost targets for a team can align thinking and motivate members to innovate. See Figure 3,Target Cost graph. A3 Reporting: One of the helpful tools that that project team utilised was the A3 reporting. An A3 Report is a Toyotapioneered practice of getting the problem, the analysis, the corrective actions, and the action plan down on a single sheet of large A3 paper often with the use of graphics.The A3 for the project was a great executive summary that was shared for MSU Board of Trustees and other executive committees on campus. In fact, this condensedA3 reporting became the preferred method of project reporting to the Board of Trustees and other executive committees on Campus. See Figure 4A3 sample. Business College Pavilion IPD Lessons Learned: 1. ALIGNVALUES between user groups and design-build teams to leverage thinking across groups in service of the project goals. 2. COLLABORATE with different disciplines and stakeholders to bring the best information and ideas to the table. 3. REDUCEWASTE in the process through more up-front planning and fewer last-minute changes. 4. EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS in the delivery process and the completed project. Conclusion There have been many other valuable tools and processes that were applied in this IPD project that would go beyond the limited space we have here in this article. It’s a delight to report that we have had a $1 million savings that went back to the owner and the construction finished three months earlier than the construction schedule. Figure 2: Lean Execution Plan Figure 3: Target Cost Graph Figure 4: A3 Sample
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 11 l f s s 2
Mechanical and Electrical Services at the National Children’s Hospital (Image courtesy of Arup)
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2022 CHAPTER 2 Case Studies – Operational Excellence
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 14 l f 2 Company Overview COFFEY GROUP coffeygroup.com Overview & Background to the Lean Initiative Founded in 1974, Coffey is a family owned, engineering led Civil Engineering, Environmental and Building contracting group of companies. Our headquarters are situated in Athenry, County Galway and we operate in every major construction sector and undertake work throughout the UK and Ireland. We are passionate about quality and efficiency, and this passion drives our belief in delivering projects with a directly employed workforce of 250 people. Coffey prides itself on delivering quality projects safely, on time and within budget. The hallmarks of our contracts are innovative solutions, engineering ingenuity, professional construction management and adherence to the highest safety and quality standards. Gary Coffey Author The Coffey lean journey began during the turmoil of Covid lockdown in 2020. Company strategy sessions in recent years had regularly raised the issue of ‘planning’ as a significant area of opportunity from a production, quality and health and safety perspective. To educate ourselves on a structured approach to lean principles, our Managing Director attended Lean Green Belt training. The Health, Safety,Quality and Environment (HSQE) team subsequently attended the Green Belt programme so that they could assist in developing, facilitating and supporting the lean roll-out.The programme was run over a 12-week period at the end of which each attendee had to prepare a project within the company where some of the core lean principles of eliminating waste, value-add and finding flow in the company processes could be applied. Together with our Managing Director, we identified a number of Lean Construction Ireland and Lean Construction Institute (US) webinars to attend and obtain as much information as possible about lean in construction. During this research, we came across the Last Planner® System (LPS) as a tool to help us in the effective planning, programming and managing projects. Case 1 Case Study Title: Lean and Collaborative Planning at Coffey Lean Initiative Undertaken – Lean Thinking, Tools, Techniques As part of our Company Strategy Sessions in 2021, we elected to include our ‘customer’ as one of our core values. Our customer is the reason we are in business and one of the reasons we have found that lean thinking, tools, and techniques have been so effective is that it focuses on the value stream from the eyes of the customer. Our lean transformation has progressed steadily from early 2021. Value-add and eliminating waste were initially the key focus.This has now expanded to include LPS collaborative planning on each of our sites, where the pillars of lean from a Coffey point of view, are being embedded. This case study looks at the implementation of lean thinking, tools and techniques within Coffey and the current journey being undertaken as part of the company strategy to implement and standardise the Coffey Collaborative PlanningTool across all Coffey sites. Coffey Continuous Improvement Policy In July 2021 we developed our Continuous Improvement Policy. This had been created in line with Coffey’s long-term initiative and desire to continually improve our work practices and procedures to improve value delivery and eliminate waste. Continuous improvement is more of a philosophy than a process or system. It requires everyone, as a participant, to adopt as part of their normal work, a mindset of continuously looking for ways to improve processes and systems to make them more efficient and effective. Paul Daly Author Figure 1: Coffey Pillars of Lean
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 15 l f s s 2 Figure 2: Coffey Continuous Improvement Policy Continuous improvement activities drive organisational excellence to improve value delivery to all Coffey stakeholders, including employees, customers, shareholders and society, thereby increasing the probability of long-term success of the organisation.By adopting a culture of continuous improvement, we: • Maintain a culture of clear, open communication. • Focus on value delivery and understanding and satisfying the customer. • Regularly review continuous improvement opportunities identified and the approaches and methods used to implement change. • Regularly measure the performance of key processes. • Manage process changes using data driven facts rather than opinion. • Promote teamwork in each of our departments and sites to achieve positive outcomes. • Develop a culture wherein continuous improvement involves everyone and the process of change becomes routine. • Recognise and promote continuous improvement efforts. Collaborative Planning The Last Planner® System (LPS) was developed by the Lean Construction Institute and follows the Plan,Do,Check,Act (PDCA) cycle we are familiar with from our ISO Management Systems. PLS is also known as a collaborative planning tool and the primary function is to increase productivity and accountability of the project team by teasing out the program and carrying out detailed group planning with the entire project team present, including the client or their representative. LPS is also a project management tool or approach to efficiently run a construction project.The principle of the system is to ensure each on site foreman/ supervisor, be they internal or external subcontractor, can manage their workload while having accountability.This is achieved by involving them in the weekly planning sessions and holding them accountable for completing the work as planned. Having researched LPS in detail, we decided to proceed with the implementation of our own Collaborative Planning Procedure on a pilot project in Saggart Reservoir in September 2021. Strategic Objectives: Coffey’s Managing Director took the lead in the implementation of the Collaborative Planning initiative and tasked the HSQE team with responsibility to guide the development of our Collaborative Planning System.The first step in the collaborative planning development strategy was appointing a lean expert.Through our training consultancy LBS, we sourced Dr. StevenWard from Lean Construct Ltd in the UK. Steve was a vital resource in terms of LPS implementation, facilitating the sessions and gathering and disseminating the learning review data. Our key deliverables in terms of our Collaborative Planning procedure were identified as; • Design and implement a Coffey Collaborative Planning Procedure to meet our requirements and get buy in from our Operations Directors and Contract Managers. • Develop and carry our an Internal“Introduction to Lean and LPS” and roll out at each of the Collaborative Planning kick off sessions We assigned a core team to facilitate the LPS sessions and hold weekly meetings to discuss our Collaborative Planning progress on each of the projects and setting a timetable for attending the weekly sessions on site.We have found “A Facilitators Guide to the Last Planner System” from NottinghamTrent University a very useful guidance document to facilitate the weekly sessions.The core team maintains constant communication in terms of lean practices and LPS through toolbox talks on topics such asVisual Management, 6S, StandardWork & 8Wastes.We reinforce these messages through signage and weekly lean conversations on site, which are recorded through our internal OBSERVE PowerApps. We continue to hold quarterly sessions with our external consultant, focusing on the ‘why we are doing what we are doing’ in terms of Collaborative Planning and following up, to ensure the message is being received well by site teams. The Coffey Collaborative Planning Procedure has six core elements; Figure 3: Collaborative Planning Procedure 1. Milestone Planning: Milestone Planning identifies the main project milestones / key Case 1
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 16 l f 2 task delivery dates from the initial contract programme. Project milestones are transferred from the traditional Gantt program to the milestone plan, creating a simple visual for key milestones.We also hold‘Pull Planning’ sessions with all project teammembers, taking a reverse approach to sequencing at the Collaborative Planning Sessions. Pull planning enhances initial project communication and improves efficiency and reduces waste. Figure 4: Milestone Plan 2. Phase Plan The Phase Plan identifies key dates (start, finish,order dates,delivery dates etc.) of high-level tasks required to meet the milestone within the 12-week Phase Plan. 3.Weekly Plan To standardise the roll-out of the programme, site collaborative meetings to discuss the works are scheduled every Thursday at 10:30am,on every Coffey site.This is the forum to discuss theWeekly Plan as follows: • Discuss what was completed the previous week andmeasure Percentage Plan Complete (PPC). • Discuss why the tasks that were not completed, noting the root cause (RMC – Reason for Missed Commitment). • Discuss progress this week and any changes / improvements that can be made. • Plan out the next 2 weeks in detail, including resources if necessary. • Foremen / Subcontractor Foremen place the post-it notes on the wall chart. • Carry out daily exercise with delivery dates noting actions necessary to make the tasks ready. • No task is to be greater than 3 days in duration. • Task completion should be easily measurable. 4. Daily Huddles Coffey has, for some time, operated an SPA (Safe Plan of Action) by way of a point-of-work daily Risk Assessment. We have now expanded this to a Daily Huddle so that safety and planning are not mutually exclusive. At the Daily Huddle, the following takes place: • Discuss the current day, progress, what went well or what didn’t go well. • Final detailed planning for the next day’s work, production targets,quality standards, resources,plant,materials,H&S risks. Engineer prepares the paperwork, with input from relevant team members, for the morning’s briefing. Figure 6: Daily Huddles 5. Daily Briefing Foreman delivers a briefing to the workforce.This includes a review of the previous day and an explanation of the tasks for the day, targets, quality and H&S risks. Engagement then takes place with the workforce on thoughts, ideas, improvements or concerns. 6. Learning Review Every six weeks, a review takes place and information from the Reasons for Missed Commitments are collated. Focus areas are then identified for improvement.A3,DMAIC or 3C lean projects or lean activities are then initiated to seek out improvements and solutions. Figure 7: Learning Review Figure 5: Weekly Plan Case 1
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 17 l f s s 2 The implementation of the Coffey lean initiative and Lean Pillars has been value-adding in the short time since implementation. Coffey has an established Collaborative Planning Procedure,which is being constantly reviewed to suit our company’s needs. On the advice of our external consultant, we are currently using a paper-based visual model with Post-Its, but aim to implement a digital hybrid in 2023 once the Collaborative Planning system is established and sustained in our company.The Collaborative Planning process has brought great visibility to the planning process on site and highlighted many areas of improvement and identified inefficiencies we would not have identified in the traditional system.Through our weekly facilitator meetings, we have generated consensus amongst the Senior Management Team on how the system is implemented, and this has greatly improved our knowledge of lean in Coffey.The quarterly workshops with our Lean consultant, senior management and project teams have generated great positivity around collaborative planning, and have ensured buy-in from all parties. Driving Continuous Improvement At a project level, the implementation of the Collaborative Planning Procedure has greatly improved our analysis of the weekly plans. We can now gather our PPC and Reasons for Missed Commitment (RMC), and identify the ‘blockers’ to help project teams execute their projects. Every week, potential ‘blockers’ are identified on the Constraints and Action Log, which greatly aids contracts managers in reviewing live projects.This information is collated at the Learning Reviews every 6 weeks and is vital to identifying and putting in place control measures to prevent reoccurrence. Benefits of Collaborative Planning Some of the key benefits we have identified from our implementation of our Collaborative Planning Procedure are as follows: • Improves planning and organising by ensuring the entire project team is present at theWeekly Planning Meetings.This has eliminated the need for additional progress meetings on site. • Encourages better site management by raising flags and identifying blockers for the Last Planners and the site foremen to progress work. • Enhances communication and builds relationships and coordination between all project members. • Increases efficiencies by focusing on the removal of the constraints.This has led to increased production and less waste. • The introduction of the 3 week look-ahead has enabled greater collaboration between all stakeholders at the weekly meetings. • The capture of the collaborative planning metrics provides data to enable informed decision making and risk management. • Creates a simple, visual and user-friendly system. • Collaborative Planning lends to standardised approaches to project management across all our projects Figure 9: Visual Management making invisible processes visible and eliminating waste Lean Initiative Improvements & Impact We are in the early stages of lean implementation,but have seen very encouraging outcomes from each of our weekly detailed planning meetings.The Resident Engineer fromRPS who has attended all the sessions has been very satisfied with the progress to date. One of the most significant benefits we have experienced to date is in the weekly collaborative meetings, which promotes an atmosphere of teamwork amongst the project team and the Resident Engineer.The Last Planner system enables a shared goal to be brought to the fore and people are constantly reminded that we are all here to complete a quality project, safely and on time. Commencing with a trial roll-out on our contract in Saggart Reservoir in September 2021, our Collaborative Planning process was then rolled out in January 2022 across all our sites to help us establish the Coffey Collaborative Planning Standard. Feedback from each of these sessions has been gathered.The key point that is continually raised is that the collaborative element between the site teams and the foreman (or Last Planners) is an excellent project management tool and fosters teamwork. Below are some of the comments from a Resident Engineer and our Site Foremen: Resident Engineer Saggart Reservoir • “Everyone attending gets a global view of the project and the direction that the Project Manager (PM) is taking. • Potential problems or ‘show-stoppers’ are raised and discussed. • Helps Resident Engineers (REs) prioritise contractor correspondence i.e., RAMS review, rebar drawing checking, site checks etc. • REs can liaise with client PM,Employers Representative, client operators, residents on matters raised at the weekly planning meeting. Summary and Lessons Learned Figure 8: Constraints Log Case 1
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 18 l f 2 • REs get to understand the contractor rationale behind the 6 week look-ahead programme, key inputs and risks.This also helps when there is a change in the programme of works or methodology, due to unknown factors.” Coffey Site Foreman • “Last Planner is a good system.The Daily Huddle is time well spent and the visual action list is very helpful. Everyone is involved and sees it. It’s a good opportunity to thrash out issues arising, whether it’s with orders, safety etc.They are identified sooner than they would have been before.” Coffey Project Manager • “Last Planner gives the whole project team a better understanding of the programme. It identifies issues that historically could easily be missed. It is a simple, visual, selfexplanatory system that lends to excellent buy-in from all parties, particularly foremen who are instrumental in the sequencing of work. It fosters inclusion and validates everyone’s input in the project.” This positive feedback is incorporated into our Lean and LPS IntroductionTraining for all staff attending a Project Kick-Off meeting and is furthermore reinforced at theQuarterly sessions with our lean consultant.We are in the early days of implementation, but we have seen a proactive approach to implementing Collaborative Planning by our Project Managers and Site teams.The Coffey leadership team are convinced that the Collaborative Planning implementation will be of great benefit to the company,our employees, and our customers. Case 1
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 19 l f s s 2 Company Overview DUGGAN BROTHERS dugganbrothers.ie Overview & Background to the Lean Initiative Duggan Brothers (Contractors) Ltd was founded in 1923 and is one of Ireland’s leading general building contractors with over 120 managerial staff.Construction Excellence is at the heart of everything we do, and we are proud to continue to deliver high value and high-quality projects for our clients. As a medium to large sized construction company, we have successfully completed circa 1,000 projects in both the public and private sectors.These projects range in value from €5m to €80m across commercial, pharmaceutical, educational, healthcare, residential and industrial sectors. Michael Greene Author It is important for every business to continuously review and improve how their business operates. Duggan Brothers (Contractors) Ltd continuously review our systems and processes to assess how we can implement change in our organisation for the benefit of our internal and external customers.This includes our direct staff, our subcontractors, supply chain, design teammembers, clients, and end users across all projects. Implementing change in any organisation or business can be challenging in many ways, however the benefits of making change must be understood before initiating.There will always be resistance to implementing change in one way or another. For change to take place, it is important that the correct strategy is selected when bringing in new systems or processes in any businesses. Our continuous improvement and lean approach include assessing and implementing many lean initiatives to create more efficient ways of working,by removing waste from systems and processes that impact our stakeholders.This case study is based on the continued implementation of lean in our organisation through lean workshops across 8 departments with key senior managers in our company. Case 2 Case Study Title: Make the Change and Implement Lean Lean Initiative Undertaken – Lean Thinking, Tools, Techniques The purpose of this initiative is to outline our lean journey from 2014 to present. Since 2014, we have been continuously improving our processes across all departments within our organisation, to become a leaner company in 2022 and beyond. The aim of undertaking and implementing lean at Duggan Brothers was simply to improve what we do by working smarter and more efficiently, by removing waste from our processes and systems.We started our lean journey in 2014 by reviewing what we do and how we can make change happen.To do this, it is important to take a step back from the fast-paced industry we work in and look at how we operate each day and assess what systems and processes we work with. It is also especially important to allow time for staff to discuss how they feel about our systems, processes, and steps to complete a task when they are responsible to complete the works. Providing an opportunity to think and discuss howwe operate on our projects, is an approach that Duggan Brothers implemented to make change happen for the benefit of those doing the work.Taking a step back and thinking in a lean way, allows for ideas to flow amongst our teams and for ideas to be tried and tested.We use various lean tools to allow this to take place, including holding lean whiteboard meetings.We have found that this provides a good opportunity for our teams to select an idea each month to improve how we work across our projects. Figure 1 illustrates our Continuous Improvement Lean board, which is used to select one of the 8 LeanWastes each month, where ideas are discussed for implementing and improving. This simple approach provides an opportunity for our teams to look at how they operate and make change to remove waste in a process for the benefit of all. Figure 1: Duggan Brothers LeanThinkingWhiteboard We also identify waste by implementing various other lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping, Fishbone Analysis, Pareto Charts and Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA).Other tools include Last Planner,Action Plans, PICK Charts (Possible, Implement, Challenge
Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 20 l f 2 and Kill) and A3 Projects.These lean tools are used when we take a deeper dive into our processes to assess where and how we can make a change.Through the introduction of innovative technology and digital systems over the past 10 years, we now can assess and measure areas to select for a deeper review and then identify opportunities to reduce waste. Investment in time, technology and people is critical to successfully implementing lean in any organisation. As with any of these lean tools, implementing the Deming Cycle (Plan Do CheckAct) approach, allows for a dynamic and flexible outcome,when it comes to implementing change. Figure 2 illustrates the stages in the Deming Cycle which include identifying the opportunity, testing the change, assessing the outcome, and implementing the best approach. Figure 2: Deming Cycle As with any lean initiative, we approach all initiatives in a sequential manner through adopting the Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control (DMAIC) approach.We firstly define the opportunity or problem, then measure through data collection, analyse why the issue has arisen, and set out on how to improve the opportunity or problem.We then implement control measures to ensure that the problem is addressed and is not repeated.The PDCA approach is then monitored to assess if changes are needed to ensure our processes and systems are embedded in our organisation. One major project that we undertook in 2022 was to assess processes and procedures across different departments within our organisation including EHS, Quality Management, Purchasing, Accounts, Estimating, Planning & Programming and Commercial. The initial approach we decided to use included lean workshops with each department.These workshops provided an opportunity to assess the status of systems and processes and to identify areas that we could implement improvements.These workshops provided an opportunity for theVoice of the Customer to be heard through feedback and open discussions. As many of our departments cross over in terms of interacting with systems and processes, it was important to ensure that we had the right people at each workshop. Each group consisted of senior management and key stakeholders that could make decisions in terms of implementing change, where we could identify a benefit for our organisation. 27 senior key managers in our organisation attended these workshops.The number of opportunities that came from these workshops varied from each department. Figure 3 outlines a total of 109 items identified. Figure 3: Pareto Chart outlining the number of tasks in each group Through the development of our dasboards, we also take a deep dive into specific areas of our company and carry out a ‘DMAIC’ approach to identify and address issues. Once this is done for each item raised, we then set out training for our customers both internally and externally to our organisation.The following is a example of our many dashboards that we use to assess areas of the business that we need to focus on in order to implement change for the benefit of all.Our dashboards are developed from our auditing systems. See figure 4 below. Figure 4: Dashboard with findings from across 7 projects over 9 months throughout 2022 Our dashboards help identify why tasks may not be carried out in accordance with our processes and procedures.These dashboards also provide an opportunity to prioritise our findings and ensure there are no repeat items across our projects.This lean approach prevents repeatable issues from being raised through our internal auditing system. Some tasks that were identified during our lean workshops overlapped from department to department and therefore have been selected as a priority for implementation.Tasks within each individual groups were also allocated in a priority order. An example of these opportunities is illustrated in figure 5 below. A summary of opportunities identified from our list of 109 items Case 2
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