Insights: Using Lean for Fast-Track Project Success

By Matt Nicholson

Any successful project starts with a good plan. In construction, as the projects we work on become increasingly complex, the necessity of detailed planning has never been more evident.

It’s important to live by the principles of Lean construction — meaning looking for ways to maximize value and minimize waste in every stage of the building process. The older methods of construction design result in an inherent amount of waste, so it’s crucial for contractors to stay ahead of the curve and constantly look for ways to be more efficient in the way they work.

In Turner Construction Company’s Special Projects Division, which handles specialized projects that often have fast-track schedules, we’ve been able to successfully deliver through the adoption and application of Lean methods. Here’s a closer look at three examples where Lean principles were applied in recent projects.

Pull planning

Pull planning is a method of scheduling a project working backward from the desired end date. It’s a great way to establish buy-in with subcontractors because it comes from a place of respect — it’s structured around giving them an adequate amount of time to do their jobs. Instead of having a schedule force-fed to them, subcontractors help develop the schedule. We break a project up into 6- to 8-week sections and decide who will be the last to touch the project, then work all the way back to the very first steps by clearly identifying the flow of construction.

We used this process on a recent tenant improvement project for the Nashville, Tennessee office of energy management company Schneider Electric. This six-floor, 150,000-square-foot project had an expedited eight-month schedule that posed a unique challenge: The client wanted to move its more than 800 employees into the new space in phases, meaning that some portions of the project would need to be completed before others.

To accomplish this, we started with the end date in mind and built the schedule backward to ensure that our work would initially focus on the floors that had earlier turnover dates. Simultaneously, we worked with city officials to ensure that permits for occupancy were being released for each floor on schedule, which allowed us to turn over floors to the client in alignment with their desired move-in plan.

Batch planning

Traditionally in construction, subcontractor work has been done not in the order that’s most efficient, but rather in the order that trade workers become available. With batch planning — another element of Lean construction — the goal is to create a constant flow of work on a project by breaking it down by specific geographic areas, or batches. Batch planning creates a framework where the entire team works together with the goal of creating a harmonious flow across the project. For instance, one floor of a building might have three separate batches, each with its own subcontractor executing a different task. As those tasks are completed, the subcontractors move to the next area, flowing through the entire project in a logical sequence.

We utilized batch planning on a fast-track project in which we built out a 38,000-square-foot Class-A office space for Universal Music Group in downtown Nashville. Accomplishing this meant we first needed to address a related hurdle in the project. Our build out was one of several being done simultaneously in a 25-floor office building, so we were competing for use of the building’s single freight elevator — essential for bringing material and manpower up to the work site. During our pre-construction planning, we arranged to use the building’s freight elevator outside of normal office hours, preventing our work from affecting other building occupants and keeping the project on schedule. With our necessary materials on site, we divided the work plan into trade-specific batches, allowing our specialized subcontractors to perform their work in prerequisite order, flowing from floor to floor without overlap.

Just-in-time delivery/nothing hits the ground

Obviously, you can’t complete a project if you don’t have the right materials. But getting the necessary materials to the jobsite by the time you need them is one of the biggest impediments in the progress of construction projects. As we’ve incorporated Lean thinking into our planning processes, we’ve adjusted how we approach the delivery of materials. When planning begins, one of the very first things we do is identify any items with long lead times, such as light fixtures, and buy them as early as possible so that we don’t end up waiting on them once the construction phase begins. To eliminate clutter on the jobsite, we also implement just-in-time delivery whenever possible. Materials are timed to arrive at the exact time we need them and are installed immediately. If there is a reason for materials to be on the site earlier than needed, we ask subcontractors to put everything on wheels so it can be moved easily, allowing for better organization and improved safety. Our maxim is “nothing hits the ground.”

This past spring, our company took on a one-of-a-kind project necessitated by the ongoing pandemic: a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers overflow facility for COVID-19 patients in Nashville. This facility was being built on two unused floors of a fully operational hospital. Normally, a project of this scope would be built over roughly nine months. Given the urgency of this project and the possibility that it might need to go into immediate use, we were given 29 days to build the facility.

It was essential our work didn’t interfere with the hospital’s critical job of caring for its patients, so we utilized every tool at our disposal to minimize the amount of disruption we created. That included just-in-time delivery of materials and putting everything on wheels to ensure our work wasn’t slowed by having to inefficiently pick it up off the ground and place it somewhere else before final installation.

Because of the project’s short timeframe, every aspect had to be accelerated to hit our milestones. Work that would normally be done over three days had to take place over a single shift. We worked around the clock seven days a week, with three 8-hour shifts a day for Turner staff and two 12-hour shifts for our trade partners. In the end, we finished the project in 28 days, one day ahead of schedule.

Superintendent tips for ensuring success

On a construction project, everything hinges on the work of the superintendent. As the boots on the ground on a jobsite, superintendents constantly manage the performance of the trades and ensure the quality of the installation lines up with the client’s expectations. Here are a few ways superintendents can facilitate success in their projects by utilizing Lean principles:

1. Treating subcontractors with respect. At Turner, we refer to our subcontractors as “trade partners,” and successful superintendents truly treat them as partners as opposed to subordinates. By choosing collaboration over competition, all parties benefit more throughout the construction process, and the end result is a more efficiently run project.
2. Proactive planning. Good superintendents are always thinking more than three steps ahead. The approach of beginning with the end in mind forces the superintendent and their team to think through — and proactively troubleshoot — any issues before they arise so the project runs smoothly.
3. Embracing innovation. This is aligned with the Lean notion of continuous improvement. Superintendents should be willing to think outside the box with new ways to remove inefficiency from the construction process and encourage those on their team to do the same.

While specific Lean-planning tools are helpful, they’re made even more effective through a mindset of continuous improvement. There are always ways to improve with the goal of achieving greater efficiency and quality. Rather than going through the motions or checking off a box, continue to look for ways to do the job better, and to deliver maximum value to clients.

Matt Nicholson is special projects division manager for Turner Construction Company in Nashville, Tennessee.