You can tell a lot about the health of a construction site from what people say. And if you’re hearing the same problem phrases again and again, there could be systemic issues you need to address.
In this article, we’re going to talk about what these spoken elements have to say about the waste on your construction site, as relates to lean methodology.
How many of these do you recognise?
1. "Where’s my delivery?”
When subcontractors turn up at the parking bays looking for their materials, and complaining about vehicles and suppliers, you’ve got problems with the waste of transport.
Transport waste has many different forms and causes, but at its heart the problems have their origins in logistics management.
Scheduling / timeslotting your deliveries is a good place to start if you’re looking to reduce this kind of waste. And if you’re running an urban site with traffic issues, you could also look into the feasibility of using a consolidation centre.
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“That delivery was supposed to be here an hour ago” “The traffic today is terrible” “Is it okay if we unload on the street?”
2. “There’s nowhere to put my materials!”
If your subcontractors are struggling to find on-site storage space for delivered materials then you’ve got a problem with the waste of inventory.
It could be that the site storage isn’t big enough for your needs. But it’s also possible that more inventory is being held on site than is necessary. This could be a result of too many materials having been ordered (the waste of overproduction) or materials being delivered too far in advance of when they’re needed (the waste of transport). It could also just be poor usage of the existing space.
The solution to this is to make sure you have full control over your storage and its management. This generally means centralising your logistics, to prevent your storage becoming a free-for-all, and tracking your materials digitally, so you can optimise both their storage and their internal transport.
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“I can’t find my materials!” “This storage yard is a mess”
3. “Have you seen the telehandler?”
If people are looking for things to complete a task, then the workspace isn’t configured in an optimal way. In lean terms, this is the waste of motion.
This could be on a small scale (say, they don’t have the jackhammer to hand) or a large scale (the tower crane isn’t ready).
It’s up to the subcontractor to manage the small-scale tasks, but on a larger scale, where common resources are involved, it really needs the general contractor to take ownership. Ideally with a centralised logistics function and a dedicated unloading crew that can schedule the use of all resources and make sure they’re all optimally positioned for the tasks at hand.
4. “Why is everyone standing around?”
Nothing says ‘the waste of waiting’ quite like a load of people standing around and, well, waiting.
When something goes wrong, the most likely outcome is delay. Thus there are probably more causes of this than anything else on a building site.
A preceding task still isn’t completed. Some equipment isn’t ready. The materials haven’t arrived. The toilets are out of use. The tower crane operator is feeling unwell.
It might not be possible to eliminate all waiting, as there are too many variables outside of your control, but you can still minimise waiting by optimising your logistics processes.
You can also increase just how much is under your control by centralising your logistics function and taking ownership of common functions such as unloading, storage and internal transport.
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“Why hasn’t work started yet?” “What are we waiting for?” “Are they on their lunch break or something?”
5. “Why do we have so many of these materials?”
When more materials end up on site than are needed, this is the waste of overproduction. And those materials had to be brought to the site somehow, then stored, and then taken away again, adding the wastes of transport and inventory to the mix.
At a human level, it can be tempting to overorder items and then return (or even discard) the excess rather than to invest the time in getting the planning right in advance, especially when under time pressure.
To address this, you need ways of holding subcontractors accountable for the quantities they order, and for them not ordering too much, too far in advance. An approvals system for deliveries can help here, with everything going through a logistics professional. Another solution can be a consolidation centre, as the just-in-time aspect obligates the subcontractor to pre-specify the exact materials to be brought to the site in each ‘daypack’.
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“These materials have been here forever." “Why do we still have these materials in storage when that phase has finished?” “Don’t tell me these are all going to waste.”
6. “Why are these reports always so long?”
Hours can go into collating reports which, when printed out, are so big they need their own on-site storage facility. In lean terms this is the waste of overprocessing.
Manual logistics amplify this problem thanks to the large amounts of time required to transcribe data into the required format – a kind of electronic double-handing – and the lengthy process of crunching that data into something resembling a report.
Further waste occurs in the consuming of these reports, when they’re not specifically tailored to their audience, and the reader has to pick through them looking for the relevant parts.
Digitalised systems are a good solution here, reducing waste by both decreasing the effort involved in capturing the data and also in making it available as a report, much of which happens automatically, or with minimal human input. That data can be customised to suit the exact requirements of the reader, further reducing waste.
7. “You’re just going to have to do it again”
When the job doesn’t get done right the first time, or the materials provided for the job aren’t up to scratch, you’re looking at the waste of defects.
This kind of waste has multiple causes. When the job itself is done badly, it could just be poor performance by the subcontractor. But that often doesn’t happen in a vacuum – it can be precipitated by other issues, such as time pressures.
It can also be because the source materials themselves have become damaged, perhaps through excessive handling, or mis-manangement of the storage space.
Whatever the case, getting the logistics management right will often result in hearing that kind of phrase less.
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“We’re just going to have to order some more” “These aren’t fit for purpose” “The client will go mad”
8. “Why have they got you doing that?”
When highly skilled tradespeople are doing low-skilled jobs, or when people with knowledge and competence have their opinion overlooked or ignored, you’ve got the waste of skills.
One example of this can be when a function such as laying down of materials is performed by subcontractors, rather than a dedicated crew, and they use their technical staff to perform the task because that’s who’s on hand. This is another argument for having a centralised logistics function, where a job is repeated enough that it makes sense to get people with the right skills to do it.
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“That’s beneath their pay grade” “No one listens around here”
9. “Let’s just get on with it”
When people start tasks without all the things they need – be they materials, tools, information or appropriately skilled workers – this is the waste of making do.
It’s a common problem, caused by people not wanting to create delays. The real culprit is in the disruption of the supply of these needed inputs.
You can’t deal with every last element of a subcontractor’s needs, but you can make sure that the system itself is fit for purpose: that they get any updated design revisions on cue. That the communications method is reliable. That common resources are properly managed. And that deliveries of materials are properly managed and scheduled, along with the resources for their unloading and/or internal transport.
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“We haven’t got time to mess around” “Let’s just improvise”
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Whatever the waste on your construction site, you can probably reduce it with well-managed logistics.
ProperGate’s software is designed around optimising the many wasteful processes on a typical construction site. Once you’ve used it, you’ll wonder how you ever managed to run a site without it.
Get in touch and arrange your free demo today.
