Lean Principle - Value Add vs. Non Value Add
D. Brown Management
August 18, 2018
For specialty contractors the field workforce represents most of their competitive advantage as well as their biggest source of variability. Making improvements to field productivity requires deeply understanding what truly adds value to the customer.
field productivity lean construction
Leadership and Management of Details
D. Brown Management
August 17, 2018
Building a great contracting business requires the right balance of leadership and management. While it is possible to separate them the truth is that many of the top leaders are relentlessly disciplined managers.
discipline leadership management wisdom
Lean Principle - Value Stream
D. Brown Management
August 17, 2018
A contractor’s value stream is every step required to take raw materials and information then deliver a completed project to the waiting hands of a customer. Deep understanding of this value stream is the foundation for major productivity improvements.
field productivity lean construction
Clear Installation Information
D. Brown Management
August 15, 2018
For a contractor to maximize their labor productivity, they need to start with clear information provided to the crews doing the actual installation. Good information is the first of the six pillars of productivity and means several things:
design field operations productivity project management virtual construction
Lean Principle - Understanding Lean Construciton
D. Brown Management
August 14, 2018
Lean is a body of knowledge dating back hundreds of years focused on sustainably growing an organization. During the last 20 years the construction industry has been rapidly adopting some of these tools to improve productivity.
field productivity lean construction
The Average Field Day in Detail (Craft Labor + Foreman)
D. Brown Management
August 13, 2018
Labor is often the biggest cost variable on a construction project. Just over half the field hours are related to actual installation. Understanding how time is spent on average in the field is the first step to improving field productivity.
estimating field productivity labor productivity
Understanding the Construction Field Day
D. Brown Management
August 12, 2018
For a contractor to truly improve their field productivity, they must start with understanding how the time is spent. Depending on the trade, project, and the labor, study the time spent on actual installation ranges from 50-64%.
estimating field productivity
The Contractor Scoreboard - A Contractor Must Do 3 Things
D. Brown Management
August 11, 2018
This outcome-based scoreboard keeps everyone focused on what matters. Avoid metric overload and diffusion of resources. All other metrics throughout all levels of the organization fall into a hierarchy below these with priorities changing over time.
business management business planning cash flow metrics scoreboard succession
Field Productivity - Talent Differentiation
D. Brown Management
August 10, 2018
Contractors can improve their field productivity significantly just through deliberate talent management processes. While the process of continuous forced differentiation seems harsh it is actually the kindest thing you can do for everyone on the team.
Field Productivity - The Improvement Pyramid
D. Brown Management
August 9, 2018
An improvement of a few minutes per day to actual installation time compounded monthly is worth about $800K per year for a $25M contractor. What is it worth to you? Improvements to field productivity can be viewed as 4 major stages of a pyramid.
labor productivity