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BOSTON, MA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Lean project delivery makes a remarkable impact on construction projects of all shapes and sizes. Today, the time, labor and cost reducing efforts that are the cornerstones of Lean project delivery have been embraced by leading construction companies.<\/p>\n What hasn\u2019t been embraced by all\u2014and is central to Consigli\u2014is tailoring Lean construction management tools and techniques for each project. This customization, guided by Consigli\u2019s Director of Lean Strategy, Cynthia Tsao, makes Consigli\u2019s Lean approaches strongest for clients and project teams.<\/p>\n Tsao, a leader in the transformation and adoption of Lean thinking for the construction industry for almost twenty years, explains the central tenets of Lean construction, \u201cLean efforts focus on identifying opportunities to reduce inefficient use of resources, and to create more value through our work. During design, Lean efforts work on improving the decision-making process so project buy-out, procurement and job-site work can proceed as planned. During construction, Lean efforts seek to improve both productivity and safety for all trades on the jobsite.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Building industry software innovator Autodesk has joined Boston\u2019s Seaport innovation community, moving from the \u2018burbs of Waltham, Mass. to 70,000-square-feet of customized space in the Seaport\u2019s monumental Innovation and Design Building. These new digs combine an advanced workshop for research and prototyping digital fabrication methods and construction automation for the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry, with collaborative office space. Called \u201cBUILD Space\u201d\u2014for \u201cBuilding, Innovation, Learning and Design\u201d\u2014these are definitely not run-of-the-mill workspaces, and the construction process has been fittingly innovative, too.<\/p>\n Autodesk\u2019s Vice President Jim Lynch, explains the vision behind BUILD Space, \u201cWe want to increase Autodesk\u2019s visibility and connection to the Boston technology culture and engagement with the innovation ecosystem. Another goal is to have the community gain a better appreciation for the impact that Autodesk customers and technology have in this world. We want to expose the community to the things we do around the built environment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Right People in the Room \u201cAnd a co-located team also helps smooth out the \u201cRequest for Information\u201d (RFI) process\u2014the clarification of design information\u2014in important ways. We\u2019ve been able to shorten the typical two-week long RFI process to a single day because the architect or engineer you need to get a clarification from is sitting next to you. Also, a co-located team reduces the need to overload the design team with a lot of questions at any one time.\u201d<\/p>\n A 60-Foot Schedule Guimond explained, \u201cOne of our first Lean steps was developing a Pull Plan with the project management team. Literally 60-feet-long, spread across the wall of the team\u2019s co-location room, each milestone of the project is shown as a colored paper \u201csticky.\u201d When one project milestone is moved, you automatically see the effect it has on the schedule, project-wide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUsing it is invaluable. It quickly brought to light that we needed to track individually\u2014rather than collectively\u2014the 100 pieces of leading-edge technology equipment to be installed. Including everything from robots to 3D printers, they\u2019re all part of the BUILD Space.<\/p>\n Customizing Design with Design-Assist For the full Lean Case Study, click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lean Focused, Patient Centered The Project Challenge In developing their Lean approach, the questions for the team became:<\/p>\n A \u201cKit of Parts\u201d Approach to Patient Room Renovations The benefits of this kit-of-parts approach:<\/p>\n The \u201cChoosing By Advantages\u201d Advantage CBA is also another way that Consigli and the project\u2019s architects, S\/L\/A\/M, are keeping the experience of patient and healthcare staff at the center. This comprehensive review considers patient and health care staff ease-of-experience, and the physical impact of construction materials. The client will consider the advantages of which patient room flooring to use? A more expensive choice that\u2019s most comfortable underfoot for staff, or a less expensive option that makes for a louder footfall? What is the best lighting choice from the perspective of the patient lying on a gurney in a hallway, en route to surgery? Which bed-curtain track allows staff to open and close curtains quietly and quickly, supporting patient privacy and calm?<\/p>\n For the full Lean Case Study, click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With a 27% growth in enrollment over the past five years, it is vital that Framingham State University\u2019s new 317-bed residential building be ready for students in the fall of 2016. To build this suite-style hall, Consigli\u2019s team is using Lean Project Delivery, customized for the fast-track construction of the 97,000-square-foot West Hall. Guiding the project are the team\u2019s series of Pull Plans\u2014the literal step-by-step plans of work phases to be built developed collaboratively with the project\u2019s trade foremen\u2014and the daily \u201cFlow Board\u201d tracking of work planned against work completed or re-planned.<\/p>\n Team Recommendation: Build Horizontally This flow of each piece of work moving smoothly to the next is the heart of Lean Project Delivery. It is the direct result of the FSU team\u2019s Lean Pull Planning.<\/p>\n Assistant Superintendent Duncan Schuster noted the powerful team buy-in Pull Planning creates. \u201cWhen we do our Pull Planning, each sub speaks to the time needed for their work and their man power and we review to make sure everything planned is feasible. It gets them involved and helps everyone to own the dates for their work. Everyone has a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n This horizontal progression was not the team\u2019s first assumption of the most efficient way to build the interior, but after the team\u2019s half-day Pull Planning session with all the trade foremen responsible for the work to come, the benefits of this approach became clear as they planned the interior construction\u2019s milestones.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was our drywall contractor who first saw that this might be a good way to go,\u201d explained Project Manager Jody Staruk. \u201cAnd all the other foremen agreed it would be a great approach.\u201d<\/p>\n Mini Pull-Plans, Maximum Benefits Like the interior Pull Plan for the suites\u2019 construction, the mini Pull Plans revealed valuable information. Completed for the building\u2019s common spaces\u2014the hall\u2019s living room, meeting room, public restrooms and the Resident Director\u2019s apartment\u2014this collaborative process showed that the public areas include almost exactly the same construction tasks the suites require, so the team can continue applying their streamlined approach.<\/p>\n For the full Lean Case Study, click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nAutodesk in Boston\u2019s Seaport: Building for Innovation with Integrated Project Delivery and Lean<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/strong>Consigli\u2019s Project Superintendent, Matt Guimond, talks about the combined impact of Integrated Project Delivery and Lean. \u201cAs an Integrated Project Delivery project, we have the great benefit of being a co-located team, all together\u2014Autodesk\u2019s project manager, the project\u2019s architects Spagnolo Gisness & Associates (SGA), engineers, M\/E\/P subcontractors and our Consigli team\u2014on-site at the Design and Innovation Building. It is great for efficient communication. When you have the right people in the room, things can go very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Lean\u2019s Pull Planning process\u2014planning a project collaboratively as a production system\u2014has been central to the project\u2019s success. The team has used Pull Planning on two levels: for high-level milestone planning, and for detailed plans of what\u2019s needed to get to each milestone, which are developed hand-in-hand with the trade foremen.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The innovative and collaborative \u201cDesign-Assist\u201d process\u2014which breaks with building industry tradition and pairs design team members with construction trades and vendors\u2014has also been an important part of the project. When Autodesk decided that they wanted their conference rooms to be modular and reconfigurable, the project\u2019s architects, SGA, created a design concept that was then developed by Consigli\u2019s team, with help from specialty interior contractors Creative Office Pavilion (COP), and millwork vendor, DIRTT.<\/p>\nUMass Memorial Health Care\u2019s Revitalization: \u201cKit of Parts\u201d for Patient-Centered Construction<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/strong>\u201cIn planning the Leanest, lowest impact approach for the renovation of UMass Memorial Health Care\u2019s (UMMHC) 250 patient rooms, we customized the Lean material delivery concept of \u2018Just-in-Time-Delivery,\u2019 expanding it to \u2018Just-in-Time Construction,\u2019 by identifying a way to renovate the patient rooms through a construction \u2018kit of parts\u2019 approach,\u201d explains Rick Gala, Project Manager for UMMHC\u2019s Campus Refresh project.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The challenge for Consigli? Renovate these 250 patient rooms and the public areas, with as few as four rooms out-of-service at a time, and with as little disruption to each campus\u2019 daily operations as possible.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong>Consigli\u2019s \u201cYes, we can!\u201d answer to all these questions was one inspired by a Lean manufacturing approach, helped by the repetitive nature of the patient room renovations. While the dimensions vary for some of these rooms, the bathroom components, millwork, interior finishes and equipment for them are the same. The team realized that almost all of the materials needed for each room could be prepared for installation at Consigli\u2019s Milford-based Pre-Fab Lab, where the materials are organized by construction sequence, pre-packaged into four \u201cConstruction Kit\u201d categories, and delivered \u201cjust-in-time\u201d for their installation. Organized into a Bathroom Kit, Finish Kits One and Two, and a Millwork Kit, together these prepared kits account for 80% of the materials needed for each room\u2019s renovation.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cChoosing by Advantages\u201d is another Lean process that\u2019s a perfect fit for the UMMHC project. Through Choosing by Advantages (CBA)\u2014 a structured decision-making pro\u00adcess\u2014 clients review construction material choices through the lens of their advantages from the end-users\u2019 perspectives. This process facilitates decision-making while also helping avoid a later need to replace or rework an aspect of a project when a less thoughtfully chosen component is found to be a problem.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
Building Framingham State University\u2019s West Hall: Lateral Thinking for a Fast-Track<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/strong>On a recent January day, the real bustle of work is inside, as Consigli\u2019s team of contractors make their way systematically across each floor, putting in place the layers of construction that make up each of the 100 suites. Across each floor, sandwiches of metal studs, insulation, wall board, taping, wall sanding, painting and room finishes are being built up.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The team has collaboratively created Pull Plans for many phases of the work. Beginning with a structural Pull Plan, they moved on to the interior plan for the six floors of suites, as well as creating individual \u201cmini-project\u201d Pull Plans for the building\u2019s public areas, which are being built concurrently. Next up will be the Pull Plan for the building\u2019s exterior.<\/p>\n