During construction team daily meetings the sequencing of activities (similar to production plans in manufacturing units) is usually crude. You will see that proper synchronization of activities will be missing, calculations of resources will be done on thumb rules, balancing of resources will be seldom done accurately. Obsolete thumb rules based on past experiences are used for estimations. Many times under pressure from customer team, contractor team plans the work for the day which may not be justified from cash flow perspective for the team.
There are few construction Managers who do sequencing very effectively & fearlessly but most of the other Construction Leaders do it in a very ad-hoc way & under lot of pressure from customer.
It brings a need for special focus on Sequencing of work at a site considering all players of ecosystem similar to that done by lean experts in a manufacturing plant. Lean concepts of waste, Kanban, synchronization, etc need to be implemented in the site operations. As per lean the flow of material & information should be directed from construction.
An effort should be made by senior leadership for improving sequencing. some of the benefits associated with enhancing the effectiveness of sequencing are
- accelerating cash flow
- provide a competitive advantage in the industry
- Create an entry barrier to new entrants
It is seen that by proper sequencing weeks’ work can be brought down to days. Further to reduce below days to hours, change in the way things are happening in the ecosystem needs to be transformed. But most EPC firms keep operating at weeks’ timelines. Such firms need a catalyst (a consultant) who can help in asking the right questions & bring a culture of effectiveness in sequencing.
Is the sequencing in your firm effective or your firm is just doing what all other firms are doing? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.