Our Blog

Bill Kowalewski, Executive Director at Southington Care Center, felt confident C.E. Floyd would be on time and on budget with the renovation project. Why? Because C.E. Floyd was using a lean construction process, which enabled Kowalewski to see any potential risks and delays ahead of time.

Hartford Healthcare, the parent company of Southington Care Center, has been a long-time proponent for lean planning. Kowalewski uses it himself and knows the benefits of the lean approach. That made him an easy choice to be a panelist on our recent webinar, Are you optimizing results by applying lean planning fundamentals to your business or project?

Panelists discussed how lean is a visual communications tool that fosters decision-making, transparency and better worker engagement.

Lean Planning Fosters Timely Decisions

Lean Construction and Planning is an effective communications tool. It changes the jobsite culture from one where the general contractor tells everyone what to do to one where each trade partner has input on their piece of the work.

The planning begins with milestone planning – determining the right sequence of work for the job with input from the people who will be doing that work. In this stage we don’t need to know all the details of how everything is going to happen yet.

Next we move to the six-week-look-ahead schedule. At this point, we need to make that work ready and know what needs to happen to get it ready. This includes materials, labor, RFIs, etc.

Finally, we move to the weekly work plan and daily huddles. These go over what work will be done that week and day respectively, who will hand off what work to whom and on what day, and any lessons learned from work that wasn’t completed as planned.

At the Southington Care Center renovation, Kyle Bopp, C.E. Floyd Superintendent, put together six-week-look-ahead schedules with the trade partners and brought a three-week-look-ahead schedule to Kowalewski during the Owner, Architect, Contractor (OAC) meetings. Here they identified and discussed constraints, handoffs between trade partners or with the owner, accurate timelines, and upcoming safety concerns and high-risk activities. 

By planning all the work six weeks and three weeks out, the process encourages decisions to be made with enough time to keep the work on track.  

Lean Planning Creates Transparency & Accountability

“By making the planning visual, it goes from being ‘my work’ to ‘our work’,” commented Colin Milberg, Principal with ASKM Associates. “People are accountable to the rest of the team and have a better understanding of how their work impacts other people.”

Bopp noted, “It’s inevitable that you’ll have someone who doesn’t see the value in the Lean approach. If you continue to work as a team and model the system, that person will come around.”

Milberg added, “It’s about honest communication and using missed drivers as an opportunity to learn and not to beat up the trade partner.”

Lean boards provide a visual representation of the decision-making process that’s transparent for everyone and enables each trade to plan for their work and to adjust as needed. When everyone can see and understand each other’s plans, they can coordinate their efforts and make adjustments together when curve balls and roadblocks arise.

It was through these lean boards and the three-week-look-ahead schedule that gave Kowalewski the confidence that his project was on time and on budget. In discussions during the OAC meetings, he was able to answer any lingering questions and help the team eliminate constraints on the owner’s end to make sure the work is ready.

Lean Planning Creates Engaged Workers

In an industry notorious for hard work and long hours, Bopp mentioned that lean gives construction workers a chance for a better work-life balance.

Kowalewski added that by being part of a team and engaging the workers, they’re happier and produce better work. When everyone has the opportunity to have input, worker engagement scores increase, and workers know they have the opportunity to make a difference.

“Planning takes time, but it’s time well spent. It will pay for itself in the long run,” said Brandon Schrenker, Senior Project Manager at Walker Consultants. He notes that being proactive and planning ahead prevents fire drills and long nights, which means less stress for everyone, including the owner.

Pete Doucet, Director of MA Operations at C.E. Floyd, agrees, “Working to solve a problem is always harder than working to prevent the problem in the first place.”

Now that’s a win for everyone!

Doucet moderated the panel Are you Optimizing Results by Applying Lean Planning Fundamentals to your Business or Project? Panelists included:

• Bill Kowalewski, Executive Director, Southington Care Center*
• Colin Milberg, Principal, ASKM Associates
• Brandon Schrenker, Senior Project Manager, Walker Consultants
• Kyle Bopp, Project Superintendent, C.E. Floyd Company

*Shortly after the webinar, Kowalewksi began a job with Central Vermont Medical Center’s Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing.

Contact us to learn how we can help you with your next construction project.

Check out our other articles related to Lean:

Lean Construction is a Cultural Fit

5 Lessons for Improved Lean Implementation