Archive for July, 2014
Thursday, July 31st, 2014
McGraw Hill Construction, the Lean Construction Institute, and Dassault Systèmes teamed up to produce an in-depth report on Lean Construction. Below is an excerpt from that report on Value Stream Mapping, implemented on the Cardiovascular Research Building project at the University of California in San Francisco.
Achieving Savings Through Value Stream Mapping
Rosendin Electric was challenged by the project owner to look at ways to bring their projects even more under budget.
As a firm that prides itself on innovation and one that strives to remain on the cutting edge of technology, Rosendin tasked one of its in-house study groups to come up with ideas that would be able to save time and cost.
As a result, one of the approaches they decided to pursue was Value Stream Mapping (VSM).
Process Improvements Identified Through Value Stream Mapping
VSM, in its simplest term, sets out to observe every step of a process and identifies areas where improvements can be made to eliminate waste. The technique was first originated by Toyota and is a lean tool that employs a flow diagram documenting in high detail every step of a process.
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Thursday, July 24th, 2014
McGraw Hill Construction, the Lean Construction Institute, and Dassault Systèmes teamed up to produce an in-depth report on Lean Construction. Below is an excerpt from that report on how Lean practices impact cost savings and profit margins.
Cost Savings from Lean Projects and Contractor Profit Margins
Given the importance of project profitability in helping to drive the adoption of Lean practices, it is critical to understand how individual players benefit from the efficiencies achieved in pursuing Lean.
Do the savings achieved improve the bottom line of the firm implementing Lean, or do they get passed along to their clients, whether that is general contractors or owners?
General (71%) and trade (72%) contractors who have implemented at least one key Lean practice agree that the savings they see from using Lean practices contributes to their bottom line and project profitability.
Tweet: “GCs & trades say #LeanCon contributes to
bottom line & project profitability”
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Thursday, July 17th, 2014
McGraw Hill Construction, the Lean Construction Institute, and Dassault Systèmes teamed up to produce an in-depth report on Lean Construction.
Below is an excerpt from that report on how digital configuration multi-product assemblies are increasing industry efficiency at Saint-Gobain.
Increasing Industry Efficiency With Digital Configuration Multi-Product Assemblies
Since 1988, building product manufacturers in the European Union have been working to comply with the “Construction Products Directive” (CPD), a piece of landmark legislation that “aims to ensure the free movement of all construction products by introducing a common technical language” to describe and define product characteristics.
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Tags: McGraw Hill Construction, Prefabrication
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Thursday, July 10th, 2014
By Jonathan Mallie, Principal, SHoP Architects, and Managing Principal, SC (SHoP Construction).
Originally posted to Compass: The 3DEXPERIENCE Magazine.
Architecture is a highly collaborative business.
Keeping numerous stakeholders – owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, utilities, permitting agencies, fabricators, suppliers and subcontractors – on the same page is a daunting task.
With so many players, the industry’s traditional, tried-and-true method for communication has been to develop dense and detailed drawing packages, which are then rolled into tubes and delivered by courier or overnight mail. As soon as drawings are received changes occur, requiring the revision, production and delivery of an entirely new set.
Today, with international projects and teams spread across the globe, such as they are for the Botswana Innovation Hub in Gaborone, the importance of having an efficient and effective system for project communication is greater than ever.
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Tags: BIM, SHoP
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Thursday, July 3rd, 2014
Pat Henderson, the outspoken president of Hardstone Construction, defied industry tradition to apply 3D techniques pioneered in discrete manufacturing to the challenges of a commercial project.
 Pat Henderson, President,
Hardstone Construction In the process, he proved that cost overruns are not a necessary evil of construction … and that some risks are well worth taking.
Before he founded Hardstone Construction, a Las Vegas-based general contracting firm, Pat Henderson led $3 billion in projects at two of the largest U.S.-based construction companies.
Despite 30 years of experience, however, certain aspects of the industry still puzzle him.
For example, why does the industry accept 20% cost overruns as a normal part of doing business? << Click to Tweet
And why do construction companies resist the 3D design technologies proven in countless other industries – technologies that could eliminate the overruns?
Getting answers to those questions is important to Henderson because he wants to leave his employees and his daughter, whom he is grooming to take over the company, a stronger, more profitable, and less frustrating industry than the one he has known.
“I am convinced 3D has the power to eliminate the problems that abound in the construction industry,” the forthright Henderson said. “I believe it will reduce waste in construction by upwards of 10%. When you consider the trillions of dollars spent on construction in the U.S. alone, that is a very significant savings.”
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Tags: Hardstone Construction
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