Archive for the ‘Business Processes’ Category
Thursday, September 11th, 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 the the impact Lean practices are having on contractors in regards to scheduling.
The Impact on Contractors of Schedule Decreases Due to the Adoption of Lean Practices
 Reduced project schedule is one of the top benefits of adopting Lean practices, and saving time in the construction industry also cuts costs on projects and can increase profitability.
However, the savings only accrue to the contractor if the owner has not already factored the reduced amount of time into their expectations of the contractor, especially in the case of a negotiated project, or if the contractor has not deemed it necessary to build those cost savings into their bid in order to win a project in a highly competitive market.
The study results suggest, though, that these options are not mutually exclusive. About two thirds of contractors report that the schedule savings they experience due to their Lean practices do have a positive impact on the profit they experience in their projects, and just about the same percentage of contractors report that they are able to bid projects more competitively due to the schedule savings.
 Tweet: “About 2/3 of contractors report that adoption of #LeanCon allowed them to bid more competitively”
Clearly, there must be significant overlap of firms who both have schedule reductions feeding their bottom line and schedule reductions absorbed in their efforts to be more competitive.
However, the findings also reveal that the industry is nearly unanimous about the growing expectations of owners that projects can be done in shorter time frames due to the adoption of Lean practices in the industry.
 Tweet: “The industry expects that projects can be done in shorter time frames due to the adoption of #LeanCon”
(more…)
Comments Off on How Lean Construction Practices Are Decreasing Schedules for Contractors
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.
(more…)
Comments Off on Lean Construction Case Study: UCSF Cardiovascular Building Team Implements “Value Stream Mapping”
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.
(more…)
Tags: McGraw Hill Construction, Prefabrication
Comments Off on A Lean Construction Case Study: How Saint-Gobain Increases Efficiency With Lean Practices
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.
(more…)
Tags: BIM, SHoP
Comments Off on THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE: Jonathan Mallie, Principal, SHoP Architects, and Managing Principal, SC (SHoP Construction)
Thursday, June 26th, 2014
 Trade contractors that have thought about going Lean but are still waiting for the “right” project to come along may be missing major opportunities.
It’s true that as Lean first moved from manufacturing into the construction arena, its use was typically driven by a project owner’s desire to keep costs from running over budget and ensure project milestones were reached on time.
Pioneering owners led the formation of integrated teams and required everyone (construction managers, architects, engineers, GCs, and major subcontractors) to apply lean project delivery methodologies
Today, however, even a single project contributor who adopts Lean Construction practices to improve business processes will ultimately deliver increased value to the customer.
(more…)
Tags: CornerCube, McGraw Hill Construction
Comments Off on A Bottom-Up Approach to Lean Construction: Increase Business Opportunities for Subs, Value for Owners
Thursday, June 12th, 2014
 Mr. Fernando España, President of Corner Cube, Inc.
Fernando España is at the forefront of Lean construction practices in the US and abroad.
With over 30 years in the construction industry, España has extensive experience in the facilitation, definition, design, implementation, monitoring, and optimization of Lean solutions.
He is the president of CornerCube, a Dassault Systèmes partner located in the San Francisco Bay area, which offers Lean construction solutions, 3D technology solutions, and related technical services to the AEC industry.
España recently offered his perspectives with us regarding the current state of the industry, trends in technology, and Lean Thinking. Below is a transcript of a portion of our conversation.
(more…)
Tags: CornerCube
Comments Off on The Evolution of AEC Tech: Q-and-A with CornerCube’s Fernando España
Thursday, May 29th, 2014
You may have heard in the news about Façade Design for Fabrication, an offering recently announced by Dassault Systèmes.
Early release clients are thrilled with the impact it’s had on their services, so we thought we’d provide an overview to the AEC Café community.
What is the Façade Design for Fabrication offering?
Façade Design for Fabrication is what we call a “solution experience”—a set of applications built on our 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The following video provides an in-depth tour of the program’s revolutionary capabilities:
(more…)
Comments Off on How To Go From Facade Design To Fabrication and Back Again In a Heartbeat
Thursday, May 22nd, 2014
Instead of the linear, time-consuming 12-step process that most architectural planners cope with, here we propose an efficient, iterative planning process, which will also result in a superior design:
An Integrated Planning Process for the Architecture Industry
I. Functional Model
Create a single model that allows you to test your concepts, fail faster, and find the best options. This will enable you to present stronger concepts to your client.
Meanwhile, adapting to new data and feedback is crucial for an efficient planning process. As more information is collected and incorporated, your model should update accordingly.
(more…)
Comments Off on A Space Planning Approach for Better, Faster, Stronger Schemes
Thursday, May 1st, 2014
It was late on a Saturday…
The team was in a design competition, working over the weekend to develop a design massing concept to meet a project brief. They’d worked all day Saturday to produce drawings for the competition boards, and switched gears to produce the reports to accompany the boards.
Just as they were about to paste in the space program spreadsheet, someone realized that the concept was 10% under the requirement for a key department.
This late in the process, the team leader decided to fake the numbers in the spreadsheet.
“I’m sure no one will notice, and I sure wish we didn’t have to, but we’re out of time,“ he thought.
The next evening, the design principal learned about the faked spreadsheet and he wasn’t happy. The team worked overnight Sunday to update the design, reproduce the drawings, and recreate the spreadsheet so it reflected the actual solution to the brief.
What went wrong? Why couldn’t the team keep up with a modification to the concept?
(more…)
Comments Off on Why Your Space Planning Process Is Giving You Grey Hair
Thursday, April 24th, 2014
Last month, Fast Company named SHoP Architects as the world’s most innovative company in architecture of 2014.
This is no surprise to us at Dassault Systèmes. SHoP is a long-time customer and uses 3DS technology to develop high-profile projects such as the iconic Barclays Center in New York City, home to the Brooklyn Nets. Using the 3DS platform, SHoP designed and engineered the Center’s façade, then developed data for off-site fabrication and on-site construction coordination of 12,000 uniquely sized steel panels.
SHoP has always embraced the idea of a new challenge. So when approached to design and fabricate a four-story modular residence for Red Hook, an area in Brooklyn hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy, the firm was quick to rise to the occasion.
(more…)
Tags: Prefabrication, SHoP
Comments Off on Behind the Scenes: How SHoP Designed an Innovative, Modular Brooklyn Brownstone [VIDEO]
|
Reduced project schedule is one of the top benefits of adopting Lean practices, and saving time in the construction industry also cuts costs on projects and can increase profitability.
