J. P. Cullen & Sons, Inc.

A family affair┬áAlready unique for being a family-run company 117 years after its founding, J. P. Cullen & Sons is pioneering the use of continuous process improvement and utilizing the latest technologies, president and CEO David Cullen tells Gay Sutton. At construction company J. P. Cullen & Sons, the family ethos runs deep, spreading back in a direct timeline through four generations of the same familyÔÇöa heritage that is very rare in the construction industry.┬á The company was originally formed in 1892 by David CullenÔÇÖs great-grandfather a few years after the family immigrated to the US from Ireland. ÔÇ£They started modestly, as do many large corporations,ÔÇØ says president and CEO David Cullen. ÔÇ£But perhaps their biggest milestone was in 1914 when Chevrolet decided to locate a facility in Janesville Wisconsin, our hometown. And that was the start of a longstanding business relationship.ÔÇØ┬á The Chevrolet deal catapulted the company directly into the industrial marketplaceÔÇöthough the relationship has recently come to an end with the closure of the Janesville plant. From that point in time, operations expanded into commercial construction and other projects such as churches and school buildings. CullenÔÇÖs grandfather joined the company in the 1920s and saw it through the difficulties of the Great Depression. His father joined the firm in 1950, and finally David entered its ranks in the 1980s. Under their direction the company developed an authoritative presence in a wide variety of sectors, from government, education and medical building through commercial, sports, cultural and industrial construction. It also developed expertise in the sensitive restoration of historic buildings.┬áToday the company operates across Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa and is run by three brothers: David; Mark, who is chairman of the board; and Richard, who is vice president of field operations. ÔÇ£And there are members of the next generation who are preparing to join the company,ÔÇØ Cullen says.Alongside the traditional values of quality and service, the company believes in rigorously exploring the latest technologies and management processes to stay ahead of the competition, and it is leading the way in both. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre currently at the initial phase of a very exciting technological advancement called Building Information Modeling [BIM] technology,ÔÇØ says Cullen. ÔÇ£It allows our design and construction teams to collaborate closely in the design and management of a project.ÔÇØ┬á This technology brings several very distinctive and valuable tools to bear, and where many of these have previously been available as individual modules, BIM delivers them in one powerful integrated system. It can, for example dictate where materials should be staged so that theyÔÇÖre as close to the work as possible, or it can calculate the scheduling and sequencing of deliveries, and it can even assist with estimating. One of the big benefits of BIM is a three-dimensional clash-detection component that lays out in minute 3D detail every element of the build, even down to the layout and positioning of wiring, pipework and ducting. This means that any possible clashes between different elements can be identified and dealt with at the design stage rather than discovering the difficulty during constructionÔÇöa common problem that usually results in work being stripped out and repeated, leading to delays and increased costs.Greater operational efficiency is also being sought through the process of continuous improvementÔÇöor lean constructionÔÇöa concept that was first introduced to the company some 12 years ago and has become a way of life for staff at all levels. The aim is to remove waste from the building process.┬á ÔÇ£We believe our people want to be productive,ÔÇØ Cullen explains. ÔÇ£And when theyÔÇÖre not, itÔÇÖs largely due to management. Our job is to enable them to be productive by having the tools, materials and equipment in the right place and at the right time so they can do the job.ÔÇØThe way the company goes about the improvement process is quite simple and involves both field staff and managementÔÇöand this involvement at all levels is essential, says Cullen, if it is to work. ÔÇ£We have a number of employees we call our process engineers, who go to the job site and film the process that is going on. Then they sit with our people at the conclusion of the day, look at the film and ask, ÔÇÿwhere can we improve?ÔÇÖÔÇØImprovements in productivity have been emphatic. ÔÇ£The studies weÔÇÖve done have shown that weÔÇÖve been able to reduce our labor cost on units of work by around 30 percent simply by being more efficient through our lean efforts,ÔÇØ Cullen continues. ÔÇ£We believe weÔÇÖre way ahead of the competition in lean construction, and itÔÇÖs certainly a differentiator for us.ÔÇØ He cannot see how the improvement process will ever become redundant. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs always evolving, and there are always improvements that can be made.ÔÇØ The company is currently involved in many large and high-profile projects, and it has recently completed the restoration of the Milwaukee city hall, a beautiful craftsman-built historic building that, when it was constructed in 1895, was the third-largest building in the US. ÔÇ£It was a gorgeous facility: ornate, with gargoyles and beautiful brickwork. There had been a significant amount of deterioration to the exterior, so we removed much of the existing structure and replaced it, including a large amount of terracotta work.ÔÇØ J. P. Cullen likes to build long-term relationships with its customers, such as software company Epic Systems of Madison. Epic employs 3,000 people, many of them programmers engaged in developing software systems for the medical professional, and the company is expanding rapidly. Cullen is currently constructing five new office buildings to house the programmers and has previously built a 4,000-seat auditorium and a training facility for Epic users. Where many design-build or program management companies merely perform the executive component of the build and employ contractors to do the work, J. P. Cullen performs a good deal of the construction work also. The company has 175 permanent staff and up to 750 onsite, depending on the work in hand. This reliance on its own trained workforce removes many of the conflicts that can occur in the construction process and makes effective improvement possible. ÔÇ£As master builders, we do everything we can to complete each project in the way the owner envisioned. And we always aim to do so in a positive and cooperative spirit.ÔÇØ  ÔÇô Editorial research by Tim Conlon┬á