Turner Construction

Lean learning labs┬áTurner Construction has embarked on a company-wide effort to use the principles of lean to improve its project delivery. Keith Regan learns how projects across the country have become learning laboratories and how subcontractors and project owners are all embracing the new approaches. Turner Construction is one of the largest building companies in the United States, completing $10.7 billion worth of diverse contracting work in 2008. ItÔÇÖs also one of the oldest, with more than a century of experience since its founding in 1902. Over that history, Turner has developed extensive project management expertise that helps it deliver even the most complex projects on time and on budget. Still, the companyÔÇÖs desire for continuous improvement prompted it to turn to the techniques and principles of lean, borrowing approaches for efficiency and quality from the manufacturing industry. Around the country, dozens of Turner projects have become lean learning labs, with project managers implementing techniques aimed at getting input from subcontracting partners earlier in the process, building more realistic construction schedules and working as a team to identify barriers to getting projects done quicker and better, says George Zettel, lean construction champion at the New York-based contracting firm. ÔÇ£The feedback has been fantastic,ÔÇØ Zettel says. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre seeing a lot of buy-in and a lot of the resistance falling by the wayside. But the long-term goal is to have it viewed as more than just a set of tools. ItÔÇÖs really the entire culture trying to change.ÔÇØA new approach to working with subcontractorsÔÇöZettel prefers the term trade partnersÔÇöis a key first step in that journey, one that targets one of the major forms of waste that lean seeks to drive out of processes. ÔÇ£A key form of waste is under-utilized talent and thatÔÇÖs what we saw in the old way of working with those partners,ÔÇØ he says, adding that when needed, outside consultants versed in lean construction techniques have been brought in to jump-start the lean labs. ÔÇ£Those subs have a lot of experience that we can leverage to make better projects, but in the past, the process didnÔÇÖt always allow for that knowledge to be captured.ÔÇØHow that works can be seen in some of TurnerÔÇÖs ongoing projects. At Miami International Airport, Turner is managing work on the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC), including a multi-level parking and rental car facility that required building fueling stations on multiple levels, something engineers on the project had never seen done. Turner held a series of Pull Planning Meetings with subcontractors on the project, giving them the opportunity to have input into the construction schedule and identifying what the major obstacles to on-time completion would be. It was then able to focus on those potential schedule busters, says Frank Fernandez, senior project manager. Project superintendent T.J. Mincer says the scheduling approach was quickly embraced by subcontractors, who were far more used to the traditional approach of being given a schedule created by the construction manager and told to adhere to it. The process helped identify some unexpected time requirements as well. ÔÇ£We found out that because of the multi-level fueling stations, weÔÇÖd need 12 weeks to flush out the systems,ÔÇØ Mincer says, adding that the fueling stations on all four levels also raised code compliance issues, since ÔÇ£that was something that could have been a surprise to us, and itÔÇÖs just one example of how we avoided pitfalls.ÔÇØThe team is closely tracking how well it meets its schedule goals, with weekly percentage scores generated. ÔÇ£Our goal was originally to be above 90 percent and weÔÇÖve had some weeks where we fell short due to weather or where we hadnÔÇÖt issued a change order in a timely enough manner, and thatÔÇÖs given us the opportunity to map those and identify them and be aware of the opportunities to improve,ÔÇØ Fernandez says. Across the country, in Burlingame, California, another lean laboratory is unfolding at the Mills Peninsula project, where Turner is overseeing the construction of a 450,000-square-foot hospital meant to replace an older facility and bring the hospital into compliance with codes. E.J. Saucier, the project executive for Turner, says parts of the $400 million project, which also includes a medical office building and a parking facility, were done in a design-assist method, with the project owner asking about ways to use lean. Eventually, a contract attachment was drafted that put forth some lean ideals the owner would like to see implemented on the project. ÔÇ£That helped start a dialog about how lean could be used, but it only works when you actually work it,ÔÇØ Saucier says. Once the Pull Planning Meetings and integrated scheduling approach were put in place, some subcontractors asked for schedules padded or sandbagged. Once they were convinced their input was being sought and would be given weight as schedules were built, that quickly faded, however. ÔÇ£YouÔÇÖve got to be prepared to be persistent and to get buy-in. You have to demonstrate that it does work. The trades are very pragmatic people in the end. They want to get in and get out and go home. Once they see this will really help them with that goal, they embrace it.ÔÇØ Because of the complexity and the sheer number of trades involved, the hospital project used a longer window, with a 10-week planning outlook, and the team has been pleased with the results of the scoring assessments, which still leave room for improvement. Saucier says even more opportunities exist for design and engineering teams to embrace the approach as well, but already subcontractors are beginning to ask if the same lean approach will be used on future projects. ÔÇ£A lot of people have seen other improvement efforts come and go, but what you find in leanÔÇöthe scheduling, the scoring, the monitoring, the commitmentsÔÇöare all good things and good practices that should be continued even if you donÔÇÖt call it lean any longer,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇô Editorial research by Vincent Kielty┬á