The BigFish Network

Bigfish announce a distribution agreement with The Centre fo Construction Innovation, Salford University for Constructing Excellence Members

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:56:38 GMT

Bigfish are pleased to announce a distribution agreement with the Centre for Construction Innovation (CCI), School of the Built Environment, University of Salford. The Bigfish Vision to make Lean Construction knowledge available and accessible across the construction sector takes a major leap forward with this agreement, as it will provide easy and preferential access to Bigfish’s unique Lean Construction e-learning tools for all members of the Constructing Excellence Network.

Andrew Moore, Bigfish Director says “This agreement is very important to us because it is through the Constructing Excellence Network that we can get close to and work with those organisations that are interested in developing Lean systems and improving their business outlook, that is, the very organisations that we created this material for.”

Andrew Thomas, CEO of CCINW and Associate Head of Academic Enterprise, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford says “The DVD based suite of training material compliments the CCI activity and services and takes delivery to a new medium. The content is excellent and ideal for delivering savings and efficiencies on real projects immediately.”

Since Sir John Egan’s ‘Rethinking Construction Report’ was published in 1998, the awareness of Lean Construction has been growing year on year, however the practical application of Lean has fallen somewhat behind Egan’s expectations. There have been a number of reasons for this; the time taken to develop the techniques, the shortage of experts to teach these techniques, a lack of credible case study examples to act as a guiding light and, most importantly a lack of urgency to change mainly due to a buoyant economy. However much of that has changed, the techniques are proven, there are companies out there that are delivering lean projects and the recent economic crisis has provided the industry with the stimulus required to make change happen.

Now with the launch of Bigfish’s e-learning tools in conjunction with the Centre For Construction Innovation and Salford University, getting access to the latest Lean Construction tools and techniques has never been easier. Using real construction case study examples, the Bigfish Improvement System enables a company’s construction management staff to learn Lean techniques designed to enable them to manage their projects more effectively, driving out waste and improving the overall project delivery performance.

Here are just some of the benefits of learning and implementing Lean within your business:
• Immediately reduce project delivery times by removing waste from construction programmes and working more efficiently
• As a result reduce projects costs
• Improve quality through more stable working practices
• And maximise the use of your company’s resources
• All of which result in better profit margins and increased customer satisfaction

Want to know more ? goto www.ccinw.com/sites/ctp_pages.html?site_id=6§ion_id=196

Lean Construction Links

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:35:20 GMT

A list of useful websites, with overviews, for those new to Lean Construction are detailled below;

Firstly a definition of Lean Construction from Wikipedia with lots of historic background and further reading;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Construction

The Seminal Publication by Lauri Koskela* analysing the new production philosophies and how they could be used to create a new construction philosophy (later to be called Lean Construction);

http://www.leanconstruction.org/pdf/Koskela-TR72.pdf

*Lauri Koskela is now a Professor at The Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment (BuHu) based within Salford University. BuHu are a centre of excellence, not only for Lean Construction, with over 170 PhD students working at the cutting edge of research in the construction sector. BuHu’s primary themes are ICT, Management and the Environment.

http://www.buhu.salford.ac.uk/

The International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC), founded in 1993, is made up by a network of professionals and researchers in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of AEC have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the challenges ahead;

http://www.iglc.net/

The Lean Construction Institute, (LCI) was founded in August 1997 and is now a non-profit corporation. We do research to develop knowledge regarding project based production management in the design, engineering, and construction of capital facilities.

http://www.leanconstruction.org/

The Lean Construction Journal - Published by the Lean Construction Institute since 2004, the LCJ is an international refereed journal devoted to Lean Construction practice and research.

http://www.leanconstruction.org/lcj/lcj.html

BigFish announce the launch of Lean Construction Training Courses.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:37:06 GMT

BigFish has developed and is now offering to deliver Lean Construction training days. These live training courses, as with our eLearning courses, provide the skills and knowledge required to implement Lean Construction techniques and start driving improvements into construction project performance. However on the course this learning is enhanced by providing additional insight and support for companies who are either new to Lean Construction or those that want to jump start their business improvement projects.

Unlike other training BigFish ensure the effectiveness our training by providing post-course support via membership to the BigFish website and we provide the associated eLearning Teachpoint to the course so the learning can be reinforced and even shared.

Each one day course is delivered by an industry expert in that subject and is focussed on a specific Lean Construction
subject. There are 4 elements to each course;

1. Learn the Lean Construction theory and techniques for each subject,

2. Learn how to implement this knowledge in a live construction situations,

3. A workshop to Identify and Plan improvements achievable on current and future projects,

4. An overview of the eLearning, provided with the course, allowing this knowledge to be shared with colleagues and
suppliers enabling further improvements.

Our initial course portfolio covers the foundation subjects of Lean Construction;

1. Collaborative Planning – Learn how to cut project times by up to 25% by working collaboratively with your suppliers.

2. Performance Measurement & Data Analysis – Learn how to install a KPI system and how to use KPI’s to problem solve, communicate and drive improvements throughout a project.

3. Work & Waste - Learn how to identify and then eliminate wastes, in their many forms, from on site activity dramatically increasing productivity and profitability.

4. Workplace Organisation – Learn how to create and control the work environment increasing safety and efficiency and creating sites which you can be proud of.

5. Introduction to Business Improvement – New to Lean? This course will teach the background to Lean Construction and explains how to prepare organisations to be ready for Business Improvement projects.

Our courses are suitable for groups of up to 12 Project and Site Managers. Our courses have been specifically designed for the construction industry, they can be further tailored to fit the specific needs of an organisation / sector and BigFish can deliver training anywhere in the UK*.

How Much? ONLY ?375 - These days usually cost ?1,500 BUT up to 75% funding is available for UK SME’s through the LSC’s Leadership and Management Fund.

Interested? Contact BigFish on 01142 803060 or email construction@thebigfishnetwork.com

*Outside the UK? We can deliver these courses anywhere around the world either directly or via one of our BigFish Global Partners please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Shepherd finds its own way

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:29:20 GMT

'Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail - How companies wishing to embark on the Lean journey could do worse than start with simple detailed look-ahead planning.

Article courtesy of Construction News 3 November, 2008 | By Lucy Handley

One company is discovering the benefits of a lean construction programme

A programme manager who sits in an office and then hands a schedule to the site manager and subcontractors is a familiar situation. But this can delay a project and waste time when materials don’t turn up or the design isn’t quite right, due to lack of communication.

Being more efficient is something which the industry has been called to think about time and again. While there are moves towards lean building, it is something which still needs to be passed along the supply chain by main contractors.

Shepherd Construction decided some years ago to try to change the way it worked, being inspired by Toyota and its Toyota Way, which focuses on eliminating waste.

Using external consultants it developed the Shepherd Way, which is based on BRE’s construction lean improvement programme and it has now hired a manager to permanently oversee lean construction and to try to apply it to all its sites.

But what was the firm doing before? “It used to be one man who sat in an office and created a programme and the subbies would have to accept it,” says Martin Elms, the firm’s lean champion for the west of England.

Paul Steele, a construction manager at the company adds: “We were doing things but in a less structured way, it wasn’t so precise. We never had anything equivalent to the collaborative planning meetings with the supply chain.”

Motivational tactics

“This is a more realistic programme which subcontractors have input and buy-in into, so it makes them a bit more obliged to get it done,” says Mr Elms.

After deciding to follow the car manufacturer’s principles and running workshops with BRE, the firm appointed several ‘lean champions’ to look after projects in different regions about six months ago.

Mr Elms explains that four stages are applied once a job is won. Programme planning happens before a job gets on site. There is then a forward planning stage about six weeks before the start of the job.

“We discuss what will stop things going to plan – is the design ready? What are the constraints to the project flowing?

The project is then broken down into weekly chunks so it can be micro-managed and then we have a 10-minute daily catchup,” he says.

Key to this way of working is getting subcontractors involved early. Mr Steele looked after the construction of a ?14 million laboratory for Cancer Research in South Mimms, which was one of the pilot schemes to use this type of project management.

He says it is vital to get the whole team into key meetings as soon as possible.

“The first thing was getting subcontractors to come to planning meetings and initially the reaction was: ‘who is paying me for this?’ But many thought: ‘yes I’ll have a go’. It was a bit difficult to start with and people were a bit suspicious of it,” he says.

Total involvement

But once people understood what was expected they realised it made their jobs easier.

“We can’t keep them away now. We said to them: ‘look at it as an investment to make sure the job is done well’. Before, they have been a bit beaten over the head with it but they are now involved from day one. You get a happier environment to work in as well,” Mr Steele says.

So is it working? He says: “Yes – we finish jobs on time. Everyone knows what everyone else is doing, work areas are ready, it helps logistics planning and we know when vehicles are turning up. We bring up all the issues and solve them as a team.”

However, it does rely on those in the meetings communicating with others. “The problem lately has been that a senior manager comes to the meeting but it hasn’t got fed back to the coalface properly,” says Mr Steele.

On the South Mimms project, which is now complete, he says it made for a calmer atmosphere towards the end. “Noone is running around trying to firefight and it stops everyone running around like headless chickens,” he says.

Luckily the client did not need convincing, already being a fan of the Toyota Way. “The designers and clients always come into the meetings. At the end of each planning session we ended up with lists of issues and who is going to do what – ordering bricks or getting the design of the doors issued,” says Mr Steele.

‘THERE IS STILL A HUGE AMOUNT OF WASTE’

The Toyota Way was developed by the car company following the Second World War in response to the demand for more efficient ways of doing things. It is now seen as an inspiration for lean ways of working.

Richard O’Connor, an associate director of the Collaborative Working Centre and a director of 6ix Consulting, started off working in the car industry and then moved on to help develop BRE’s construction lean improvement programme.

“Construction does a lot of good work but there is still a huge amount of waste. It’s about relationships with the supply chain and also up the chain, with architects and so on.

“It’s about involving as many people as you possibly can. That is why it’s not always achieved.

“It optimises value for money – companies I have worked with have reduced programmes by up to 40 per cent.”

Mr O’Connor says that all managers need to be fully into the idea of putting lean construction into practice. But he understands that there are those who can be less willing. “Some people can think short-term or are driven by lowest price. But the focus should be on quality, cost, delivery and customer or tenant satisfaction.”

Concerns that training subcontractors in this way of thinking may mean they take their expertise to competitors when they move on should not be an issue, says Mr O’Connor. “The key is strong leadership,” he says.

News story courtesy of Construction News follow the link to the original article.
http://www.cnplus.co.uk/shepherd-finds-its-own-way/1913216.article

What 2009 holds for the construction sector ?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:18:18 GMT

A SENSE OF URGENCY - industry leaders believe that adopting a Lean approach will now more than ever help construction companies survive the downturn

Article courtesy of Construction News - 12 January, 2009

Our experts map out their predictions for the year ahead. What are your feelings about the year ahead generally?

Vaughan Burnand, director at Constructing Excellence, says:

I think major contractors that have been saying they are OK for work will notice a major shortfall for this year and this will lead to very competitive conditions.

MIPIM will be mixed, with half saying they can’t afford it and half saying they can’t afford not to be there. But attendance will be up on last year. Supply side, prices will fall quite dramatically but work will still be hard to come by. House prices will stabilise at a low level causing a drought to everyone involved in building houses.

More bricklayers will become taxi drivers.

Garvis Snook, chief executive of Rok, says:

In my view, the industry will be 30 per cent smaller this year than in 2007. That will mean more than 30 per cent of jobs will go as efficiency improves. Once many of the migrant workers have left for home [the downturn] will bite deep into the indigenous workforce. Last time, the industry lost 350,000 skilled people who never returned.

New entrant numbers will almost stop. Just like last time, many new graduates will look to industries other than construction to develop their careers. This time though, it is a world-wide recession with even the property boom in Dubai grinding to a halt.

I remember the recession of 1989 to 1993. For months, years in some cases, many in the industry tried to deny what was happening. I hear the same things this time but the difference is the phenomenal speed at which we have fallen into recession and the unprecedented depths we have yet to plum.

Nobody working in the industry today has ever experienced anything like it. Many, particularly if they are white collar and working on site for main contractors, have felt little of it yet. They will currently be making good returns because sub-contractors and material prices have dropped. Reality will strike this year.

While this sounds very grim, we must remember it is only a passing phase. Things will get better again and I do expect small green shoots of recovery beginning to appear late in the year.

Catherine Tallis, project manager at Mace, says:

There can be no doubt that the year ahead will be tough. The outlook is challenging, with intense competition between companies trying to secure contracts.

The construction industry is battening down the hatches to weather a storm that could be bigger and longer-lasting than anticipated.

That said, companies working within the public sector will potentially have an easier time. There are a number of major projects in the pipeline and the possibility of more if Gordon Brown sticks to the [free market] approach he has tabled.

Chris Haughey is managing director of groundworks contractor CJ Haughey and a Construction News Future Leader in 2007. He says:

There is going to be less work to go round and the work that is available will have an increasing number of companies tendering for it. This will have the knock-on effect of driving prices down, which I hope will not affect quality. The public sector could be the saving grace with continued work but it will be sporadic.

Some firms will have good order books for next year but this is only good if the planned work proceeds on time. While every company wants to plan growth, I know of many which are planning survival.

How will companies have to work differently?

A Karen Gill is founder of business resource Everywoman and was made an MBE in the New Year Honours list. She says:

All companies will have to be prepared to more than triple their activity for the same results. Sounds depressing doesn’t it? But we’ll get used to it. In essence it will mean having a real focus on sales and business development.

Being in the market and front of mind of your clients will be vital to ensuring their loyalty and custom. Not just to see you through the downturn, but essentially, for when the market turns. Any business leader that doesn’t beef up their sales and marketing activity
will do so at their peril.

What is becoming clear when I speak with business leaders is that there will be a need to get your head down and focus.

One said they had done a ‘recession audit’ and identified the three key areas they wanted to the team to focus on and eliminated some parts of the business they don’t see working profitably.

We will need to keep having these meetings with our teams, pulling on their ideas and creativity. Innovation comes from accepting current models no longer work, which generally happens in a downturn. So I think it’s going to be very exciting.

Garvis Snook says:

Firms will have to be very lean, mean and innovative to survive, let alone prosper.

There will be a greater demand for maintenance and repair and while tender prices in construction are already being slashed, this will only get worse. Some will fall over because a customer or two falls over on them. So we will all have to be careful who we give credit to and then outperform and love our customers more than ever. If we don’t, there are many others lined up behind us wanting to eat our lunch.

Vaughan Burnand says:

People in this industry are cynical for a reason. I have been in the industry for 33 years since university without a day’s unemployment but I am one of the lucky ones. It’s a shame that we have too many senior managers not willing to learn more efficient ways of working that would prevent this cycle.

I am not fed up of saying it, but contractors will have to invest in working in a different way: lean design and lean construction. We often say that companies need a sense of urgency to change. What more do companies need by way of a message to get started on getting more from less.

Universities are now producing the numbers of people that the industry asked for - and well done to all who put that effort in. I hope we open our eyes and innovate for this intake and offer them a variety of opportunities at all levels so that they get essential experience if only to see whether they like the industry. Let’s drop the expression 'over qualified’ for a couple of years!

Catherine Tallis says:

Firms will need to be prudent, ensuring that their portfolios are varied and their staff flexible. The industry will inevitably need to tighten its belt and individual companies will need to undertake thorough reviews of budgets and pipeline projects to plan for and minimise the impact of the downturn.

New markets are likely to emerge as the recession deepens and survival may depend on firms being ready to diversify and looking outside the UK to cash-rich economies.

What about the effect of the downturn on graduates and apprentices?

Chris Haughey, says:

Graduates must be feeling quite unsure of what to expect – having studied for years and now finding the industry they have committed to is in a major downturn and the job they are seeking might not be there.

But companies still have to plan for the future, the industry will recover and we will need a skilled workforce, so companies will have to train the next generation. The problem is that training budgets will be cut and we may have to wait some time for things to improve.

In terms of apprentices and encouraging young people to join the industry, the Government has been spending a lot of money and has ambitious plans. I know some of the major schemes are still in their infancy, but the downturn could turn people away. There will be major challenges to make sure the industry still has mass appeal to school leavers.

The construction market isn’t the only industry that is suffering, but it is the one that has taken the full force of the slowdown.

Catherine Tallis says:

Although less enlightened companies are likely to cut back dramatically on the 2009 graduate intake, the downturn is potentially a golden opportunity for top graduates.

In an increasingly tough market, they can prove their abilities to employers by stepping up and taking on jobs that they might otherwise not have had the opportunity to work on.

The industry has some of Britain’s brightest and best and this is their chance to shine and build their careers within good companies. This recession is likely to last long enough for graduates to demonstrate their abilities and be well placed once the next boom commences

End

This news story is courtesy of Construction News you can follow the link below to the original story - http://www.cnplus.co.uk/home/what-2009-holds-for-the-construction-sector/1963260.article

Improving your ontime delivery performance in 8 steps (Bigifsh article in construction news August 08)

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:13:25 GMT

Planning can have a big impact on your bottom line and be a real order-winner in the eyes of your customers.

A successful project depends on a good plan and one which is controlled effectively. From my experience of visiting hundreds of projects for many different clients, I'm often surprised not just at the level of construction planning but at the execution of the plan.

It seems a good, well-managed, up-to-date plan is a very rare commodity on construction projects. A good plan employs the best available expertise from the project team (including suppliers) in a collaborative process, and is being actively managed by that team.

Furthermore, a good plan is kept up to date to reflect the changing situation on site. It's not burdened with over-inflated activity durations - especially for activities that have a critical effect on other activities.

Importantly, it can act as a simple measure of how well the project is doing.

According to annual government statistics for 2007 42 per cent of UK construction projects finish late. It is compelling evidence that we don't plan well enough or execute that plan as well as we could or should.

The main reason for this underachievement is that many of our construction managers - this includes anybody who manages an activity during a construction project, from designers and site managers to supervisors of trade and specialist suppliers - have often had little, if any, formal training in the art and science that is construction planning.

Don't make assumptions

Often managers have not been trained in project control, such as techniques on how to achieve the plan. We seem to assume that people can naturally plan and manage just by virtue that they are in the position they are in.

To support this argument, the next time you visit a site, ask this question of any construction manager: "How do you manage your plan and activities?" You may get mixed responses, but rarely a definitive one.

It is not uncommon even for large companies to offer no training at all to their site managers beyond health and safety.

As an example, one of my own clients, a top 100 construction company, has 80 site managers, none of whom have ever received any formal planning or management training.

If a well-managed plan lies at the heart of a successful project, then managers must be given the tools and skills to do the job effectively. This means giving them skills over and above the ability to manage a simple Gantt chart - a bar chart which illustrates a project schedule.

If the only tool construction managers have is a Gantt chart, they will treat every activity as a bar with a beginning and an end without really looking at the detail that lies between.

The result is that construction activity durations are unpredictable (more than 50 per cent don't start or finish as planned) and they are overlong by at least 25 per cent. The cost of these long and unpredictable activities can be significant to all concerned: for the customer, who suffers opportunity cost, and to the construction company and its suppliers, which pay the fixed cost of prelims - and these increase with time. The customer also pays for this.

No added value

A recent construction client complained that more than 40 per cent of the project cost was prelims (which, in lean terms, is a cost that does not add value), and as prelims are married to time, then every unnecessary day spent on site adds no value to the finished work.

So what's the answer? See the box below for some ideas about project delivery.

If you disagree that project durations are overly long, then compare these two projects.

The Empire State Building - 102 storeys, built in 1930/31 using traditional material and technology of the time - took just 58 weeks from start to finish.

Meanwhile, the Canary Wharf tower - 50 storeys, built in 1988-1991 using technology of the day - took three times longer.

Eight steps to better project delivery

1. Start by giving your construction managers the tools to do the job, which should include training in basic planning as well as project control techniques such as the Last Planner system.

2. Plan collaboratively - get your suppliers to suggest timescales. These can be up to 25 per cent less than the programmed time.

3. Challenge each critical activity duration. An M&E company was given 23 weeks to complete a job by a contractor, when in fact they only needed 13 weeks. Inevitably they did as the contractor asked and took 23 weeks by reducing their resources on site. Ask if activities could start earlier or if resources could be increased to speed up the process.

4. Find ways to protect critical activities -like the US construction company which reportedly protects its critical activities by allocating red hats to all people who are working on these tasks. For a given period they are given priority over other less critical trades.

5. Continuously try to improve critical activities by identifying waste in the process and striving to remove it.

6. All managers, including suppliers, should learn to plan in more detail, such as one or two weeks ahead in preparation (rolling or look-ahead planning).

7. Before starting any activity, check that Material, Manpower, Machines and Messages are in place - these are the four Ms of construction logistics. If any one of these is missing, the activity is set to fail.

8. Challenge the plan. Ask yourself: "What would it mean to my profit margin if I could reduce every construction programme by just 5 per cent and deliver on time?" The answer is that it would probably double or triple your profit.

Andrew Moore is director of Bigfish Construction Improvement Network. If you want to learn more about construction planning, visit www.thebigfishnetwork.com and click the collaborative planning teachpoint.

For the full article and links to the BERR report referenced in this article - click on the link below or copy and paste it into you browser

http://www.cnplus.co.uk/law/yourbusiness/2008/08/good_planning_is_essential_to_successful_project_delivery.html

BIGFISH LAUNCHES ITS LEAN MANUFACTURING PRODUCT RANGE INTO THE WORLDWIDE FURNITURE AND TIMBER INDUSTRIES

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:38:49 GMT

Bigfish is pleased to announce a new addition to its product range with the launch of its Lean Manufacturing Training Material.

This new material developed in conjunction with FIRA/ukfirst is focused on the furniture and timber manufacturing industries (but is also relevant to any manufacturing process) and is designed to help companies improve their operational performance and develop their own in-house improvement expertise.

Using a blend of interactive technology, presenter led video, animation and downloadable documents - the Bigfish material delivers each subject in a straight talking manner and is designed as a fully comprehensive solution to a company's Lean training needs.

Paul Hemmingfield Director of Bigfish says 'this launch ensures we are sticking to our strategy of regularly releasing new titles that are specific to individual industries and supports our vision, which is to produce a full range of improvement tools and techniques relevant to every industry sector'...... 'this launch also demonstrates our commitment to working in partnership with other industry sector organizations in order to deliver a training solution to their members'.

When asked about the timing of the launch - Hemmingfield says 'with the markets in contraction and a recession looming, the Bigfish product will come into its own, since it offers consultant led solutions and training designed to help companies reduce costs at a very low price'

David Wright Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Advisory Service (WM) endorses the new Bigfish Product:

'Lean Interactive has the versatility to be used as part of an overall development package as it provides
the learner with another avenue of training material for continuous improvement'

This latest offering comprises three improvement techniques, which are:

1. Performance Measures, Data Collection & Analysis and Problem Solving: This technique is designed to help a company install a performance measurement system, identify critical areas for improvement and give staff the skills to understand exactly what is going wrong and how to put it right.

2. Work & Waste: Is designed to help staff become sighted and be able to identify, categorise and eliminate waste in all their operations, resulting in improved productivity and cost savings.

3. Workplace Organization or (5S): a key technique in supporting the change process and is centred on creating a safer and more efficient working environment.

If you would like to learn more about this material, product pricing or what Bigfish can do to help you improve your business processes and reduce your costs, then you can contact us at

email: furniture@thebigfishnetwork.com

Contractors blamed for construction delays

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:26:37 GMT

This news article comes to you courtesy of Construction News (click here for the full article).

Results from research by The Chartered Institute of Building has revealed that a high proportion of complex construction projects are likely to be finished more than six months late due to poor time control.

The CIOB's research covered more than 70 UK respondents and provided data on over 2000 projects. The research examined the construction industry's methods to manage time on projects, in particular the techniques used and the competence of those engaged in the process.

CIOB senior vice-president Keith Pickavance said: "The growth in training, education and skill levels within the industry in the use of time-management techniques has not kept pace with the technology available. This should be of concern to many companies, as there is a trend towards developing contracts which are increasingly punitive if not executed efficiently.

"It should be recognised that the industry manages many projects very well indeed and the UK construction industry in particular is regarded around the world as a leading force; but we have to accept that respondents in this survey regarded the quality of time-management on construction projects as generally poor.

"Over half were familiar with only a master schedule being used, with no short term planning. Such schedules would typically be in bar chart form with no linked sequencing. In their experience, managers consequently would be unable to measure the impact slippage or the imposed changes on the works. Therefore managers would not be able to manage the effects of the delay on project completion, except intuitively."

According to the respondents certain types of project have a reasonable chance of being finished by, or before the completion date, using traditional methods of time-management and without modern methods of time control. These include, low-rise offices, and commercial, industrial, housing, schools and educational buildings, shops and shopping centres.

However, the results also show that more complex projects have a poor chance of being completed on time without advanced methods of project control being employed, such as hospitals, clinic and health-related buildings, prisons and security infrastructure, stadia, railway and high-rise projects.

Those responding to the survey felt that:

The design team is rarely consulted by the contractor about a time-management strategy.

The more complex the project the less likely it is to be completed on time.

A high proportion of complex projects are likely to be completed more than six months late.

The type of construction contract and procurement method has no discernable effect on the incidence of delayed completion.

The contractor is usually held to be predominantly at fault for delayed completion.

Records of resources used and work performed are usually inadequate for effective time control.

Very few projects are currently managed by reference to modern methods of time control.

Delayed progress is not often notified promptly or widely.

Improved facilities for the education, training and accreditation of planning engineers and project schedulers are needed.

A full copy of the report is available to download at http://www.ciob.org.uk/resources/research

Published: 20 June 2008 10:30
Author: Myles Burke Online editor of Construction News

Government Launches Strategy for Sustainable Construction

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:20:22 GMT

This news article comes to you courtesy of Construction News (click here for the full article).
Here is a link to the draft document ‘A Sustainable Construction Strategy’.

Today (11 June) sees the launch of the government's Strategy for Sustainable Construction, which aims to bring together a host of targets from industry and the Government in a single document.

Among the key targets it lays down is a demand for 230,000 new workers to be recruited by the industry by 2010, a 10 per cent year on year reduction in construction deaths, a 13,500 increase in the number of apprentices in the industry, that 25 per cent of materials are responsibly sourced and that all projects valued at over £1 billion take biodiversity into account in their planning.

Construction minister Shriti Vadera said that the strategy would put the UK at the top of the global league in terms of the sustainability of its construction industry.

She said: "An efficient construction sector is essential for the investment in infrastructure and buildings that underpins our competitiveness.

"With the current pressures such as the cost of fuel presenting an extra challenge for the industry, it is even more important that we encourage the sector to perform as efficiently and sustainably as possible. Improvements in these areas will save costs and increase profitability in the long-term."

The launch of the strategy went hand-in-hand with an agreement from a host of government clients signing up to the Strategic Forum's Construction Commitments, which were also launched at the event, having been developed from the earlier 2012 Construction Commitments.

Those signing up included a host of the industry's leading clients including the Highways Agency: Department of Health; Department of Childrens, Schools and Families; Ministry of Defence and the Housing Corporation.

Strategic Forum chairman Mike Davies called upon all businesses in the industry to follow in the Government's lead by signing up to the commitments, which look to set industry wide standards for procurement, client leadership, design quality, commitment to people, sustainability and health and safety.

For full article click on the link provided to the Construction News Website http://www.cnplus.co.uk/extra_online/2008/06/govt_launches_strategy_for_sustainable_construction.html

Author: Alasdair Reisner. Deputy News Editor of Construction News

The Construction Industry Annual School Report

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:05:32 GMT

The Construction Industry Annual Statistics Report for 2007 shows industry wide performance slipping in the key area of Customer Satisfaction! The latest report from the BERR (formerly the DTI), which is published each year, is regarded as a good barometer of trends within the UK construction industry.

Each year the DTI compile and compare statistics across a wide range of key performance areas, such as, the value of construction output, construction pricing indices, Government expenditure and, importantly for the Improvement Community, the annual Key Performance Indicators.

Page 231 of the report (a link to the document is provided below) shows the performance of the industry compared over a number of years, and covers the key areas of Customer Satisfaction, Safety, Quality, Cost and Delivery.

Below we can see the performance figures for 2007 in terms of cost, delivery and safety:

Cost: This compares the cost of similar projects over the period, and shows a reduction of 3.8%

Delivery: This compares the predictability of delivering the project on time and shows a whopping improvement of 14%, rising from 44% in 06 to 58% in 07- although this still means that 42% of all projects are not delivered as planned.

Safety: This is measured as the number of companies achieving a zero accident incidence rate, and has improved by a welcome 11%

So with these figures in mind, why then is the customer less satisfied than they were the previous year? Well, it could be for a couple of reasons; firstly, it could be the drop in the Quality performance of 4%, as this can have a very disruptive impact on the customer and their business, especially if they are latent defects that occur after handover. Or maybe the expectations of the client were higher than the improvements achieved. You see, the customer satisfaction measure is a qualitative and often emotive measure; if the improvements made were below the expectations of the client, then they will still be dissatisfied, even though things got better.

We can only speculate as to what the customer is thinking, but one thing we can be sure of, is that if we don’t continue to improve, the customers’ satisfaction will continue to decrease.

For more information....
Download the report - http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file42061.pdf

13% Of Site Materials Go Straight In Skip

Sat, 03 May 2008 20:01:03 GMT

A recent report by the Governments Netregs (a site dedicated to guiding small business through environmental regulations) estimates that 13% of site materials are thrown away without being used.

They also estimate that the cost of throwing materials away can be as much as £1350 per skip.

This highlights not just the tremendous amount of Waste involved and the impact on the environment, but also the huge potential for improvement to a company's finances. To highlight the impact on a business's bottom line, we will put this into perspective using a real example: Our £20 Million turnover company is potentially wasting over Â£1Million each year. If we then compare this to the company's profit of approx £100,000, we see a huge potential to increase profit by adopting a Waste Management Plan.

The Site Waste Management Guide gives useful advice on how to better manage Material Waste on your projects. The diagram below called the 'Waste Heirarchy' shows the priority of material Waste reduction and logically starts with eliminating the use of material in the first place, then reduce the use of materials, then re-use, recycle and so on.

We found this to be a very useful document, with lots of useful information and advice on how to reduce your company's Material Waste.

You can get more information about how to manage and reduce site Waste by visiting the netregs website or any of the sites listed at the back of the guide.

Material Waste Calculation:
£20Million turnover
42% spent on material
13% of material is wasted
Cost of material Waste to the business can be calculated as follows: (20M * 42%) *13% = £1,092,000
Plus the cost of removing the Waste at £150 per skip

For more information...
Download the Guide here.
Or visit the site here.

Pain To Train but it could save you millions

Thu, 01 May 2008 20:01:09 GMT

Bigfish Article published in Construction Computing Magazine June 2008

Pain To Train but it could save you millions - Labour and Plant costs double in 11 years, so why do we waste 40% of this valuable resource.

We talk to Andrew Moore, about who he believes is paying the price for failing to adequately train our construction managers?

The recent Callcutt review Nov 2007 highlights the growing costs of labour and plant in the UK construction industry. Covering a period of 11 years the report shows that the costs have risen by almost 98%, a significant rise when compared to the 22% increase in the Retail Price Index in the same period.

If you are paying wage bills you may not be totally surprised by this figure, but you may be shocked to hear that as much as 40% of this over-inflated cost is wasted on a daily basis on our sites. Andrew Moore of Bigfish Construction Network, who I spoke to recently, has spent the last 10 years carrying out detailed work studies, and speaks from experience. He talks passionately when he says that in construction, we fail to fully utilise the resources at our disposal. I have spent years helping construction managers to see work differently, helping to open people's eyes to see this Waste - often for the first time.

He describes this process as 'becoming sighted' where construction managers gain the ability to see waste in all their operations and stop mistaking movement for productivity, waiting as necessary and snagging and rework as the norm.

Here's an example! It may help you become 'sighted'. The next time you drive through roadworks on the motorway, mentally count the number of machines you see, then observe which of these are actually doing something to progress the work. If you see 10 machines, and only 5 are actually digging, with the rest idle - the site is working at 50% efficiency. With the cost of labour and plant rocketing, having both idle is unforgiveable - and can be prevented!

In construction, there is a common misconception that Waste is inevitable - that it is the nature of the beast. Moore thinks differently. 'From our experience most waste can be eliminated. If you can identify waste, then you must try to find the cause. You will often find that that lies in a failure in process - and processes can be fixed!'

There is a further misconception, and that is that waste is due to a failure of people. Again, if you take the time to identify the root cause, you will find, once more, that the culprit is the process. Moore explains further. 'Process is the framework upon which you can build enhanced capability, but unless we train people in how to use the process, then they will simply fail'.

In my view it is the process of failing to train people in basic construction management skills that lie at the heart of much of the wasted time on site and in particular training at the supplier / subcontractor level. Although this is not exclusive. 'A well known construction client of mine has 80 site managers, none of which has received even the most basic planning training either in theory or in the use of planning software'.

The response from many companies is that good planning like good wine improves with age, i.e. the more experience the managers have on site, the better they become.

But in Moore's experience this is not the case, more than half the projects he visits do not have effective planning systems in place, with, most often, just an out of date Gannt chart stuck on the wall - 'ignored because it does not reflect the reality of what is going on'.

Maslow is famous for saying that 'if all man has is a hammer, he will treat everything as a nail' in a similar vain if we don't give our managers the management skills then they will use what they have the best they can. The impact of this on the customer is telling. According to recent statistics, published by BERR, 42% of projects finish late and 54% of projects go over budget. Is it any wonder?

So what is the solution? Moore says - We not only need to upskill our site managers but also the managers of the supply trades - regardless of size. You see, we are only as good as our suppliers and the key to better performance is not just in the hands of site and project managers, but in more collaborative working and better planning and problem solving across all of the companies involved in the construction process.

It is with this in mind that BigFish have developed a unique management training system to help give access to all construction people regardless of size or success. They hope to achieve this through the use of interactive technology delivering the latest construction management techniques.

Moore says, we think we have developed a unique Change Management system, which due to its affordability and accessibility, will help to deliver real change in the industry from the bottom up, by teaching people to become sighted and better construction managers.

To improve takeup, we have deliberately priced the product to enable any company contributing to the CITB grant to reclaim all of their costs.

Moore finished, by explaining his views on the key to industry change:

Great change is preceded by adversity - something that creates the need for Change. This sense of urgency can be created through an opportunity or a threat, usually hard to come by in construction. Although we have had it pretty good for a number of years, that urgency is now at hand. To show you what is possible, if 40% of the cost of manpower and machinery is wasted, then think what you could achieve if you could improve this by just a few percent. The answer, in almost every case, is that by removing less than 5% of this waste a company can more than double its profits. That's the opportunity! With the current state of the industry that few percent may be the difference between survival and disaster!

Ernst & Young - Calcutt Review http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/callcuttreview.pdf