Make Construction More Productive

By Leonard Toenjes

Q: I want to increase our productivity. I know productivity is a concept more from manufacturing than construction. But construction is a form of manufacturing. Do you have tips for construction-site productivity? Do you know where I can turn to learn them?

A: There certainly is a lot that construction can learn from manufacturing in terms of productivity.

A study performed by the National Institute Standards and Technology in 2004 states that a lack of interoperability was costing the construction industry $15.8 billion annually. Another study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows that construction has actually decreased in productivity since 1964.

For your construction-site productivity issues, there is no replacement for personal observation and field personnel input. Taking time to observe where inefficiencies may be taking place in person and noting your impressions would be a good start.

Establish Productivity Committee

After your list is developed, meet with your field supervisors in a nonaccusatory environment.

Let them know that you are trying to focus the company on productivity improvements that will benefit everyone. Think about tangible incentives that could elicit input from supervision on production improvement suggestions. Consider the establishment of a productivity committee within your firm that will engender buy-in from those who can start to create a continuous improvement process in this area.

Several of the larger productivity-inhibiting issues have to do with changing work teams we have on each project. We rarely build the same thing more than once with the same building team.

The fluidity of the industry leads to both contractual and communications issues. Improvements in these two areas could really lead to productivity increases.

Integrated Project Delivery is a new delivery system that has the latest promise for productivity increase. The AIA in conjunction with the AIA California Council has produced “Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide (The Guide)”, a primer for working in an integrated team model that includes the owner, architect and contractor and extends beyond the major stakeholders to also include subcontractors, engineers and major systems suppliers, among others.

“The Guide”, which is available at no cost through the AIA, provides direction on transitioning existing project delivery models to a collaborative, integrated team model. Integrated Project Delivery has the potential to provide an industry-wide solution.

Building Information Modeling has the potential to also be another productivity enhancing tool. As technology can become more integrated, the construction process can benefit from more comprehensive planning, allowing for less rework in the field, larger subassemblies to be prefabricated and set in place, and better integration between construction team members.