Lean approach leads to positive outcomes, safer construction sites

This article was originally published by Jodi Schwan of SiouxFalls.Business.

The team at Sands Wall Systems knows what to expect when working on a job with Journey Construction: an approach that uses lean construction principles.

“I’ve been at Sands 20 years, and Journey has been doing lean construction a majority of that time,” said Jared Swenson, president of operations.

“They were really early adapters. It’s something we see working with big national contractors, and locally, Journey is the one that got into it the soonest, and they manage it really well.”

Leading that effort is Annette Doss, who joined Journey Group three years ago and now serves as lean manager. She works with everyone from the office and field teams to the project managers and superintendents.

“I lead those teams through how our system works, trying to standardize the variation on job to job as much as possible for efficiency,” she said.

“It’s a collaborative approach that involves all the stakeholders, including ownership, leaders, the field team, project managers and on-site workers.”

On a job site, it’s obvious, Swenson said.

“I’ve been in probably up to 20 of these meetings with Journey over the years, and it’s very professional,” he said.

“You can really cause a problem if you don’t know how to manage it correctly, and Journey has an experienced team that knows how to get everyone together and develop relationships on a project.”

Projects involve initial and ongoing meetings to ensure work is planned, completed and optimized for efficiency.

Called a pull plan, it involves putting everyone in the same room who will be working on a project to go through the vision, scope and milestones.

“It fosters everyone to get their hat into the project so much earlier, it builds relationships, and it leads to accountability because you’re making commitments to everyone on the team,” Swenson said.

“You might be doing a scope of work and not coming back to the site for a long time, but by bringing you into an early meeting, we know when materials will be ready to go and be on-site when it’s needed. So it gets everyone involved much earlier and avoids delays.”

This season alone, Sands and Journey already are working on about a half-dozen projects together, including major building work at Avera McKennan and Avera on Louise, as well as the DSU Applied Research building in northwest Sioux Falls.

“Journey’s approach is all about milestones and hitting certain milestones and getting everyone together,” Swenson said. “We can talk through safety concerns, determine if we need to bring in a specialist before we even start to ensure safety, and that’s huge with Journey. Safety is No. 1 for them, and it’s the same with us.”

Talking through potentially challenging elements of a project is critical for positive outcomes, Doss agreed.

“When we have more tasks planned, we’re doing more pre-planning, pre-task huddles and learning events,” she said. “Better collaboration and planning are the results of the pull plan. It’s a three-to-four-hour event that is a brainstorming session with multiple trades on a project, and everyone comes out of it with an understanding of what is expected of them, how it impacts others on the job and what Journey promises to provide.”

The difference between a project that uses lean and doesn’t is striking, Doss said.

“It’s estimated when you don’t use lean on a construction job that only about 50 to 54 percent of activities you think you’ll get done at a certain time actually get done,” she said. “Once it’s implemented, the completion ratio increases to between 80 and 90 percent. Your costs are better controlled, and there’s less waste.”

When work is completed on time, “accidents and job injuries go down, so we’re sending our people home healthier and happier and ready to come back the next day.”

Lean principles have become embedded in the culture of Journey, she added.

“Our teams understand the why behind it,” Doss said. “The most important aspect is that we send people home safely, and this is a way to empower everyone on the job site to act, provide feedback about the process and make suggestions for improvement.”

As someone who works alongside the team, it’s a difference-maker, Swenson said.

“I just think it really helps relationships. Everyone is on the same team working together, and it tends to go so much smoother,” he said. “We’re very happy to be on the team and just blessed to work alongside Journey Construction.”

No matter what size construction project you envision, chances are you can benefit from Journey’s lean expertise and exceptional team. To learn more about working with Journey, click here.