04.12.2016
Faith Technologies’ Productivity Program
In 2009, Faith Technologies launched a productivity program in response to learning manufacturing productivity had improved significantly throughout recent years, while construction productivity had not. After further analysis, we quickly learned that construction productivity had stagnated at approximately 42%. While this statistic still holds true today, Faith’s approach on productivity has allowed us to rise above these statistics due to our all-inclusive productivity program.
The first step in Faith’s productivity review process is to identify the project site, which is typically selected by project size. The productivity team visits the project site during the first 10% of the project phase. The sooner we can begin the review process, the easier it is to initiate productivity adjustments to steer the project in a positive direction.
Faith has identified 21 key project expectations. These expectations are critical attributes that indicate effective planning and support from all Faith functions. When performed well, we know these project expectations can predict the success of a project. Once identified, the key expectations are reviewed with the project leadership team and scored as compliant or non-compliant. With every project, the goal is always 100% compliance.
Our next step is to compile productivity time studies which are necessary to provide a thorough representation of the overall project productivity. The number of studies is dependent on the size of the project and project team and results are immediately reviewed with the crew being studied to provide coaching and suggestions for improving their results. The results are focused on utilization versus efficiency because the time spent on value adding work that the customer pays us to complete is more critical than how fast a worker performs (a principle of Lean Manufacturing that also applies to Lean Construction). When utilization improves, efficiency improves.
Once the productivity review has been completed, we conduct an immediate debrief with the project leadership team where we review the results of the project expectations, the time studies, and discuss recommendations for improvement. Following the debrief meeting, formal reports are sent to project leadership, project support, and executive leadership. From there, they are encouraged to share the results in a positive manner within their teams, follow up with corrective actions on non-compliant expectations and discuss suggested improvements.
From 2009 to 2016, Faith’s productivity level has improved from 39% to 63% primary time (value adding time that the customer pays us to do). Our productivity program has evolved into an organizational strategic competency that adds value for our customers and differentiates us from other contractors in our industry.
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