Process Improvement and Cycle Times

When contractors grow inefficient processes usually get substantially more inefficient dramatically changing the Return on Investment (ROI) model.

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Saving 5 minutes per cycle for something done 100 times per month is only worth $6,000 over a couple years. At 1,000 cycles per month it’s worth investing up to $60,000 to make the process more efficient.  

Management Tools: Graph representing Saving Seconds Adds Up with Increased Cycle Times.

Where are your opportunities?

Too many times as contractors scale they look primarily at the technology tools and get poor results. One factor often underestimated is the investment in rolling out the new standards versus just the cost of the technology

Corbins Electric and NOX Innovations are really good at is looking at the whole workflow, talent, culture and technology. They give a great example of this with their purchasing process improvement.  

Everything stated here seems easy enough but is VERY difficult to execute consistently.  The team at Corbins has done an amazing job balancing high-level strategic direction, culture and process streamlining.  They are also great about sharing with their peers in the industry.




Contractor Scoreboard: Key Results and Leading Activities (Disciplined Execution)
Defining what you want in quantifiable outcomes is extremely difficult. It's 10X harder to define those outcomes throughout the whole company from field to CEO. Defining the leading activities that create those outcomes is another 10X more difficult.
Markets (Benchmarks, Trends, Forecasts, and Predictions)
Benchmarks, trends, forecasts, and predictions about the market(s) that contractors work within including the overall economy, specific industry sectors, specific geographies, project delivery methods, regulations, and financing.
Effectively Leveraging Trainers, Coaches, and Mentors
Contracting is a high-risk sport and the training of yourself, your managers and your craft labor should be as rigorous as a professional sports team. We are facing a massive shortage of critical talent yet most spend very little on talent development.