Production Tracking - Lessons Learned

Production and production tracking will never be perfect.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

Production tracking is just one part of an overall system for managing projects. The magic is developing a culture of continuous improvement across the whole team.  Some lessons learned when it comes to effective production tracking:

Field Productivity: Production Tracking. Lessons Learned. Start Small, Build Trust, Crews not Individuals, Days not Tasks, What-If Analysis, Experimentation, Selective Overtime, Small Rewards, and Refining Process.
  1. Start small testing and refining the process on one project or just a few tasks.
  2. Build trust across the field leadership and crews.  This is a tool for them to help them get better including learning to troubleshoot production.  It IS NOT a “monitoring” mechanism.  
  3. Focus on crew productivity rather than individuals.  Teach teams how to organize people for maximum impact.
  4. Focus on maximizing daily and weekly productivity; not just single tasks. Daily Production
  5. Develop tools, training and a habit of the team doing “What If” analysis to find the best way to execute before starting.  It is cheaper to figure this out on paper or virtually than it is physically.
  6. Make sure your culture supports consistent use of the best installation standards you have learned across all crews.  And provide room for smart EXPERIMENTATION to find the next best standard. PDCA
  7. Use selective overtime to meet daily production goals where applicable.  
  8. Use small rewards that are very short-interval (daily & weekly) and supervisor driven.  Combined with an overall performance compensation system this will build morale and sustainable results. 
  9. Technology is amazing but make sure your field supervisors can create an effective tracking tool including motivating the crew using a piece of sheetrock, spray paint and construction crayon.  People; then effective processes and then tools. 

Improving Labor Productivity Workshop


Production Tracking - Lessons Learned
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Production Tracking - Lessons Learned
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

3-Year Business Planning (Basic Overview)
Your 3-Year Business Plan is the equivalent of a Short-Interval-Plan (SIP) on a construction project. It sets specific objectives and key results for the whole team. It allows you to plan your resources and know if you are on track or not.
16 Reasons for Scoreboard and Scorecard Failure
Keeping score is foundational for success in construction, sports, and many aspects of life. Too frequently, scorekeeping fails to deliver improved results. Here are the 16 reasons why from the changes required by growth through systems and management.
Field Productivity - Talent Differentiation
Contractors can improve their field productivity significantly just through deliberate talent management processes. While the process of continuous forced differentiation seems harsh it is actually the kindest thing you can do for everyone on the team.