What is Lean

Labor productivity in the construction industry impacts all contractors and project owners.

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This has become even more challenging with the craft labor shortage. Training field supervisors and the entire project team the tools, workflows and behaviors that will improve production is a big part of the solution.

What is Lean? Maximize customer value while minimizing waste.

The Training Within Industry program used during WWII can be viewed as the most massive vocational supervisory training and process improvement program ever rolled out. Most of the principles are as applicable to solving our field productivity and talent shortage problems today as they were then. Every leader in the construction industry must become a student of these prior lessons learned then figure out how the best ways to apply them to their teams and companies.  
Read more: Training Within Industry: Job Instruction

If you want to learn more about the best resources and talent we have found for helping contractors improve labor productivity contact us.  That is one of our employees grandmother in the picture who was trained very quickly to build airplanes at the Boeing plant in Washington while her grandfather was serving on the USS Lexington.




Lean Principle - Value Add vs. Non Value Add
For specialty contractors the field workforce represents most of their competitive advantage as well as their biggest source of variability. Making improvements to field productivity requires deeply understanding what truly adds value to the customer.
Muhammad Ali - Pebble in the Shoe
Construction contracting is largely a game of operational excellence. Between the massive changes going on in the industry and daily operations it is easy for leaders and their teams to overlook the small opportunities for improvement every day.
Lean Principle - 5S Habits for Building a Productive Work Environment
5S is a foundational concept for creating a productive work environment and continuous improvement. The 5S process is to productivity what eating a healthy breakfast and exercising is to your health - daily consistency will change your life.