Blogs Archive

Supply Chain Management 101: Managing the Supply Chain (Post 3)

How do we operate in today’s supply chain environment? Collaborate and think outside the box.

Collaboration

The trick to collaboration is realizing that no single person has the right answer.

When a construction project has to call an audible to get around supply chain issues, more than one person has to be involved.

The designer
The supplier(s)
The project manager
The installer

Imagine getting all four of these personas in a room together to solve a problem. Although it does happen, it is the exception to the rule. A project manager must first align everyone on the principle that the owner’s satisfaction is the ultimate goal and then facilitate productive discussion. It is similar to a Last Planner System® approach, but instead of talking about coordinating hand-offs between trades, we are aligning conditions of satisfaction across stakeholders.

This is uncomfortable, and most organizations collaborate well intra-enterprise. The graphic below is an example of a supply chain maturity chart, with collaboration on the x-axis and performance on the y-axis. As it turns out, supply chain performance is directly related to how well organizations work together.

From what I have seen in the construction industry, my sense is that we are, on average, somewhere between levels 1 and 2.

Here’s a quick excerpt from Charles C. Poirier et al. called Diagnosing Greatness: Ten Traits of the Best Supply Chains: “To Progress from level 2 to level 3, a firm must surmount a formidable cultural barrier. The idea of sharing valuable information to establish an inter-enterprise network with external parties – the central tenet of level 3-is alien to upper management in many companies. Accordingly, they resist attempts to extend supply chain improvement efforts beyond their internal four walls. The innovators find a way to overcome that resistance. They poke through the four walls by working with one or two key suppliers….”

Perhaps your organization is at Level 2, and you want to go further. Building a close relationship with some key partners and including them as negotiated contractors is a good start.

Thinking Outside the Box

Here’s a quick and broad vignette.

Last month, I was at a data center construction conference, and an electrical contractor told a story about how they could not get a particular electrical component in a suitable amount of time for an upcoming project. The lead time was more than six months, and there were no alternative suppliers.

What did they do? They reverse-engineered and manufactured the component themselves and got it UL certified. They then built a business to sell components to their competitors by establishing this manufacturing capability.

The first thing that this electrical contractor did well was to identify the shortfall before the project started. They likely used historical procurement data to identify items with long lead times, but then they followed up by validating at the beginning of the project. This does not happen enough, and it ties back to one of the themes of this blog series: Project managers are supply chain managers, and supply chain managers have to know the status of their supply chain.

Collaboration and thinking outside the box both carry risks. It is not like we just start doing these things, and everything gets better overnight. Other industries have far exceeded construction in their capability to build collaborative and integrated supply chains.

As the Chinese proverb states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

If you missed either of the two previous posts from this blog series, they are available at the links below:

Supply Chain Management 101: Managing the Interface between the Supply Chain and the Construction Site (Post 2)

I learned early on as a young U.S. Marine logistics officer that operations drive logistics. I had to be proactive and actively collaborate with my supported units during pre-execution to ensure timely and accurate support.

It is a similar concept in construction. Project Managers are the logisticians of the jobsite, and logisticians have to understand demand signals.

How does a project manager better understand demand signals? The real pros will validate the project’s procurement log against a superintendent’s six-week lookahead once a week and have a daily 15-minute procurement sync with the team. Check out Jason Schroeder’s podcast on the topic, #398. His take is spot-on.

How do we begin to match demand signals with the supply chain? Let’s start with ‘Role 1’; focus on the interface between the supply chain and the construction site. This refers to a better understanding of what, when, and how requirements are to be delivered.

Forecast as far out as possible, as detailed as possible. The effectiveness of a forecast is directly proportional to the amount of planning done on the front end. A proper phase planning session will get you there.

As lead times start returning to normal, the contractors that can forecast instead of relying on bulk buys will reap the benefit. The proof is visible if you look at any construction project in your area. Project managers are locking in price and predictability early but at the expense of the jobsite. While this approach may look like the best financial decision on paper, there is never a zero-cost solution to bulk procurement due to the amount of time it takes to sort materials and get them the last 100 yards to the final destination. Not to mention the risk of damaged material. Good luck getting a warranty on your roofing system if the material has been in the weather for two months. As we move away from having to do bulk procurement upfront, project teams will have to go back to the basics and resume (or start) managing procurement forecasts.

To illustrate my point, here is a chart from Ruben Vrijhoef and Koskela’s paper I highlighted in the first post of the series.

Sure, per unit price goes down with higher volumes, but the cost to manage site logistics goes way up.

The first step to proper forecasting is to know the project. More often than not, you are going to have your master schedule, and then you are going to have what is happening on the jobsite. Your planning space is how you proactively generate and communicate demand signals. From a supply chain perspective, your master schedule is useful to help build the procurement log, but it has to constantly be validated by what is being planned and executed. I can’t say this loud enough. Superintendents: use Touchplan religiously to manage your lookahead because it impacts more than just what your trades are doing. Trade and GC PMs plus Owners need to understand how planned work is tied to the procurement forecast. Pro Tip: Use a custom field that links directly to an item on the procurement log or, even better, to a supply chain management platform like SiteSense by Intelliwave.

You might have late deliveries that result in a late project if the team has to wait for a bi-weekly schedule update to understand and act on demand signals—plan and track progress on weekly and daily intervals. Your job will flow not only because your trades are aligned but your supply chain as well.

If you missed the first post in this series, you can read it here.

Construction Supply Chain Management 101

Supply Chain Managers have to be able to understand demand signals. That means knowing what, when, where, and how things need to be delivered. It’s easy for Amazon; they know the ‘when’ is always as soon as possible, the ‘where’ is always as close to the house as possible, and because of their detailed analytics, lead times might start approaching negative figures soon. Packages could one day just show up at your door, and you won’t even be mad about it.

As a general principle, there are two trade-offs in supply chains. Efficiency and responsiveness. An efficient supply chain has a predictable, steady flow and is typically achieved with high volume and predictability. Take the petroleum supply chain, for example. Save for significant world events; consumption is more or less predictable.

Large capital construction projects are traditionally on the other end of the spectrum. With several interdependent activities frequently subject to unforeseen conditions, forecasting dates for materials, equipment, furnishings, etc., is difficult at best and is seldom delivered in a just-in-time manner.

Supply chain risk occurs at both ends of that spectrum. If overly efficient, any interruption carries with it a risk of starving a production system. If too responsive, it becomes difficult to manage. Balancing the push from the procurement schedule with the pull from jobsite operations should be every construction supply chain manager’s goal.

How do we frame this problem? Dr. Ruben Vrijhoef and Dr. Lauri Koskela outline the four supply chain management roles in construction. They are broken out as lines of effort between the supply chain at large and the construction site.

The industry’s challenges are much bigger than anything a single company can handle. The key word is collaboration, and your supply chain initiative has to start with forming partnerships.

Over the next few weeks, we will talk about some practical ways to think about the construction supply chain and how to leverage Touchplan to help make your supply chain work for you.

Ref: Vrijhoef, Ruben & Koskela, Lauri. (2000). The Four Roles of Supply Chain Management in Construction. European Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management. 6. 169-178. 10.1016/S0969-7012(00)00013-7.

Collaborative Pre-Con – How Digitizing Design & Phase Planning Enhances Project Success – A Webinar Recap

Touchplan recently held a webinar that discussed how collaborative planning is essential before breaking ground on a construction project.

Moderator and Senior Customer Success Manager Carly Griffin was joined by Adam Nelson – Director, Planning & Scheduling at CRB, and Tom Nye – Principal Consultant at Jacobs.

The three covered a variety of topics that centered around using planning software during pre-construction to enhance collaboration, keep track of moving parts, and stay organized around crucial decisions and design challenges.

Some of the key takeaways from the discussion include:

Collaboration is the number one key to succeeding in these projects. It should not be a command and control industry anymore; teams must always have transparency, honesty, and respect. When everyone feels a part of the process and can work through problems together, they understand the expectations for the team and the project and can do their job efficiently.
A digital platform is not meant to waste their time; it is a resource, and in implementing it, leaders should meet the teams where they’re at to understand its importance and use case. You are not creating more work; you are creating more efficient work to help them in their daily lives.
With a digital platform like Touchplan, you can work with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Challenges may arise. However, using a digitized system forces accountability to be part of the conversation. This is a key component in planning meetings to foster transparency and understanding of who will get what done and when.

We invite you to watch the entire webinar here.

Improving Prefabrication Efficiency – How Manufacturing Processes Can Translate to Construction – A Webinar Recap

Touchplan recently hosted a webinar that discussed the value of prefabrication and how it can be applied to the construction industry.

Host Noah Baker was joined by Marc Roberts, Chief Operations Officer at BBI Services, and George Hunt, Corporate Lean Director at IPS-Integrated Project Services. The three discussed what can be learned from manufacturing production systems to reduce waste, improve quality, and drive continuous improvement on construction projects.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the webinar:

Collaboration from the start is a critical mindset to have because the tasks involve multiple people. Beyond this, having the designer included from the beginning helps build the plan so that it’s ready for construction and eliminates problems earlier, rather than getting to the site and having to re-frame the design and prefab plan. This efficiency and collaboration can be achieved with a digital solution because you can view tasks in real time wherever you are in the world, and everyone has a visual understanding of what needs to get done.
Owners’ buy-in from the very beginning is critical to a successful project. They are your ultimate customer, so keeping them in mind and ensuring they understand the process and telling you they want it to be minimal time and money will help you identify your own process that is both efficient and collaborative.
You can take principles from production and manufacturing and apply it to construction. While there are significant differences, it’s really about understanding the variables and that everything is a production process. It’s also not about making everything automated; it’s about keeping flow and producing valuable, quality work for the customer with minimal touch and the highest degree of certainty and confidence.

We invite you to watch the entire webinar here.

Under Construction: School’s Off-Season Session is a Barn Burner

It can’t be done. Not in that timeframe, not with the existing supply chain issues, not with that team, building, site, or fill-in-the-blank. Not possible. This is a common refrain in the construction industry. Common long before the pandemic and supply chains became a thing that was widely understood by adults and children alike. “What do you mean we don’t have toilet paper?” A new understanding that things came from a place before they arrive at Amazon. Legendary they may be, mass producers of all our planet’s goods they are not.

As a serial renovator of my own homes, I am fond of asking these naysayers if they have ever heard of the pyramids.

“The pyramids?” They ask.

“Yes, you know those 3D triangular structures in Egypt,” I respond.

“Well, yeah, hasn’t everyone?”

“Perfect, you know them. They built those with a chisel and no power tools, so we can certainly figure out how to build this with all the technology, tools, and ingenuity at our disposal today and do it despite the challenges that you outlined.”

If you are a member of the Capital Planning, Design, and Construction, or an Annual Projects and Differed Maintenance Divisions of a college or university, you have likely heard that “It can’t be done”, heck you may have been the one saying it to the leadership of your institution, but then you do the seemingly impossible, and delivery a completed project in that sliver of time that separates spring semester from fall. A precedent is set, and the 14-week schedule becomes 13, 12, and then 11, 10, and gulp 8, and the terms Summer Slammer and Barn Burner begin to make sense.

Aggressive summer schedules make sense for many reasons, including that campuses are often populated with fewer students, professors, and visitors. Buildings can be made vacant, construction can be carried out in three shifts, and work that might otherwise be phased and take two to three times as long can be completed in a single summer. Second and third shift costs take the place of and/or are offset by the elimination of demobilization and mobilization over the course of multiple summers.

Hyper-speed schedules come with their hurtles and aren’t for everyone. Like Algebra, there is a certain sort of builder that loves the challenge of a fast-track project, the pre-planning, the troubling through constructability approaches that deliver efficiency and craftsmanship, and the development of contingency plans for the inevitable barriers that will be placed in their path. They are the sort that says yes to a competition. They take pride in achieving what others think is impossible.

If summer school were in session and a fresh cohort of builders had set their sights on being the next and the best at barn burners, they would likely learn that building it is the easy part. The real secret to success is in the planning, the materials procurement, the communications structure that is established and followed, the decision-making schedule, and the approvals matrix. It takes collaboration, shared vision, grit, grind, and an agreed-upon commitment to success. When the last nail is slammed into place, the fire is out, and the report on the card is an “A,” it’s all worth the effort.

How Trades Can Use Construction Planning Software to Improve Crew Planning – A Webinar Recap

Touchplan recently hosted a webinar featuring Sales Lead Matthew DeKoeyer and a panel of specialty trade contractors on using Construction Planning Software (CPS) to manage their work crews and team leaders better.

The group discussed how Construction Planning Software improves visibility to plan their work crew sizes, helps better manage workforce, allows plans to be adjusted on the fly, and more.

Some of the takeaways from the webinar included:

Construction Planning Software, like Touchplan, helps trades simplify instructions with foremen. It breaks down the master schedule to make it digestible and provides the ability to move it with milestones. CPS is “needed tech” to manage their human capital and easily identify where staff shortages exist. This is crucial to trades, especially now, where they are seeing frequent growth.
Construction Planning Software allows trades to identify issues they may have not previously seen and can do it much sooner during a construction project. Before using products like Touchplan, Trades would have to build macros into spreadsheets which was rather frustrating. With CPS, they are building a “better system,” which saves a significant amount of time in terms of planning and scheduling.
Before having a quality Construction Planning Software like Touchplan, data entry was a full-time job for specialty trades. Touchplan offered the best visual and easy-to-use product that allowed for better strategic planning as it relates to the workforce. Trades use the swimlanes to manage their work crews and tickets to manage foremen. With labor-intensive projects, it is a game-changer.

If you want to watch the entire webinar, you can find it on our website.

Expand Your Knowledge at Touchplan Academy

Touchplan’s Customer Success Team is excited to introduce a new educational resource open to all Touchplan users. Touchplan Academy allows customers to take a variety of classes and also receive certifications that can be added to a LinkedIn profile. We sat down with Customer Success Associate Sarah Cusack to learn more about Touchplan Academy and what customers can expect from it.

Please give us an overview of Touchplan Academy and what was the motivation for adding it?

Touchplan Academy is a new educational resource available to all Touchplan users! With Touchplan Academy, users can take their knowledge of Touchplan to the next level and take a deep dive into different areas of the tool. Users can take any of the five short courses available and receive a certification for each course that they can add to their LinkedIn. Each course includes a quiz to review the course’s information and should take 10-20 minutes to complete. We wanted to provide users with educational content that allows teams to certify that they all have received the same training in many core planning concepts. In addition to allowing teams to become certified, Touchplan Academy gives users insights into different features and planning methods that can help them better optimize the tool.

How many total courses are offered through Touchplan Academy?

Currently, there are five courses offered in Touchplan Academy that cover a wide range of topics, from pull planning to continuous learning in the dashboard. Each of the five courses is focused on a different aspect of Touchplan and the planning process. Below is a list of all of our courses and brief course descriptions:

Start Planning Course: learn how to add members to a project and organize the planning environment to begin collaboratively planning with the project team.
Weekly Meeting Course: learn how to increase the predictability and certainty of a project by tracking weekly commitments and variances from the team.
Run a Pull Plan Course: learn basic concepts of pull planning and how to convert a Pull Plan into a Look-Ahead plan.
Continuous Learning Course: Gain a deeper insight into project planning efforts by using Touchplan project data to increase project predictability and certainty.
Basic User Course: Learn the two primary responsibilities of Basic Users, adding and updating tickets.

What are some of the benefits to Touchplan customers?

Touchplan Academy allows users to bring their knowledge of Touchplan to the next level and to gain a deeper insight into the tool. Users who are looking to learn and get more out of the tool now have the opportunity to do so while also getting certified. In addition to allowing users to gain more insight into Touchplan, Touchplan Academy will enable users to learn independently at their own pace. Users can start their courses and come back to them at any point to complete their certification or to relearn any of the material. Touchplan Academy is a fantastic way for users who have a busy schedule to learn more about the tool without worrying about carving a significant amount of time out of their schedule.

Who should access Touchplan Academy?

Touchplan Academy is available to all Touchplan users looking to gain a deeper understanding of how to use Touchplan effectively. We offer four Admin User courses that cover how to run an effective pull plan, how to have a collaborative weekly meeting and more. For Basic Users, we offer a Basic User course that looks at the two primary responsibilities of Basic Users, creating and updating tickets.

How do customers access Touchplan Academy?

Customers can access Touchplan Academy by going to https://academy.touchplan.io/ or by going to Support-> Knowledge Base and selecting either the Admin or Basic User Resources sections.

How Owners Can Maximize Project Certainty with Construction Planning Software: A Webinar Recap

Touchplan recently hosted a webinar featuring the Head of Strategic Partnerships for Touchplan and former superintendent for Whiting-Turner Andrew Piland, and Tayna Rucker, an Owners Representative for MOCA Systems, Inc.

The two discussed how implementing a digital planning tool can increase project certainty and ROI for construction projects. Additionally, the conversation focused on why more owners require digital planning software, how software fosters better communication and collaboration, and how to overcome technology resistance at the owner level.

Some of the key takeaways from the webinar include:

Not all owners know the details that go into a construction project, let alone planning for it. They don’t need to get granular and see the day-to-day activities but seeing the high-level reporting and whether teams are reaching their milestones is valuable in staying on top of the project.
The relationship between the GC and Owner and establishing trust is most important. As a GC, having confidence in the plan and having an immediate, accurate answer for the owner in real-time is very important and helpful. The evidence speaks for itself, and now the owner doesn’t have to run around asking multiple people what’s correct.
Touchplan is a very flexible software that is very easy to use (like google calendar). If you’re an owner and don’t want to see everything all the time, or even if they don’t want to adopt technology, you can still look at reports and insights to give you an overall understanding in real-time. As a Super, Touchplan gives you a real-time view to build a schedule and generate an effective production system.

If you want to listen to the entire webinar, you can find it on our website.

Do More with Your Data Inside and Outside of Touchplan

Touchplan is excited to announce that it is now offering select customers an Application Programming Interface (API). This feature allows customers to retrieve and manipulate the data of their construction projects from outside of Touchplan. We sat down with Touchplan Product Manager Cory Brennan to learn more about this new feature and its benefits to our customers.

Tell us what the Touchplan API is all about – what is the greater value being delivered to our customers?

The Touchplan API provides our customers with access to retrieve and manipulate the data of their projects from outside of Touchplan so that they may more easily create workflows unique to their company. These workflows, such as displaying the data being captured on-site from various tools on dashboards or managing access to Touchplan through internal processes, allow our customers more granular control of their data that the evolving construction landscape demands.

How do customers access the information from the Touchplan API?

The Touchplan API uses a common API standard known as REST. Customers will need to configure their systems to interact with the Touchplan API.

Who will benefit the most from utilizing the Touchplan API?

Customers who want to integrate Touchplan project data with data from other systems will find the Touchplan API valuable. It allows them to much more easily aggregate Touchplan data into their existing systems for custom workflows.

Why was this an essential feature for Touchplan to roll out?

The data that is available on a jobsite can provide an immense amount of value when utilized. As the construction industry evolves into more data-driven workflows, we believe that the Touchplan API will enable customers to take full advantage of the data their jobsite is generating and use it to its full effect.

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