Last Planner® System to the Rescue
The timeline wasn’t in our favor: O’Shea’s work on the new downtown Springfield YMCA started eight weeks behind, due to a delay in regulatory approvals.
However, the project team ended up finishing this important project four weeks ahead of the original schedule and under budget.
Our secret weapon? The Last Planner® System of Production Control (LPS).
O’Shea started using the Last Planner® System of Production Control earlier this year, with the help of Klaus Lemke, managing principal of LeanProject. The YMCA project is one of our first completed projects using the LPS approach. The completed facility is 88,000 square feet and includes a swimming pool, therapy pool, men’s and women’s health clubs, fitness facility, gymnastics area, an elevated running track, and racquetball courts.
Simply put, LPS is a lean approach to building. It is a holistic system organized into five major parts:
- Master Planning
- Phase Planning
- Make-Ready Planning
- Weekly Work Planning
- Learning
“LPS creates an environment where workers can do what they need to do each day with less conflict and less frustration,” says Lemke. “The surprising thing for a lot of people is that even though the project is moving much faster than typical, the work seems less rushed.”
Even with major challenges involving a delayed timeline and significant changes to safety and health protocols after COVID hit, the project was a resounding success.
“I am happy to say the entire construction team handled these changes like true professionals. With the help of LPS and precision team work, including our trade partners, we resequenced our precast schedule and finished four weeks ahead of schedule,” says Mike Sunley, O’Shea’s senior project manager. “It’s been fun to be a small part of this community project and help the Y move their mission forward.”
O’Shea is now implementing LPS on all projects going forward. Lemke commended O’Shea for our team’s willingness to learn a new system and collaborate in using it successfully.
“It was very clear to me early on that O'Shea has developed a strong learning culture where developing their people is central to the success of the company. With the YMCA project, the project team was eager to learn and not afraid to experiment with new practices,” he says.
“It was also clear that O’Shea has developed strong trusting relationships with key trade partners. LPS cannot be successful without them, and your relationship with these folks made them willing and eager partners in the process.”
T.A. Matthews, sheet metal foreman for E.L. Pruitt, saw the benefits of LPS while working on the YMCA project. “LPS is definitely productive. It helped me stay organized with the complete job schedule. The coordination between the trades worked better because everyone knew everybody’s daily tasks. It really helped me determine manpower for the job.”
Time is our most precious commodity and a crucial part of a construction project. Utilizing the Last Planner® System prioritizes scheduling so that O’Shea can continue focusing on safety and service to our clients.
“Most projects can see a significant schedule improvement, and this is even more common when the project has a pressing schedule goal like the YMCA project did,” Lemke says. “We see Last Planner® System benefiting everyone on a project. I look for signs of success with those who are performing the actual work of the project, including plumbers, electricians and carpenters; this is what we saw on the YMCA project.”