Page 15 - IEC Insights Mar-Apr19

Since many Lean concepts are already inherent in
the eFab™ combination of design, pre-assembly,

and on-time delivery, it is much easier for most
electrical contractors to achieve efficiencies that
approach the efficiencies of the manufacturing

industry, even on a hectic construction site.

repetitive project such as a hotel, Management Science Professor Lauri ABB Installation Products is proud that its
complete pre-assemblies might be Koskela of the University of Huddersfield eFab™ product provides the opportunity
boxed and shipped room by room, in the United Kingdom, estimated that an to introduce Lean practices throughout
along with plans for installation. increase of only 10 percent in productivity the construction industry, assisting our
in a company where labor payroll is 35 electrical contractor customers to adopt
• Pre-assembly. Assemblies are percent of total revenues can result in a efficiencies that drive cost savings.
prefabricated by special teams doubling of net profits for a firm that’s
at ABB’s Athens, TN, plant and used to operating on a 3 percent net. “It’s important to learn from experience,
packaged according to the not just with eFab and Lean construction
specifications of each job. Even with partners like ABB and eFab™, but in contracting in general,” as Global
of course, a contractor who is new eFab Market Development Manager John
• On site and on time. The order is to Lean processes will experience a Archer puts it. “Typically, the first job
delivered directly from the factory learning curve – the new workflows with eFab leads to some improvements
to the jobsite at whatever timing is must be clearly communicated to work and some mistakes. The second is
deemed most efficient. For example, supervisors and crews, who need to get better. The third is better yet. The
if crews can finish a complete floor on board with the processes in order to important thing is, once you go down
in a few days, preassemblies for just maximize their efficiencies. But, since the road of adopting Lean practices,
that floor could be shipped, boxed for many Lean concepts are already inherent you are always getting better.”
each room, so no staging area storage in the eFab™ combination of design,
is required. The next shipment might pre-assembly, and on-time delivery, it is
be scheduled to arrive shortly before much easier for most electrical contractors Colin Ross is the eFab™ group director
that floor is finished so the cycle can to achieve efficiencies that approach the for ABB Installation Products. Based
continue as efficiently as possible. efficiencies of the manufacturing industry, in Memphis, TN, he and his team
even on a hectic construction site. work with electrical contractors
The result, when fully adopted, is a project across the U.S. and Canada.
with no crowding, no searching for parts,
and quick-to-install assemblies that fit into
an efficient and well-planned work flow.
SOURCES
The cost savings can be dramatic. For
example, custom-designed assemblies Matt Stevens, “Increasing Adoption of Lean Construction by Contractors,” Proceedings
of components can save more than 50 of the International Group for Lean Construction, Oslo, Norway, June 2014
percent on in-wall rough-in installation T.M. Viana, et al., “Impacts of the Application of Lean Construction to Reduce the
costs, partly by speeding on-site work Generation of Waste and Improve Processes in Construction,” International Journal of
and partly by reducing waste. Special Science and Engineering Investigations, May 2017
eFab™ assemblies can reduce overall
material costs by up to 40 percent. Donna Liquidara-Carr, McGraw Hill Construction, “Industry Perceptions of Lean
Construction,” 16th annual Lean Construction Institute Congress, October 2014
The potential effect on a project’s bottom L. Koskela, “Fifty Years of Irrelevance: The Wild Goose Chase of Management Science,”
line can be dramatic as well, even if the Lean Construction Journal, IGLC Special Issue, 2011
full potential benefits of Lean processes
are only partially realized. One often- Rebeca Ayala, product manager, PlanGrid Construction Productivity Blog, February 2018
quoted researcher, Construction and

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