ASA CHARLESTON CHAPTER: LEAN CONSTRUCTION

ASA of SC Charleston Chapter meets to hear about LEAN Construction and subcontractor best practices from Bill Stevens, Senior Superintendent for Robins & Morton
sub-contractors-of-the-carolinas

LEAN CONSTRUCTION

On Monday, January 22, 2018, the Charleston Chapter of ASA had their monthly meeting covering the topic of Lean Construction. There were approximately 75 attendees for the meeting interested in learning about “Lean Construction” from Bill Stevens. Bill is a Senior Superintendent for Robins & Morton, a general contractor. As the group discovered quickly, Bill is a dynamic speaker. The presentation kicked off with an in-depth discussion about construction in its current state and what we, as subcontractors, love and hate about the work that we do daily. Answers ranged from loving the diversity of each project to hating dependency on weather. Next, Bill explained what lean is: the elimination of waste. He continued to show that lean is not a new concept. It has been around since the 1900’s in manufacturing, but only since 2000 have managers begun to implement it in construction. Bill continued by showing some short videos to further explain the importance of people and their role on a lean project, and overall subcontractor best practices. Without collaboration, respect and teamwork, the project cannot move forward in an integrated project delivery (IPD) format. It takes buy-in from everyone. This is accomplished through employee engagement.

Benefits of Lean Construction

The group learned that lean projects allow subcontractors to build relationships, turn managers into leaders, use technology to their advantage, achieve a work-life balance and innovate. But most importantly, it is an opportunity to incorporate fun into the job site. Bill spent the remainder of our time together answering many questions the group had, and several shorter discussions arose. For example, “How do we measure lean progress?”  Others were, “How does a subcontractor roll this out on the company level?” And also, “How can a subcontractor learn more about lean?” It sounded like there was a lot of interest in this topic.  If current construction trends like Lean Construction pique your interest, you can learn more about it directly from Robins & Morton here where they cover their Lean Congress Live Lab. Click Here to Learn More About Becoming an ASA of South Carolina Member  

More Posts