Production Tracking - Lessons Learned

Production and production tracking will never be perfect.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

Production tracking is just one part of an overall system for managing projects. The magic is developing a culture of continuous improvement across the whole team.  Some lessons learned when it comes to effective production tracking:

Field Productivity: Production Tracking. Lessons Learned. Start Small, Build Trust, Crews not Individuals, Days not Tasks, What-If Analysis, Experimentation, Selective Overtime, Small Rewards, and Refining Process.
  1. Start small testing and refining the process on one project or just a few tasks.
  2. Build trust across the field leadership and crews.  This is a tool for them to help them get better including learning to troubleshoot production.  It IS NOT a “monitoring” mechanism.  
  3. Focus on crew productivity rather than individuals.  Teach teams how to organize people for maximum impact.
  4. Focus on maximizing daily and weekly productivity; not just single tasks. Daily Production
  5. Develop tools, training and a habit of the team doing “What If” analysis to find the best way to execute before starting.  It is cheaper to figure this out on paper or virtually than it is physically.
  6. Make sure your culture supports consistent use of the best installation standards you have learned across all crews.  And provide room for smart EXPERIMENTATION to find the next best standard. PDCA
  7. Use selective overtime to meet daily production goals where applicable.  
  8. Use small rewards that are very short-interval (daily & weekly) and supervisor driven.  Combined with an overall performance compensation system this will build morale and sustainable results. 
  9. Technology is amazing but make sure your field supervisors can create an effective tracking tool including motivating the crew using a piece of sheetrock, spray paint and construction crayon.  People; then effective processes and then tools. 

Improving Labor Productivity Workshop


Production Tracking - Lessons Learned
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Production Tracking - Lessons Learned
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Management System Hierarchy Example
A management system has hierarchies from culture through to the individual steps in a procedure. These hierarchies must be integrated with strategic decisions, the organizational structure, and training to create a competitive advantage.
Managing Communications During the Preconstruction Process
Customer satisfaction and project success is largely determined by how effective the communications are managed during the preconstruction process.
Using a Vision to Create Desire and Context for Tasks
There is a whole lot of work involved in building projects and building a construction company. It is easy to get mired down in endless to-do lists, processes, and problems. The thing that holds this all together and accelerates performance is the vision.