Ep.275 - Lean Beliefs - Integrated Production Control System Series

Are you on the same page about lean beliefs? In this foundational episode before the Integrated Production Control System series, Jason delivers a comprehensive overview of the lean beliefs and concepts every construction team must understand. You'll learn why flow is the single most important condition we strive for, the difference between resource efficiency and flow efficiency (attach people to work, not work to people), the three types of buffers required for Takt planning (material, capacity, time), why overproduction and excess inventory are the mother and father of all wastes, the definition of lean in construction (respect for people/resources, stable environments with flow that see/fix problems, total participation with visual systems, continuous improvement and fanatical quality), and the 14 principles of the Toyota Way applied to construction.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Flow is everything: Single most important condition, path to increasing profits, employee satisfaction, customer delight, reduced durations; work on increasing and seeing flow every day

• Resource constraints are a gift: Lack of workers/materials forces us to respect people and resources like Japan (island, pay workers 54x China, rice culture); companies that don't start lean journey will fail with inflation and trained worker shortage

• The 3 buffers required for Takt: Material buffers (inventory just ahead of work, not excessive), capacity buffers (never plan 100% utilization, things break down), time buffers (1.5-5% contingency like financial); if you don't have visual schedule + crew/work flow + buffers + stabilized pace/one-piece flow/limited WIP, you don't have a Takt plan

• The 8 wastes: Overproduction and excess inventory are mother/father of all other wastes (transportation, motion, defects, overprocessing, waiting, not using team wisdom); when you overproduce you have inventory that needs transport creating motion, distraction creates defects, defects need fixing (overprocessing) creating waiting

• Definition of lean in construction: (1) Respect for people and resources, (2) Stable environments with flow in culture that sees and fixes problems, (3) Total participation with visual systems, (4) Continuous improvement and fanatical quality

"About half the construction industry has these concepts wrong and are using them wrong—that's where most of our waste and lost productivity and financial losses are coming from. We have to believe the right things to act the right way. Usually if somebody isn't acting the right way, it's because they believe something that is causing them to do so."

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Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw