Appendix B: Interview questions and data results
Section 3: Lean scheduling and planning
C1M1
3.1 What lean production techniques have been introduced into your scheduling and planning on your sites?
Use of the last planner system
x Discuss what is currently used on your sites and how it is used?
Evaluation of percentage plan complete (PPC)
x We have a strategic plan which is the programme. A
collaborative plan with subcontractors is put together based on the programme. Last planner is taken from the collaborative plan. Daily huddle meetings are used to track last planner programme to find out if subcontractors are still on track.
Daily huddle meetings
x
3.2 Do you believe these methods would be/are of greater benefit to the projects you work on than what is traditionally used for scheduling and planning?
Yes x Why/Why not?
No Gets the guys on site pulling the programme along rather than the main contractor ramming it down their throat.
C2M1
3.1 What lean production techniques have been introduced into your scheduling and planning on your sites?
Use of the last planner system
x Discuss what is currently used on your sites and how it is used?
Evaluation of x Last planner and daily huddle meetings are used on every site in
83 percentage plan
complete (PPC)
Auckland to manage weekly production on site as well as to manage procurement and lead time items. Also to meet milestones and create flow for ourselves and subcontractors.
Originally did do daily huddle meetings when we had our own labour in order to increase productivity but it is no longer practiced.
Daily huddle meetings
3.2 Do you believe these methods would be/are of greater benefit to the projects you work on than what is traditionally used for scheduling and planning?
Yes x Why/Why not?
No Key performance indicators we use have shown that our
completion times have improved greatly since using last planner on site. Has worked for us by giving more ownership to site managers and project managers.
C2M2
3.1 What lean production techniques have been introduced into your scheduling and planning on your sites?
Use of the last planner system
x Discuss what is currently used on your sites and how it is used?
Evaluation of percentage plan complete (PPC)
x Last planner is used every Thursday. From there PPC is
evaluated every Friday. Daily huddle meetings are used in house with QS’s and site managers take care of that on site
Daily huddle meetings
x
3.2 Do you believe these methods would be/are of greater benefit to the projects you work on than what is traditionally used for scheduling and planning?
Yes x Why/Why not?
No Yes definitely. Last planner is all about communication which in my opinion the construction industry is lacking. It is
important to get two subcontractors working on the same interface talking to each other so you don’t hit stop points. As programmes and budgets get tighter it becomes more effective.
84 C2M3
3.1 What lean production techniques have been introduced into your scheduling and planning on your sites?
Use of the last planner system
x Discuss what is currently used on your sites and how it is used?
Evaluation of percentage plan complete (PPC)
x Between myself and the site manager we use last planner based on a 6 week look ahead created in Microsoft excel, weekly as well as evaluate the PPC. 6 week look ahead is used to give us a good visualisation on where we need to be and we also have a key focus on the critical activities off this when setting up the last planner system.
Daily huddle meetings
3.2 Do you believe these methods would be/are of greater benefit to the projects you work on than what is traditionally used for scheduling and planning?
Yes x Why/Why not?
No It helps a lot to have agreed times and dates with the
subcontractors. When everyone can see what they have to do, it identifies what are the prerequisites. Also without creating a blame culture we can start to evaluate what went wrong and why?
C2M4
3.1 What lean production techniques have been introduced into your scheduling and planning on your sites?
Use of the last planner system
x Discuss what is currently used on your sites and how it is used?
Evaluation of percentage plan complete (PPC)
x Daily huddle meetings are used in a way in which subies are talked to individually on a daily basis. Last planner is used to create a weekly plan and a 5 week look ahead. Let subies know what wasn’t done and discuss what happened with them.
Daily huddle meetings
3.2 Do you believe these methods would be/are of greater benefit to the projects you work on than what is traditionally used for scheduling and planning?
85
Yes x Why/Why not?
No Sets goals, greater co-ordination, gets better involvement with subcontractors rather than non-stop planning.
C2M5
3.1 What lean production techniques have been introduced into your scheduling and planning on your sites?
Use of the last planner system
x Discuss what is currently used on your sites and how it is used?
Evaluation of percentage plan complete (PPC)
We do a 2 week or more programme. We thenmeasure last planner against vs. contract programme to see where we are at (as opposed to PPC). We use toolbox meetings which do not involve every sub trade.
Daily huddle meetings
3.2 Do you believe these methods would be/are of greater benefit to the projects you work on than what is traditionally used for scheduling and planning?
Yes x Why/Why not?
No Subies take a while to get used to it but once they see the benefit in it you can have a very quick meeting. The challenge is to have the subies have everything ready before the meeting.