PRE-PLANNING ITEMS Signed Contracts:

• Negotiate and finalize contract with GC. Establish con-tracts and or POs for subcontractors and vendors.

Funds in Place:

• Verify that adequate funds are in place to complete the scope of work. In addition, confirm that Notice to Owner lien process is complete and is recorded.

Superintendent Packets:

• Work off the Field Superintendent’s Packet Table

of Contents.

Project Manager Folder:

• Establish Project Manager Folder to include Project Manager Table of Contents.

Established Budgets:

• Enter project budgets into viewpoint and obtain proj-ect job number. Start projproj-ect initiation sheet.

Safety information:

• Put together GC required information regarding Belair Excavating Safety issues including emergency route maps, phone numbers, job specific safety items, GC specific safety items, underground locates, traf-fic control issues, etc.

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Identify Production Tracking Issues:

• We will need assistance with set-up

and tracking to maintain project cost control. BAT files.

Develop CPM Schedule:

• A critical path schedule and bar chart identifying mile-stone completion dates will need to be developed or obtained from the GC.

Identify Equipment and Manpower Needs

•

lternative Resource Allocation: Trucking and Dumps

•

Conduct Pre-Planning Meetings:

• Schedule weekly in house meetings to

identify that the Pre-Planning items as outlined are completed as action items, and schedule project initiation meetings with the GC, Owner and Belair Excavating subcontractors and Vendors to have a complete under-standing of project planning and expectations. If needed Belair Excavating should drive these meetings for our own self-preservation relating to this project’s success. Include with the Pre-Planning Meetings a partnering meet-ing with the GC, Belair subs, Owner, Testmeet-ing Company and Engineers, and all key players in the project.

Mobilization Process

Equipment and Manpower Issues:

• Resolve any resource allocation issues

prior to mobilization.

Locates:

• Have location plans completed prior to mobilization. Will require continued updating on a minimum 10–14 days relocate.

Identify Known Conflicts:

• Identify known conflicts to the GC and the Owner and discuss impact prior to mobilization.

Job Site Readiness:

• Visit the job site to assure excavation area as well as the dump areas are ready for the start of work. (Bus Ride with GC and Staff) Trucking Availability:

• Conduct weekly meetings with the trucking ven-dors to discuss service requirements and get buy-in for project success. Face to face communication so they understand our production requirements.

Weigh the advantages of going by the load vs. by the hour for ease of billing and production incentive.

Permit and Licensing Requirements:

• Identify any special permits, licensing

and or Public Ordinances that may affect our productions.

Weather Considerations:

• Identify what our back-up plans will be if we run into wet weather. How will our loading and dump operations be affected.

Safety Compliance:

• Inspect operations heavily at the beginning of the proj-ect to identify any possible risk items that need to be addressed.

Tracking Trucking and Accountancy:

• Provide a plan of action to assure

trucking and tickets are being accurately accounted for. Establish log sheets on-site to track possible trucking issues on a daily basis.

Documentation Requirements:

• Discuss with the field staff the

documen-tation requirements that will be required on a daily basis and follow-up continually to make sure these requirements are being met for production analysis. Discuss work order process and Daily Recap requirements with the Supt. and include the GC so they have a full understanding of how we will expect to document pre-approved extra work items.

Special Mobilization Requirements:

• Take into consideration special

over-sized equipment and trucking needs that will need to be addressed.

Post-mortem Studies

Belair attributes a part of their success to conducting a mandatory postmortem eval-uation at the completion of each job for the purpose of continuous improvement.

This evaluation compiles field staff’s experience with the job and clarifies whether the outcome was positive for both the customer and Belair. (The process is detailed in Chapter 15.)

lean 2010 improvements

Belair’s* CFO set a number of critical goals to be accomplished through the lean initiatives.

Six initial goals were:

1. Make reliable time and production data easily available to system users, mostly within 24 hours of occurrence

2. Improve equipment utilization at the job level

3. Base job estimates on accurate, accessible historical production cost data 4. Increase field and office productivity

5. Shift time spent by field superintendents and project managers from paperwork and data chase to value-added activities

6. Create a platform on which we can operate at three times our current volume Field-based improvements:

Improved field production by 4.5%

•

Improved equipment utilization by 6%

•

Administration improvements the CFO reported:

Real-time cost and production data were placed in the hands of each field

superin-•

tendent daily. This provided instant recognition of cost to budget variances.

Improved timeliness of monthly financial reporting—7 days; posting of committed

•

costs—15 days; posting of equipment costs—30 days.

Ability to perform job cost projections improved from monthly to daily.

•

Eliminated errors between field personnel and accounting.

•

Reduced processing of payroll data from eight steps to two steps.

•

Reduced worker hours to process redundant data by the equivalent of three full

•

time equivalent (FTE) staff.

Reduced paper work required to process payroll eliminating over 58,000 sheets of

•

paper on an annual basis.

Improved accounts receivable days by 10%.

•

Paperless storage of accounts payable invoices. This reduced mail and copy costs

•

by 40%.

*Based on document Belair Lean Improvements (Tracy Dabrowski), September 21, 2007.

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