Research suggests that the UK construction industry’s annual spend due to error is a staggering 7 times more than its annual profit. A large contributor to this disturbing statistic is human error and poor planning. Businesses are flooding money into projects that aren’t working, then having to spend even more to salvage the situation. It doesn’t have to be this way. Here are 4 ways of minimising wasted resources and ensuring you get it Right First Time.
1. Establish a performance culture
Before undertaking any construction project, it’s vital that you instil a clear sense of value and intent across your organisation. Establish clear objectives and a clear brief that any member of the team and workforce can refer back to at any stage.
At BBI, as part of our strategy deployment, we help businesses to define what great looks like and cascade this throughout the organisation. Furthermore, developing a collaborative workplace culture will encourage the team to identify defects in the current operations, before they can seriously eat into your profits.
You can also invest in the coaching and upskilling of your team, analysing with them to identify areas where errors are frequent and profits are lost.
2. Improve your manufacturing systems
Process optimisation is also a key contributor towards increasing productivity. Shockingly, productivity in the construction industry has only risen by 12% in the last 20 years. Meanwhile, the overall economy has seen a 53% rise in productivity. A huge contributor to this statistic is wasted time and effort, often spent rectifying errors. Streamlining your processes from the start will help to reduce error, increase productivity, and significantly increase your profits.
A lot of error in construction is caused by poor manufacturing systems. When implementing world class & highly efficient manufacturing systems, BBI help you to establish an end-to-end process plan that considers both the short and long term future state.
We assist you in deploying a collaborative planning approach to determine your milestones for each day, week and month. This will help instill a performance management framework for you to measure your success at every stage, and identify potential areas of error before they arise.
Furthermore, by applying the Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach, you can error proof existing methods, and significantly increase the quality of the build. By optimising your manufacturing systems, you can reduce error, streamline your schedule, and increase profits at every stage.
3. Collaborate across the supply chain
Exhibiting humility and learning from others are key skills in the UK’s current construction climate. We work with supply chains and clients to identify areas of opportunity which includes how we communicate with clients and partners across the supply chain. In doing so, you can identify areas where the supply chain can be further optimised. Can handovers be more efficient? Are there any regular, unnecessary costs that can be cut?
However, it’s also worth undergoing a forensic analysis of your supply chain. Identify suppliers who are underdelivering or difficult to work with. If their standards are slipping, so too is the quality of your final product. Focus on building strong and collaborative relationships to help reduce the risk of error at any point in the supply chain.
4. Know when to stop
The construction industry is governed by deadlines and tight turnarounds. However, countless businesses make the mistake of prioritising quickness over quality. If you can see that your processes aren’t working, don’t plough on ahead regardless. This will only result in more wasted materials, wages and resources. Furthermore, you’ll have to sacrifice more profits and risk the safety of your staff to put the situation right. A staggering 39% of construction workplace injuries happen as a result of rework.
As such, it’s important that you know when to step back and revise the plan. Our expert team of consultants help you to identify areas of error, and generate an innovative strategy that ensures safe and profitable project delivery.
Construction process improvement for the UK construction industry
BBI Services’ team of industry experts will work with you to optimise your processes, improve your output quality, and implement a Right-First-Time mindset across the business. For more information, please contact us online or call 01608 664589.