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December 14th, 2016

Introducing Lean Construction  – Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors CPD Initiative

Arran McDonald (Senior Consultant at Bourton Group LLP) – December 2016

161104-bg-portraits-10-04-edit-sBourton Group already support the UK Construction industry, helping to drive performance improvement against that Holy Trinity of measures; Cost, Quality and Delivery. However, we are always looking for opportunities to develop understanding and promote the benefits that Lean Sigma and other business improvement or transformation techniques, can have on customer satisfaction and a business’s bottom line, and more importantly the lasting impact on culture.

In support of this, I recently delivered a talk at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in London; introducing Lean Construction to a number of delegates as part of their Continued Professional Development (CPD) initiative. The talk gave an overview of Lean and Six Sigma and highlighted how they work well together to positively support organisations and business systems.

shutterstock_64257628A key message I wanted to get across to the audience was the requirement to set baselines, and the importance of driving stability into construction projects and processes in order to have a solid foundation for improvements. With this in mind I introduced them to a number of effective improvement tools and techniques such as value streams, process mapping, 5s, collaborative planning and visual management.

The feedback collected after the session showed the talk was well received by all of the RICS delegates, with some commenting on how using practical examples not only brought the topic to life, but clearly demonstrated how they could relate the support tools and techniques to business specific issues they are currently facing.

If you’d like to hear more about this subject, or specifically how we can help with your business specific issues, call 01926 633333 or alternatively email us at info@bourton.co.uk.

“We help fix businesses and equip teams to keep them fixed.”

shutterstock_100515940Bourton Group has supported many businesses from a wide range of industries to implement Lean improvement techniques via tailored engagement programs. Specifically, though our work in the Construction Sector over the past 10 years has included supporting Construction and Infrastructure companies from Client; Major Contractor; Specialist Sub-Contractor; Material and Equipment Provider; Architects; Designers; Engineers and Consultants.

We work collaboratively to deliver on efficiency objectives and targets, with returns on investment of over 20:1 being reported, along with wider benefits of reducing waste, decreasing time to complete activities and improvements to quality – all of which have been directly attributed to Lean.

Arran has 20 years’ experience of working in the field of improvement, the latter part specifically in the construction sector, where he has worked on a wide variety of projects in various sectors of the industry such as Housing (building, Estate management), Highways, Water (Clean and Waste), Rail (HS2), Education, Healthcare, prisons, nuclear, building refurbishments and regeneration projects to name a few.

END.

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