Lean Project Management

Precast Consulting Service
Finance, Marketing & Operations

Applying Lean processes and procedures
Project Management as a Lean Process

In some organizations the project management function is haphazard. Sometimes it is divided among several departments, typically diverting sales and engineering time. Important milestones are missed. The customer is confused. Accountability is unclear. Top management becomes involved in avoidable crises, or in matters that should be delegated. What can be done about this?

You may think that Lean is only associated with manufacturing processes. Not so. In fact, Lean is all about eliminating waste, standardization, and continuous improvement. In the precast industry this approach has been applied successfully to debottleneck the engineering and design process, and to reduce errors and streamline the project management process.

Project management is a process consisting of 8 transformational steps.

Project kickoff
Contract negotiations
Submittals & approvals
Project scheduling
Timely production
Transport & erection
Acceptance & payment
Closeout and final payment

These steps add value when they provide the exact product the customer wants, when the customer wants it. But, project management is the source of great waste when it fails to do this. That waste is typically seen in unnecessary expediting costs, rework and customer ill-will due to not providing what the customer wants, and liability for backcharges from others. This waste results from both errors of commission and errors of omission.

Each project management step can be further divided into its components. Those components can and should consist of standard forms and processes. Each step should be guided by a checklist to insure completeness. It is always helpful to review the process from time to time to streamline it and eliminate waste.

Projects differ and the discretion of project management is required to achieve the best balance for each project. Corporate management should impose certain defined requirements. The result is an efficient project management system that well serves the customer's needs, and avoids both the errors of commission and the errors of omission.

What can Precast Consulting do?

Review typical project management We can review the content of each process steps and show the forms and procedures typically employed by producers.
Project management facilitation We can lead your key managers and project management staff through a process to develop the project management methods that are best for your organization and marketplace. This is the opposite of adopting a canned program; your organization will own the work product and it will uniquely fit your circumstances.

Look at detail of the process steps click here.

Home page

Management professionalism for the Precast Industry