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Lean University --
Lean Articles
Team
builders
DPR
Inc. believes that walls must first be torn down before they
can be built.
by
Clair Urbain
Setting
foot in the DPR Inc. corporate headquarters in Redwood City,
California, you quickly realize this isn’t your ordinary
construction company. From the office design to the stand-up
meetings taking place here and there, you get the distinct
impression that empowerment and critical thinking rule.
The
lobby is airy and the corporate motto is inscribed on the
vertical wall panels. It reads: “Integrity. Enjoyment.
Uniqueness. Ever forward. We exist to build great things.”
Farther
inside, conference rooms of various sizes named after dead
rock stars line one side of the building. A glance to the
other side of the building reveals a sea of expansive work
areas with dividers no higher than 42" so it’s easy
to see others while any worker sits at his or her desk.
It’s
all part of the collaborative culture at the 15-year old
firm that employs 2,000 people in 10 offices across the
country.
DPR
Inc. specializes in design-build work. “Almost all of our
work is negotiated. We complete about 125 major projects a
year that average $10 million each. We are brought into the
process just as the owner decides it needs more facilities.
We work in a three-way relationship with the architect and
the owner,” says Peter Nosler, one of three company
cofounders.
A
closer look at the seating arrangement in the office reveals
an accountant sitting next to a project engineer. Team
members don’t sit in any particular order and employees’
jobs are described more by task than by rank and seniority.
“We
are a flat organization and we don’t, as a rule, put any
titles on business cards. We hire very good, self-motivated
people and pay them what they are worth. No one has a
private office, and every 18 months or so, we move people
around. It’s random. Having unlike disciplines sitting
next to one another encourages interchange of ideas. It
works very well for us,” Nosler says.
The
culture encourages teams to meet in one of many conference
rooms or hold stand-up meetings in the large, wide aisles.
The
DPR revolution
“Our
mission is to revolutionize the building industry by
establishing collaboration as the cornerstone of the
building process,” says Nosler. “This is in great
contrast to most building projects where the architect,
engineer, owner and contractor work in adversarial
relationships.”
In
the world of DPR Inc., the collaborative process is a blend
of people and systems that create optimal outcomes. It also
averts disagreement over responsibilities for oversights and
change orders as the planning and building progress.
As
noted in the sidebar, “Collaborative process maxims,”
the teams must exhibit specific traits to be successful. DPR
has borrowed heavily from lean manufacturing processes and
Nosler says the process works well in design-build
construction relationships.
The
collaborative process is entrenched in the planning stage
and makes its way through the building process to the
trades. The company uses the Last Planner concept to
increase production reliability and remove impediments from
completing work as planned.
The
Last Planner concept is a short-term scheduling system that
is far more detailed than the master plan or macro level. It
establishes workflow with realistic and reliable work
streams. It is based on the proper sequence and quantity of
commitments from workers’ input on what should be done to
the extent that it can be done.
Last
Planner comes first
“It
forces problems to surface in the planning stage, which
allows time to head them off instead of dealing with them in
crisis mode,” says Dan Obara, DPR project engineer on the
$92 million, 250,000 sq. ft. Camino Medical Group Medical
Office Building and 420,000 sq. ft. parking structure in
Mountain View, California. DPR team members there worked
closely with subcontractors to build a schedule based on the
lean project delivery and Last Planner concepts.
“We
have taken a different approach on the Camino project,”
says Scott Sass, project manager. “We are doing
three-dimensional coordination for crash resolution,” he
says.
In
a double-wide office trailer next to the main job trailer,
DPR engineers work with design engineers and subcontractor
engineers to plot the construction sequence in NavisWorks, a
three-dimensional modeling program that also adds time as
the fourth dimension; hence the process name of 4-D
modeling.
“We
are first building the facility on-screen and designing
decks with drops in the right places. The architectural,
structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire
protection systems are in three dimensions so we can see
spatial arrangements. This enables us to see conflicts that
must be resolved. Sometimes we plot them on vellum and use a
light table when the conflicts require the human touch. We
believe we will avoid added labor and installation costs in
excess of $1 million by utilizing this process.” says
Sass.
Team
builds the schedule
To get all of the trades committed to the schedule, they are
asked to help build the initial schedule.
“We
bring them into a room and post a timeline on the board with
major project milestones. Everyone gets a sticky note and
writes ‘I get/I give’ at the top, which indicates what
they will get at the start of their part of the job and what
they will hand off when it is completed,” says Sass.
“This allows them to fully understand the project is a big
network of commitments. We post the sticky notes on the
timeline and review the workflow. It’s wild to see how the
subs work together and tightly couple learning with action
to change, break down or sequence the job. They eat this up
and become the controller of their own destiny. This pulls
the schedule from them and increases relatedness among the
stakeholders. When we do this, we get incredible buy-in.”
Twice
weekly, the group meets to discuss progress and adjust
schedules to keep the project on track.
“The
team must be open minded and collaborative and remember to
do what is best for the project, not just for revenue,”
Sass observes.
Different
skillsets
To work at this high level of collaboration, it takes a
self-starting type of individual who is not afraid to share
his or her viewpoint, says Mike Humphrey, a 14-year DPR
employee.
“The
secret to success in this environment is to be accountable,
be a fantastic problem solver and be a good communicator,”
he says.
“We
look at every job as a puzzle. We have done some things no
one else has. For example, we worked with a NASA
subcontractor charged with building a new lens for the
Hubble telescope. Their engineers found that a lens made of
beryllium could provide superior optics when compared with
conventional lenses. The problem was there was no plant to
make this type of lens. A plant had to be designed and
constructed in less than eight months. We did it. That’s
the type of job we take on.
“We
also build clean rooms for semiconductor manufacturers. They
are incredibly expensive to build to meet clean room
requirements throughout the construction process. We decided
to try building one that was not totally clean, and then
super-clean it when it was finished. We found we can do it
for a much less than using conventional clean room
construction practices.
“We
also set a standard to have zero punch lists at the job’s
end. We accomplished that in 1994, and most jobs are that
way today,” he says.
Master
the mundane
To concentrate on the strategic issues of the day, DPR works
to streamline common activities.
“We
have consistency and procedure, but it’s not stifling. We
simplify and streamline the mundane, repeatable jobs. We
don’t waste our time on the mundane; we want to
concentrate on the tough problems,” Humphrey says.
Nosler
concurs. “The general accounting system is standard across
all work groups, but each team decides what variations in
estimating, scheduling and project management practices are
appropriate in serving a particular owner.”
The
system builds estimates based on complete input from the
team. When the building plan and budget is presented to the
team, DPR Inc. employees also include ideas that can lower
costs or improve construction. “The cost-saving ideas can
be implemented with the team’s review and approval,”
says Nosler. Similarly, the architect and owner are asked to
come up with their own cost-saving ideas. All ideas are open
for discussion and are accepted, rejected or put into a
pending status.
“The
pending ideas are discussed later as the project’s design
is finalized and other cost savings are needed to
accommodate changes in the building plans,” says Nosler.
“Complex
buildings can take from three to five years to construct,
when you consider the time from the first design program to
occupancy,” says Nosler, “In that time, needs change,
technology changes, and even people on the project change.
You need to be able to adjust the plan without incurring
huge costs.”
Cost
vs. price
While the collaborative design-build process can save time
and money, Nosler guarantees it won’t produce the lowest
priced bid. “A collaborative price can never be the lowest
priced bid because the partners in the process understand
the gaps in the drawings.
“Traditional
bids can’t see the gaps which don’t get handled until
the building process starts. What do you gain from a low bid
if the work is not done on time or what change orders are
needed to get the work done correctly? The lowest price
isn’t always the lowest cost,” he concludes.
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Collaborative
process maxims
Peter Nosler, one of the founders of DPR, outlines
the maxims of collaborative construction. These
truths drive how DPR works within its organization
and with team members on projects.
Integrity
and trust are essential for true collaboration.
Integrity – you will do what you say – and trust
– I believe what you say – are the cornerstones
of any collaborative relationship. “If you break
your promises or I question your credibility, the
relationship will eventually become adversarial,”
says Nosler.
The
long run is more important than the short run.
“For collaboration to work, all participants must
have a fundamental concern for the long-term
implications of their actions,” he says.
Teams,
which are diverse groups of individuals organized
for a common purpose, are good at achieving optimal
outcomes for three reasons. They enlarge the set of
possible solutions; they have more capabilities than
one individual; and they are more likely to identify
the best solution from among the possible options.
“Creative thinking and extraordinary outcomes are
more likely to occur in a team setting,” Nosler
says.
It is tempting to select team
members by picking the organization on the basis of
size, experience, financial strength, fee or other
factors driven by cost or convenience.
“A
team is not made up of organizations; it is made up
of people. While some organizations foster
collaboration more than others, personal chemistry,
individual capabilities, and teamwork skills are, in
general, better determinants of team performance
than organizational factors,” he says.
Bad
design is not the result of selecting the wrong item
from a list of possible solutions, but rather from
starting with too short of an idea list. “The
‘great idea’ is generally found only after
examining a multitude of options. It takes enormous
dedication to continue the search for greatness
after finding two or three ‘pretty good’
solutions,” Nosler says.
As a
project progresses, market conditions change, user
requirements evolve, and new ideas and technology
emerge. The collaborative process minimizes the
effects of change through better planning and
analysis, but the unforeseen, by definition, cannot
be fully anticipated. “The collaborative process
treats change as an opportunity, not for windfall
profits, but rather for exploring solutions which
were unachievable under previous conditions.”
The
basis for decision making should be facts and
reason, not opinions and emotion. “Since building
projects involve large investments of other
people’s resources, it is critical that project
teams make rational decisions, rather than following
conventional wisdom or promote personal biases,”
he concludes.
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Published
in the September 2005 issue of Contractor
Tools and Supplies magazine.
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