The pursuit of optimal productivity has been a priority of industrial companies for decades, but the interruption of work processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought productivity-related challenges to the forefront in the past few months. With all of the new issues arising as a direct result of this crisis, there is perhaps no better time to focus on what productivity actually looks like in practice and how it can be competently measured in industrial settings.
Optimal productivity can be achieved primarily in the preconstruction phase of a project.
According to James Richard, construction manager for Shell, optimal productivity can be achieved primarily in the preconstruction phase of a project.
"To be quite honest, all of the work should be done in the preconstruction phase, setting the project up for success," Richard said in a recent Downstream Virtual Conference and Exhibition webinar. "One of the things within that preconstruction space is early contractor involvement. You should get your construction contractor involved as soon as you can. If you can, get them involved in FEED."
"You need to apply that to all phases of engineering, procurement and construction," added Martin Darley, global project manager for Chevron, who moderated the discussion. "If you do not blend them all together, it is too late once the team is waiting for material to arrive on-site."
Richard went on to explain the importance of temporary facility setup in achieving good productivity in the field. "You should look at it from a lean standpoint," he said. "Set up your buildings to eliminate as much walk time, drive time and wait time as possible."
The panelists agreed that early engagement is crucial to a project's productivity, adding that emerging technologies can be utilized to assist in that process even in a remote environment. With the assistance of new machine learning and AI technologies that can run through myriad scenarios in a fraction of the time it would take humans to analyze them manually, significant costs can potentially be cut by shortening the overall project timeline.
Such technologies give project managers the ability to scan models and compare them to the work actually being done in the field, enabling them to access real-time productivity data and study 3-D and 4-D models.
Advanced work packaging (AWP), a process by which project scope is dissected to support the execution of workforce planning in the field, is another method showing immense promise to increase productivity.
"You have to understand your work scope before you can define the path of construction," Richard said. "You should put together a digital roadmap of what success looks like and build onto it to drive AWP and efficiency throughout the lifecycle of the project."
Another aspect of productivity too
often overlooked, according to Richard, is the role leadership plays in motivating workers.
"Too many times on a project, we have turnover of employees, absenteeism and low morale," he said. "That really affects productivity. I'm really passionate about setting up an environment craftspeople want to work in and making investments to make them happy."
Employee engagement and feedback is another important part of fostering a culture of strong leadership and satisfied workers, Richard explained. In his view, employees should regularly be invited to engage with project managers in small groups to discuss the tasks at hand and provide feedback on which processes need to be fine-tuned on the jobsite.
"Those small investments pay huge dividends," Richard said. "Build your culture all the way down to the craftspeople."
