Project Execution

Lean processes enable continuous improvement. This collaborative study focused on trade contractors’ adoption of continuous improvement principles, methods, and practices. The procedures used to analyze the trade contractor capture a snapshot of the successful adopters’ methods and practices throughout their operations. Conducting case studies of successful adoption helps us to profile the processes and business …

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Between 2020 and 2022, your business likely received phone calls from vendors to notify you that key equipment or material deliveries were delayed – and that instead of being readily available in inventory, it would be months before they arrived. Perhaps you even had a vendor that told you they were unable to confirm a …

Continue reading “Managing Supply Chain Disruption”

Tools are critical to the everyday tasks of any sheet metal and HVAC contracting firm. They are responsible for significant direct project costs in the order of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Such costs are exacerbated when tools are poorly managed, which, for example, can lead to inadequate use of tools, safety …

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Construction project close-out has long been a challenge within the industry – especially for HVAC, sheet metal and mechanical contractors – leading to the closeout process lingering way past the project completion.  Two core players within the construction industry are the Mechanical Contractors, responsible for heating, cooling & plumbing, and HVAC/Sheet Metal Contractors, responsible for …

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On December 7th a federal district court in Georgia issued a nationwide injunction blocking the federal government from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors (and subcontractors) as set forth in Executive Order 14042 and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force’s Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors (“Task Force Guidance”). Under the Task Force …

Continue reading “The Executive Order Impact on COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors”

Register to view the Webcast on Demand. Recovering Loss Project Dollars from a Pandemic Event: A Comprehensive Guide Businesses face extraordinary financial challenges when  unanticipated events, like pandemics, occur. Our in-depth report, “Pandemics and Productivity: Quantifying the Impact,” offers valuable insights and practical strategies to help CEOs, project managers, financial executives, shop and field superintendents, …

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Tracking Construction Workforce Productivity Improves Operations and Profitability Tracking productivity in speciality construction is key to project profitability. Yet it has been an ongoing challenge for HVAC/sheet metal contractors who manage a high degree of off-site work. To complicate matters, few industry standards exist for tracking construction labor productivity, leading to a lack of clear …

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This white paper offers a set of best practices to optimize the use of prefabrication to obtain peak productivity for HVAC and sheet metal contractors. The study was informed by 1) an industry survey, 2) a series of case studies, and 3) detailed productivity and prefabrication analyses. This publication: Adds to the understanding of how …

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This paper focuses on off-site construction from the perspective of prefabrication, and installation of preassembled building components within “traditional” site-built construction project delivery methods or systems. The paper validates the savings identified in earlier reports and adds definition and dimension to the advantages associated with prefabrication and modularization in the MEP and HVAC and sheet …

Continue reading “White Paper: Off-Site Construction, Modularization, and Sheet Metal Prefabrication: Trends, Current Practice, and Recommendations”

Continuous improvement, as used in this paper and in the industry, is the name of an approach to improvement known and used around the world for decades. It applies to processes in the office, project or anywhere within the organization. The major components of continuous improvement are often referred to as an acronym, DMAIC: Define …

Continue reading “Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement”