Seamlessly Align Construction Operations With LEAN Using Construction ERP Software

Introduction to the construction operations

These are the day-to-day tasks of a construction team to execute projects within time. Construction as an entire concept is a long and arduous process that stars from capturing the Tender orders and enquiries, creating a zero-based budget and allotting the same, managing the daily operational routine of site work, purchasing the required goods and materials, warehousing and store operations, doing preventive and corrective maintenance works, payroll processing, training, workforce management, and the list goes on… 

What is Lean?

Lean is an industrial concept that lays out certain parameters and criteria to be followed by an enterprise to cut the business operations expenditure to a significant extent. The extent here is left undefined as there are far too many variables to be computed and the potential of the host implementing the Lean principles have a major say in how far the concept of Lean can be beneficial. 

What are the Principles of Lean in the construction arena?

Did you know that equipment and material costs account for almost 50% of the entire stipulated budget for a construction project? 85-95% of the contractors across India and Dubai report timely execution of projects within the planned budget as their biggest hurdle in construction. Taking a moment to analyse the reason, one may find that inadequate tools for making the right type of informed decisions and lakh of timely status updates, notifications, authorizations, etc happen to be the key reason behind the inefficiency in construction activities. 

One case example comes from a famous BPO company operating in Chennai that went Lean about a couple of years ago and one of the many old practices they revamped was to use small-sized biscuit instead of larger ones as larger ones are prone to breaking more frequently and it was found that the broken biscuits were least preferred by employees and eventually had to be thrown in the bin leading to wastage. This simple, yet effective biscuit replacement scenario helped the company save Rs 1 – 1.5 lakh per annum. Imagine the same being implemented with all the other attributes of the company. It’s a great opportunity to cut down on operating expenditure and generate higher revenue without even touching the marketing or other key business strategies. 

Construction being a labour-intensive sector, can absolutely be benefited to a great extent in controlling the operating expenditure on the following process;

Tiny droplets of water make up the mighty ocean they say, I say the fractions you end up saving in all the major and nitty-gritty details of the vast construction management operations and processes will eventually snowball into significant savings in the construction operations expenditure in the long-run. 

Role of Construction Management Software 

Construction ERP/Management software is a digital tool to streamline, simplify, standardize, integrate, automate, the construction workflow process, operations, workforce, and the resources to seamlessly manage the entire life-cycle of the construction projects from start to finish. It comes inclusive of Business Intelligence (BI) LEAN technology to further widen the horizon of the construction project management software’s benefits to the contractors. The construction ERP software acts as a cloud/web platform for the execution of Lean principles into the pool of existing construction practices. 

In the processes mentioned above, the implementation of the construction ERP software identifies the key pilferage points of resources/materials/finance and the plausible reasons for the same and puts in place an alternative technological/digital solution to counter the effects of excess pilferage. 

In essence, the construction management software that is designed specifically for the construction industry of India and the Middle-East typically gives the project managers and other stakeholders the required insights into operational expenditure, all in real-time to help them mitigate sudden unforeseeable situations that may eventually spiral into an excessive cost and schedule-overrun scenarios. 

Case study of the benefits of Lean using the construction project management software

I would like to keep this section of the article brief and crisp and be done with just a couple of examples that I am confident will make sense to the readers about what exactly they are looking at. 

The bottom line…

Tactive Construction ERP Software that works on the LEAN principles enables the contractors and project managers to make informed decisions on the judicious use and allocation of their resources to make room for some extra money by cutting down the operational costs. 

Take a free DEMO of Tactive construction management software to find if it’s a good fit for your construction business. We’re confident our product will beat your conventional spreadsheet system of operating and help you increase efficiency and grow your business at a fraction of the cost.