Olson Steel has incorporated Lean Design and Construction capabilities into its core business model in working cohesively with its strategic partners, which include general contractors, architects, structural engineers and property owners.
Due to the fact that Olson Steel is a fully integrated steel fabricator and erector, it has taken time to work with its partners to integrate into it’s delivery process a Lean Design and Construction platform that benefits all active participants in the process.
Lean Construction is a combination of operational research and practical development in design and construction with an adaption of lean manufacturing principles and practices to the end-to-end design and construction process. Unlike manufacturing, construction is a project based-production process. As defined, Lean construction is concerned with the alignment and holistic pursuit of concurrent and continuous improvements in all dimensions of the built and natural environment: design, construction, activation, maintenance, salvaging, and recycling . This approach tries to manage and improve construction processes with minimum cost and maximum value by considering customer needs.
Olson Steel, like its partners, defines Lean Design and Construction has a production management-based approach to project delivery. Lean production management has caused a revolution in manufacturing design, supply and assembly. Applied to project design and delivery, Lean changes the way work is done throughout the delivery process. Lean Construction extends from the objectives of a lean production system – maximize value and minimize waste – to specific techniques, and applies them in a new project delivery process. As a result:
- The facility and its delivery process are designed together to better reveal and support customer purposes.
- Work is structured throughout the process to maximize value and to reduce waste-at the project delivery level.
- Efforts to manage and improve performance are aimed at improving total project performance, because this is more important than reducing the cost or increasing the speed of any particular activity.
- “Control” is redefined from “monitoring results” to “making things happen.” The performance of the planning and control systems are measured and improved.
The reliable release of work between specialists in design, supply and assembly assures value is delivered to the customer and waste is reduced. Lean Design and Construction is particularly useful on complex, uncertain and quick projects. It challenges the belief that there must always be trade-offs between time, cost, and quality.
The vertical integration of Olson Steel provides the proper platform to allow for lean efficiencies amongst its eighteen (18) in house detailers who are centrally located in both its San Leandro facility and Fresno facility. The depth of the in-house detailing allows for the Company to work effectively with its estimators, project managers, and shop fabricators.
The Company provides long term experience in BIM modeling and is one of the industry leaders in collaborating on the front end to the project design cycle to help facilitate and expedite the BIM modeling processes.
Olson Steel has invested significantly in its technology and manufacturing capabilities and have maintained state of art manufacturing facilities that incorporate CNC capabilities which allows drawings and the fabrication process to be uploaded automatically from the detailing department.
Olson Steel maintains one of the largest fabrication facilities in the Bay Area, providing lean construction efficiencies based on its capacity and proximity to large projects in Bay Area. The Company has the flexibility through its fabrication process to provide just in time delivery schedules to very large scale jobs in the Bay Area through its automated project delivery system.
Olson Steel primary focus is on improving its abilities for its clients and partners and is constantly challenges itself to improve its Lean Design and Construction capabilities.