5 Questions with Benjamin Foreman, Lean Construction Manager at Hunt Electric
This week on 5 Questions With…, we spoke with Benjamin Foreman, Lean Construction Manager at Hunt Electric. As a trade partner, Benjamin offers a unique perspective on applying Lean principles. His insights are valuable for everyone in the design and construction community as we work together to break down industry silos and foster collaboration across roles.
1. What hurdles did you encounter when implementing Lean on a project (in your company), and how did you tackle them?
As a trade partner, we had a long-standing and successful relationship with a GC utilizing a variety of Lean tools across project teams. On a particular industrial project, we disagreed with the GC on their requested trade crew sizes at different points in the schedule. Additionally, most of our team was new to pull-planning.
We took things one little bite at a time: we committed to time together on site, physically walked through the current status of the work, and built some rapport and trust. We then sat down to understand the milestones we were expected to hit and started to talk through the sequence of work from turn-over, back to where we were. After teasing out some of those details we were able to easily populate and break down tasks on some sticky notes with solid crew sizes.
Making that internal pull-plan helped us to visualize with the GC (and the rest of the project team) to really collaborate on ensuring the right staffing levels for the right tasks at the right time.
2. What stories can you share about a successful Lean project (Lean implementation effort) you participated in and what do you think made it work?
Process mapping is a tool we use frequently to really help understand our workflows. Often, we use them in conjunction with the first steps of trying to understand what the problem really is. Regularly we have a small team working on a challenge and we get to a step where folks make assumptions about what the next person in the process needs or expects. We take that opportunity to just ask questions and learn.
When we make it visual with process maps, it’s easier to identify those areas and improve them. In those cases we almost always eliminate waste of some sort, but if nothing else we’re increasing our understanding of adjacent work.
3. In your opinion, what are the biggest benefits of applying Lean and how have they impacted your projects, your teams, or your organization?
Empathy. Applying Lean principles requires us to slow down, be curious and listen to others. Really listen to what they need, how they feel about the things they do for their work and empower them to improve it. When we have a deep respect for people at the center of our words and actions, projects and teams perform so much better. It’s still work and it’s still hard, but we’re able to be better employees, leaders, parents, friends and neighbors when we seek first to understand.
With Lean, our industry has moved the needle (a little bit) in this regard. We’ve got a long way to go, but it is certainly better than when I started in construction nearly 30 years ago.
4. How do you assess if your Lean game is strong; are there metrics or techniques you rely on and can share?
I think it is subjective – every person/team/company is at various stages of the journey from awareness to mastery and keeping a learning mindset all along. Often a team with even just a few individuals will have wide-ranging Lean skills and experience.
When you start to hear the language outside of a Lean-focused event, you can tell it’s getting “sticky”. Several years ago, only a couple of us talked about Plus/Delta feedback, today – it’s a part of all kinds of meetings. When you happen to see a new sign in the shop reminding folks about 5S or when you hear a modeler talk about standard work templates, you know Lean is growing.
5. If someone’s just dipping their toes into Lean, what advice would you offer from lessons you’ve learned?
Find a mentor. Without meaning to squash anyone’s dreams of grandeur – the problem you’re trying to solve isn’t unique! Someone else has solved (at least some of) it before, try to learn from their wins and/or scars. This applies to an individual’s Lean journey and to entire organizations trying to embrace Lean principles.
A local Community of Practice (CoP) you can connect with is a great place to start. The amount of candid sharing and learning I’ve found at a Lean Coffee is phenomenal. We all show up ready to learn and teach; usually a bit of both happens. If you aren’t able to engage with them in-person, there are several who host events in a virtual or hybrid format.
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