00:00All right. Welcome to this unified consulting solutions explainer. Now, if you've ever been on a project, you know, the kind plagued by delays, constant chaos, you're really going to want to stick around.
00:12We're about to dive into the history of the last planner system, a framework literally born to fix that exact problem and completely change how we build.
00:20So by the end of this, you're going to see the whole picture. We'll connect the dots, starting with the industry wide chaos that just screamed for a new approach.
00:27And we'll land on the core principles that make the system so darn effective today.
00:32So here's our game plan. First, we'll look at the old way of building.
00:36Then we'll get into the new philosophy that changed everything, meet the pioneers behind it, and then really break down how the system works from push to pull and all the conversations that make it happen.
00:46It's all about building a more reliable future.
00:49OK, so section one, the old way of building, you know, to really get why the solution is so brilliant.
00:55We first have to understand the problem. What exactly was so broken about the way things used to be done?
01:01I mean, for decades, and I mean decades, the construction industry was stuck.
01:07It was wrestling with this huge fundamental problem.
01:11You'd think with all the new technology, things would get better, right?
01:15Nope. Projects were just stubbornly unpredictable, totally inefficient.
01:19It created this culture of constant firefighting for the teams on the ground.
01:25And get this. This is a staggering fact.
01:27For more than half a century, think about that.
01:29While other industries like manufacturing were making these incredible, mind-blowing leaps in productivity,
01:35construction was, well, it was basically flat.
01:38No real improvement.
01:39It's kind of crazy when you think about it.
01:41So what was the root cause?
01:43Well, the core issue was this really rigid, top-down way of planning.
01:47You had these master schedules being cooked up in an office somewhere,
01:51completely isolated from the folks in the field.
01:54Then they'd just get pushed down.
01:56The problem? They almost never matched what was actually happening on the ground.
02:00And that disconnect? Well, that's where the chaos came from.
02:03Unreliable workflows, tons of wasted effort, you name it.
02:07All right, a new production philosophy.
02:09So everyone's facing this total chaos.
02:12Where do you even look for a solution?
02:14Well, the inspiration, funnily enough, came from a completely different world.
02:18The world of car manufacturing.
02:20And this slide just lays it out perfectly.
02:22It was a massive shift in thinking.
02:24The industry started moving away from what we call push systems.
02:27You know, where work is just forced onto teams, whether they're ready for it or not.
02:31Instead, they move towards pull systems.
02:33That's where the teams themselves pull in the work,
02:35but only when they actually have the capacity to get it done.
02:38Huge difference.
02:39And here's a really key piece of the origin story.
02:42This whole philosophy, it wasn't just invented out of thin air for construction.
02:47No, it was adapted from the legendary Toyota production system, TPS.
02:52We're talking about one of the most efficient waste-eliminating manufacturing models ever created.
02:58The foundation was already there.
02:59Okay, let's talk about the pioneers.
03:03So, who were the brilliant minds that looked at these powerful ideas from a clean, predictable factory floor
03:09and figured out how to make them work in the, let's face it, messy, unpredictable reality of a construction site?
03:15Well, back in the early 90s, two guys, Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell, started formalizing this whole new approach.
03:23All their work came together into a system designed to do one thing, bring order and predictability to the job site.
03:29They wanted to create a buffer against all that uncertainty, something they called shielding production.
03:35And their big aha moment was a simple but really powerful truth.
03:40The people who are actually doing the work, you know, the foremen, the crew leaders, what they called the last planners,
03:47they're the best ones to plan it.
03:49It seems obvious now, right?
03:51But this was revolutionary.
03:53It empowered them to make commitments that were actually realistic and reliable.
03:57So, from push to pull, how does this shift from that old top-down push to this new bottom-up collaborative pull,
04:05how does it actually work in the real world?
04:07Let's break it down.
04:08The whole system runs on this really elegant, continuous feedback loop.
04:14It's a journey.
04:15You start with what the master schedule says you should do.
04:18But then comes the reality check.
04:19What can we do, once we've identified and removed all the roadblocks?
04:23And from there, you get to the most important part.
04:26What will the team make a reliable promise to get done?
04:29Should.
04:29Can.
04:30Will.
04:31Now, you can't improve what you don't measure, right?
04:34So to make this whole feedback loop work, you have to track it.
04:36And the key metric for that is something called percent planned complete, or PPC.
04:41It's just a simple but super powerful way to measure how reliable the team's promises are week in and week out.
04:47And when you look at the results, wow, they're absolutely dramatic.
04:52On a typical, traditionally run project, your PPC might be hovering somewhere around, say, 54%, which is not great.
05:00But teams using the last planner system, they consistently see that number jump up to over 80%.
05:05That is a massive, massive leap in predictability.
05:09All right.
05:10The system of conversations.
05:12So what's the secret sauce?
05:13What's the engine that's driving this incredible jump in reliability?
05:16Well, it's not some fancy piece of software.
05:19It's not a complicated spreadsheet.
05:20At its absolute core, the last planner system is just a structured system of conversations.
05:26Yeah, you heard that right.
05:28The entire system is powered by people talking to each other in a structured way.
05:32It's these conversations that transform a plan from what is basically a hopeful guess into a reliable promise.
05:39And they create this amazing cycle where the team is just constantly learning and getting better.
05:44And maybe the most critical conversation of them all is the one that determines what can be done.
05:50This is what we call look-ahead planning.
05:52It's where the team gets together and proactively looks, say, three to six weeks into the future.
05:56They're like detectives, hunting for any potential roadblocks, missing materials, information, equipment, whatever.
06:03And they clear them before they can cause a delay.
06:06It's all about making sure work is truly ready to go.
06:09Okay, let's talk about building a more reliable future.
06:13What's the real-world impact of making this shift?
06:15Let's dig into the benefits that have made the last planner system a global standard in the industry.
06:20And you can see it right here.
06:22The impact is huge.
06:24And it goes way beyond just hitting your schedule dates.
06:27It fundamentally transforms the entire project culture.
06:31Suddenly you have real collaboration.
06:33You're building trust between teams.
06:34And you're creating this engine for continuous learning and improvement.
06:38It's a game-changer.
06:40So the history of this whole system really leaves us with a powerful question to ask ourselves.
06:45Is your current planning system a tool that actually helps you deliver predictably?
06:49Or is it just a source of constant firefighting?
06:53Because what we've learned is that by changing our approach, by collaborating and empowering the people doing the work,
06:58we can absolutely change our project outcomes for the better.
07:02So there you have it.
07:04That's the journey.
07:05We've gone from the chaos of the old way to a truly collaborative solution that's rooted in lean philosophy.
07:10We've seen how it started, who pioneered it, and how it works.
07:13At the end of the day, it's a system built not on wishful thinking, but on reliable promises.
07:19Thanks so much for joining us for this Unified Consulting Solutions Explainer.
07:23Hey, and if you want to learn more and connect with other professionals who are just as passionate about improving our industry,
07:29please come join our community over on LinkedIn.
07:31The link is right there waiting for you in the description below.
07:34And just so you know, everything we talked about today was based on the incredible foundational research
07:39from the pioneers and leaders in lean construction.
07:42Their work truly continues to shape a more reliable future for all of us in this industry.
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