Logistics Staging 2

Logistics 2.0: Build a Queuing Yard and Gate So Only the Right Materials Enter the Site

If you want to see where most projects lose money, don’t start by looking at the schedule.

Look at the dumpsters.

Look at the cardboard.

Look at the pallets.

Look at the telehandler running back and forth all day doing nothing but moving waste.

Jason Schroeder’s Logistics 2.0 concept is a simple shift with massive leverage: stop trying to manage logistics inside the building after chaos has already entered. Manage it at the entry. Control it before it hits production.

And do it in a way that makes work easier to start, easier to do, and easier to finish.

That’s not “nice.” That’s LeanTakt thinking applied to real world job sites.

Why Logistics Deserves More Attention Than It Gets

Jason says it plainly: logistics is one of the most important considerations on a project site, and it doesn’t get enough attention.

Most teams treat logistics like a background function. Something you deal with when it becomes a problem. Something you assign to “whoever is available” until it turns into a fire.

But logistics is not a support function. It’s a production system.

If the system brings materials into the building in bulk, with packaging, trash, uninspected items, and no zone logic, you are creating waste on purpose. You are guaranteeing extra handling. You are guaranteeing safety risk. You are guaranteeing lost time and rework.

So the question isn’t, “Can we manage it better in the field?”

The question is, “Why are we letting chaos enter the field at all?”

The Big Shift: Manage Materials at the Entry, Not in the Building

The core Logistics 2.0 move is this:

Build a queuing yard and a gate for logistics.

In other words, do not allow materials, trucks, and crews to go “rogue” on the project site and then try to manage the mess later. Bring materials into a controlled entry space where they get shaken out, inspected, kitted, and staged by zone.

Then and only then release them into the building.

Jason’s point is blunt and true: if you can’t manage it at a queuing yard, you can’t manage it in the field. And if you can’t manage it in the field, crews will spend their day tripping over waste and chasing materials instead of installing.

This is system first thinking. The people aren’t the problem. The system is flooding them with junk.

The Queuing Yard Concept: Flat Ground, Shop Forklift, and Grid Zones

Jason imagines a dedicated logistics entry area that is intentionally designed, not improvised.

Key detail: flat ground.

So flat that you can use a shop forklift to unload deliveries, instead of relying on a lull or telehandler bouncing over ruts and mud. He’s not saying those machines disappear. He’s saying the unloading and shakeout should happen in a controlled, stable environment.

He describes a gridded space where each trade has designated zones. He even gives a conceptual footprint something like 40 feet wide by 200 feet long where trade partner materials can be staged and processed.

This is not about exact dimensions. It’s about the principle: give logistics a workface.

Because right now, on most jobs, logistics has no workface. It has chaos.

What a Logistics Queuing Yard Must Include

To make Jason’s concept real, the queuing yard needs baseline features that support flow:

• Flat, stable surface for unloading and shakeout
• A shop forklift as the primary offload tool
• Clearly gridded trade spaces (designated staging areas)
• Recycling and waste dumpsters placed intentionally
• A scrap metal bin and a clear discard routine
• A “staging deck” side where kitted bins get queued for release

When this exists, the site stops acting like a landfill and starts acting like a production system.

Shakeout and Inspection: Remove Trash and Risk Before Materials Move

This is where most projects lose the plot.

They bring materials into the building still wrapped in packaging, strapped to pallets, full of cardboard, full of extra cuts, full of “we’ll deal with it later.”

Then later becomes:

• The crew’s problem
• The foreman’s problem
• The safety team’s problem
• The telehandler operator’s problem
• The superintendent’s problem
• The dumpster’s problem
• The schedule’s problem

Jason’s approach is to shake out materials in the yard:

Break them down. Inspect them. Remove packaging. Sort waste into the right bins. Confirm you actually received what you ordered.

Then kit what’s needed, by zone, so what enters the building is only value.

This is the quiet secret of great logistics: the project doesn’t get cleaner by yelling at people. It gets cleaner by preventing trash from entering in the first place.

Bins by Zone: Kitting Work Packages for One Piece Flow in the Field

Here’s the kicker in Jason’s system: bins by zone.

Not bins by trade.

Not bins by “whatever came off the truck.”

Bins by zone or by grouping of zones so the crew receives a kit that matches the workface.

This is the center of one piece flow: plan it, do it, finish it. Plan, do, finish. If you deliver bulk, you batch. If you batch, you create variation, waiting, and confusion.

Jason describes a staging deck where bins are labeled with zone info, instructions, and a work package. He even imagines visual flags that show “ready to go.”

This is what workers actually need: a clear package they can install from without hunting.

The Plywood Deck and “Ready Flags”: A Simple Visual System for Release

A big mistake in jobsite logistics is treating the yard like storage.

Jason is describing it as a release system.

Materials get processed, put into bins, staged on the deck, and then released into the site when they are ready and needed. That’s a pull system, even if you don’t use the word.

The point is not to create a bigger pile. The point is to create a smarter stream.

And because it’s visual labels, zones, readiness markers the logistics lead can see what’s going, what’s stuck, and what needs attention without a spreadsheet fight.

Waste Out, Only Value In: Stop Hauling Cardboard and Pallets Through the Project

Jason calls it out directly: we should stop bringing cardboard, pallets, wood, packaging, and trash into the building and then hauling it back out again.

That double handling is silent budget murder.

It overloads your crane, hoist, forklift routes, elevators, corridors, and laydown areas. It slows installers down. It creates clutter and trip hazards. It burns supervision bandwidth. It makes crews hate the job.

Logistics 2.0 is about bringing into the building only what you need, just in time, per zone, per plan.

That one principle can stabilize everything.

The Logistics Gate: Onboard the Crew, the Truck, and the Materials

Jason goes one level deeper and says: it’s not enough to onboard people.

You need to onboard the truck and the materials.

He imagines a gate concept: crews and vehicles don’t just show up and go wherever they want. They go through a simple entry process that confirms baseline standards are met.

The objective isn’t to be controlling. The objective is to protect flow and safety by preventing rogue behavior and random dumping.

If the site is a system, the gate protects the system.

Standards at the Gate: What Gets You Authorized

Jason lists practical standards that would qualify a crew and vehicle to enter without constant supervision:

• Crew completes onboarding and understands the system
• Vehicle and tools are 5S’d and organized
• Safety basics are verified (like a fire extinguisher)
• Legal and insurance requirements are in place
• Materials are shaken out and inspected before entering
• No trash dumping and no bulk chaos entering the site

This is respect for people applied through standards: we protect workers by creating stable conditions.

Staffing the System: One Lean Logistics Lead and Repeatable Routines

Jason suggests this system could be run with one logistics person who is trained in Lean systems.

That’s not a “yard cop.” That’s not a “traffic controller.”

That is a production leader for material flow.

With basic supplies available straps, shrink wrap, tarps, labels, signage, paint, boards the yard becomes a kitting and release engine.

This is what’s missing on most sites: not effort, but design.

The ROI Logic: Less Handling, Less Forklift Time, Less Site Management

Jason throws out a rough idea that this could be pulled off for something like $30k plus one logistics lead, and he believes it would save significantly more by reducing waste.

Whether you agree with the numbers or not, the logic is solid:

• Less double handling
• Less equipment time wasted hauling packaging
• Less labor time spent hunting parts
• Less cleanup and safety management
• Less crane and hoist overload
• More installation time per hour worked

When crews install instead of search, the schedule improves without burnout.

Logistics That Brings Joy: Make Work Easy to Start and Easy to Finish

Jason uses a home improvement analogy that hits hard.

When you start a project at home and you don’t have the drill, the right screws, or the right tools, the job becomes miserable. You waste time. You run to the store. You get frustrated. The work feels heavier than it should.

But when everything is delivered, kitted, and ready, the job becomes fun. You flow.

That’s not soft. That’s operational.

Joy, in this context, means:

• readiness
• clarity
• ease
• stability
• flow
• respect for bodies and brains

If you can make logistics joyful, you can make production stable.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Conclusion

Logistics 2.0 is a system first solution to a predictable problem: we keep letting waste enter the project and then we act surprised when the field is drowning.

Build a queuing yard. Shake materials out. Inspect them. Kit by zone. Stage for release. Gate what enters. Protect the system. Then deliver only what is needed, when it’s needed, to the exact workface.

FAQ

What is a logistics “queuing yard” on a construction project?
It’s a designated entry area where materials are offloaded, shaken out, inspected, and kitted before they enter the building, so the site receives only what’s needed and avoids bulk waste.

Why kit materials by zone instead of by trade?
Because zone based kits match the workface. Crews can install directly from a bin without hunting, and it supports one piece flow instead of batching.

What does “shakeout” mean in Logistics 2.0?
Shakeout is breaking down deliveries in the yard, removing packaging, sorting trash, verifying quantities and condition, and preparing materials into install ready kits.

How does a logistics gate improve a job site?
It prevents rogue deliveries and chaotic dumping. It ensures crews, vehicles, and materials meet basic standards (onboarding, 5S, safety, inspection) before entering production areas.

Is this system only for large projects?
The exact layout may vary, but the principal scales: manage at the entry, remove waste before it enters, kit by workface, and release materials intentionally rather than flooding the site.Top of FormBottom of Form