Zone Control!

Zone Control: How to Actually Manage the Speed of the Train

Here’s the deal. Flow on a project is centered around everyone following the same plan, going the same direction in the same sequence, adding the same amount of value per crew, every zone having the same amount of work, and the train of trades going the same speed, the same distance apart. So when that train is moving through the zones, how do we actually control that speed and leverage our ability to flow? That is zone control.

I want to give a shout out to Grit at PC Construction. He came up with this concept after implementing the Takt production system on his project, and on that project he called his assistant superintendents zone managers. I thought that was brilliant, so we immediately put together a guide.

Where Zone Control Fits in the Day

Every project should be doing the daily worker huddle. After that, the crews go do the crew preparation huddle, where they fill out their pre-task plans, look over quality preparation steps, do two minutes of training or whatever that looks like, do their bend and stretch, 5S their area, look for waste, and set up their day.

That brings us to the superintendent. No superintendent should ever go outside without something in their hand, meaning their schedule and their zone maps. If they want it on an iPad, that is fine. We never go empty handed. Ever. The schedule and zone maps are the crystal ball to see into the future and control the zones.

So supers take their Takt plan and zone maps with them as they walk the job, with the focus on finishing, preparing for zone management, and looking for the three M’s, which I will explain in another podcast. The daily rhythm goes like this.

• Early morning, they go out and do their walks.
• They come back in and report in the daily team huddle with the internal office team, where they report roadblocks and collaborate as a team.
• In the afternoon, they go back out to take action and create flow for the next day.
• They prepare for the afternoon foreman huddle, where the next day is planned.

The Walk Itself

When the superintendent, or the zone manager if you want to call them that, goes out on their floors, they go from zone to zone. I am using interiors as a reference here, but this works for civil, exterior, wherever.

The first thing they do is say, hey Foreman, how’s it going, do you have a couple minutes. Can you walk for five minutes with me on the work you did yesterday so we can just punch it as we go. I am not going to put it on a list. We are not going to do a fancy punch list program. We are not going to waste our time. I just want to make sure your crew grabs these items before they move on.

Imagine interiors, maybe a hospital, multifamily, or a hotel. You go through the units or rooms they finished the day before, whether that was paint, drywall, metal stud framing, in-wall roughing, or installing cabinets. You punch it out as you go. You can use tape. I do not care how you mark it. Then you get a commitment from the foreman to have their people finish it while they are there.

There is no need to wait. If we wait, there are fifteen to twenty-five additional steps, and it just wastes the team’s time.

Then You Look Ahead

Next you say, thank you, I love that you are finishing as you go. Let’s look at the next day’s work out ahead of you. Are these rooms prepared?

Then you walk those rooms or areas for five minutes, inspect, and ask whether it is ready. The answer will come back, yeah, I think it is ready. No. Look deep. Is this area ready? Yeah, I told you it is ready, what else do you want?

Find three or four things that are not ready. Then you will finally start to get real feedback. I need that soffit. I need these materials. If you want something to do, the other foreman should clean out ahead of me.

Then the zone manager walks to the next zone, and guess what is on the list for that foreman. The things that need to be made ready for the foreman behind them.

Now when you go to the afternoon foreman huddle, the superintendent has the Takt plan and the zone maps and can work to clear the way for tomorrow and get commitments. It is a perfect and beautiful system.

The Five Rules of Zone Control

• Every trade needs to be working by zones, and all supervisors must be able to see the zone boundaries, whether painted on the floor, marked by signs, or on laminated zone maps that everyone carries. We have to be able to see the zones.
• We punch and finish as we go, completely, with the crew while we are there. The only things that go on a punch list are things we could not complete right away.
• Foremen and supers must prepare the work out ahead together, daily.
• No going slower than your Takt time in your zones. If you are tracking behind, we have to recover that.
• No going faster than your Takt time and zones unless you are one hundred percent finished, all work is inspected and signed off, you have used your buffer to train your people, you have prepared your next work area, the next and previous trades agree to it, and it does not overproduce and cause waste.

A lot of trades want to go faster or slower. We cannot go slower. And if you want to go faster, it is like asking mom when you can have dessert. Not until you finish your meal.

When a Trade Is Going Slower

If you do have a trade going slower, consider the following options.

• Stop the Takt phase and swing to workable backlog, so people either finish their area or work on something else in the building that is ready but not critical, while you figure out the delay option.
• Stop the train, wait, and prepare. Workers will make more money staying there and waiting until we fix the problem than if you dispatch them to unneeded work or demobilize them.
• Pull the delayed work out of the Takt plan or phase and onto a separate pull plan or Scrum board.
• Pull the car out of the Takt train and onto its own train.
• Pull out of the Takt time, as long as there are no dependencies with the predecessor or successor.
• Recover within the wagon or boxcar. This is my preferred method, getting people to swarm so we recover within that area.
• Swarm the delay with swing capacity, meaning if you have capacity from another part of the building, you can swarm that area so everyone keeps going the same speed, the same distance apart.
• Delay an individual train, but be careful not to trade stack.

Summary

We are always looking for waste, unevenness, and overburden on our crews, and we are able to see that within zone control.

Zone control is where everyone can see and understand their zones, and the supers and foremen punch daily, prepare as they go, and do it in a systematic fashion, so that in the afternoon foreman huddle we are always looking ahead, preventing roadblocks and removing roadblocks out ahead. This is a genius concept. I have a graphic if you want it.

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

So here is the challenge. Tomorrow morning, take your Takt plan and your zone maps out with you, ask a foreman for five minutes on yesterday’s work, and then five more on the area out ahead of them.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “We never go empty handed. We never, ever, ever do that.”

On we go.

FAQ

What is zone control?

It is how a project controls the speed of the train of trades. Everyone can see and understand their zones, supers and foremen punch work daily and prepare as they go, and the afternoon foreman huddle is used to look ahead and remove roadblocks.

What are the two five-minute walks with a foreman?

The first covers the work the crew did yesterday, punching items as you go and getting a commitment to finish them before the crew moves on. The second covers the area out ahead, inspecting and asking what is not ready.

Why not put those punch items on a list?

Because waiting adds fifteen to twenty-five additional steps and wastes the team’s time. The only things that belong on a punch list are items that could not be completed right away.

When can a trade go faster than Takt time?

Only when the area is one hundred percent finished, all work is inspected and signed off, the buffer has been used to train people, the next work area is prepared, the next and previous trades agree, and it does not overproduce and cause waste.