Production Planning in the Last Planner®️ System (How to Build Reliable Plans)

Production Planning in the Last Planner System (How to Build Reliable Plans)

Once you’ve taken from your macro the right information and completed a pull plan that optimizes the actual phase and gains time for the train of trades inside the phase, the next step is production planning in software.

Why Intakt After the Pull Plan

After the pull plan, Intakt is the preferred tool of choice for production planning. There are many others and from a pull planning standpoint, Miro is the cheapest and best option because it’s so versatile. We also link to Miro so you can sign up and use it with access to any of our pull planning templates.

But for production planning, Intakt at intakt.app offers a 30-day free trial. The interface shows Intakt up here, your phases, and your phases, areas, and zones on the left, your train of trades in your production plan, your timeline, and the export function.

The Key: Buffers at the End of Your Phase

One of the critical points is that Intakt takes your pull plan just a single pull plan and repeats it through the remainder of the zones. This is absolutely phenomenal. And one of the key things to understand is that at the end of your phase, you must have gained buffers for this to work properly.

Looking at the phase itself, you can see the lock line. This is the current date marker. And this is the next period that you want to lock in as a part of your weekly work plan. You can see these activities either by their ID or by their name in Intakt. From here, there are very powerful tools available.

Powerful Export Tools: Excel and CPM Software

First, you can export to Excel or you can export to any of your critical path softwares. It exports well for Primavera P6, Phoenix, Asta, and Microsoft Project.

This production plan is the base. This is your target. If you and the trades want to make adjustments, you do it here. And if you wanted to drag an activity over or extend it, it would do it real time. Like for instance, if you grab a punch list activity and literally drag it to the right real time and then let go, it’s going to update your production plan, but it will maintain trade flow according to Takt principles.

So, this is genius. All of the updates you want to do, all of the logic is in here and it will export to CPM according to the DCMA 14-point checklist. All you have to do is make sure that you find any missing logic from phase to phase.

The Six-Week Make Ready Lookahead Plan

The production plan is the base and all you have to do is hit the lookahead and it’s going to show a lookahead in time wherever you set the custom time and it will either be three, four, five or six weeks.

A six-week make ready lookahead plan shows exactly what you need. You can click on or off any of the phases you want and you see the diagonal trade flow and this is where you find and remove roadblocks.

The Weekly Work Plan (Two Fridays from Now)

The work plan export is a beautiful filter designed by Kevin Rice. You can see the parameters. You can do one or two weeks.

And remember, a weekly work plan will be two Fridays from now. Like, if you’re meeting on a Tuesday to coordinate this, it’s not just to this week’s end Friday, it’s to next week’s end Friday. You can see the same phases. There’s lots of room to play around with the format.

This will break it out by phase, area, and zone, but it will keep each of these activities on their own row plus any of the subtasks that you or the superintendent or the foreman have added in as well. And the cool thing is each of these little hand clasps are handoffs. You can adjust this, but these handoffs are how you measure flow and you can track your perfect handoff percentage.

The other thing is there’s lots of room to scroll down to the bottom where you have space to play with your zone maps at the bottom of these visuals.

Here’s how production planning works in the Last Planner System:

• Pull plan optimizes phase, Intakt repeats across zones – Already taken from macro the right information. Done pull plan that optimizes actual phase and gains time or train of trades inside phase. Intakt takes single pull plan and repeats through remainder of zones. At end of your phase, must have gained buffers for this to work properly.
• Lock line shows next period for weekly work plan – Lock line is current date marker. This is next period you want to lock in as part of weekly work plan. Can see these activities either by their ID or by their name in Intakt.
• Export to Excel and CPM software (Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Phoenix, Asta) – Production plan is base. This is your target. If you and trades want to make adjustments, you do it here. Drag activity over or extend it, it will do it real time. Will maintain trade flow according to Takt principles. All updates you want to do, all logic is in here. Will export to CPM according to DCMA 14-point checklist.
• Six-week make ready lookahead plan: find and remove roadblocks – Hit lookahead and it shows lookahead in time wherever set custom time. Either three, four, five or six weeks. Can click on or off any phases you want. See diagonal trade flow. This is where you find and remove roadblocks.
• Weekly work plan: two Fridays from now, tracks perfect handoff percentage – Can do one or two weeks. Weekly work plan will be two Fridays from now. Meeting on Tuesday to coordinate, it’s not just to this week’s end Friday, it’s to next week’s end Friday. Breaks out by phase, area, and zone. Keeps each activity on their own row plus any subtasks superintendent or foreman added. Little hand clasps are handoffs. These handoffs are how you measure flow and track perfect handoff percentage.

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

Export Options: Excel, Primavera P6, Microsoft Project

Hit the export button at the top and you can export to Excel. It’ll look just as beautiful. Primavera P6, Microsoft Project and you can export your zone maps and other reports. This is phenomenal software.

The critical point is this: this is your base production plan that really guides all of the rest of the steps for the Last Planner System. It’s already coordinated from the pull plan. It’s already collaborative and you can make changes and logic ties and updates right here.

When there’s a problem, boards can be posted up on the conference room wall where if you do have a problem, you can come in and say, “Okay, what problem is it?” and know what actions can be taken that are production-minded according to the rules of flow.

A Challenge for Construction Teams

Here’s what to do this week. After completing your pull plan, move it into Intakt or your preferred production planning tool. Take that single pull plan and repeat it through the remainder of the zones. Make sure at the end of your phase, you have gained buffers.

Set your lock line showing the next period you want to lock in as part of your weekly work plan. Export your six-week make ready lookahead plan. See the diagonal trade flow. Find and remove roadblocks.

Export your weekly work plan (two Fridays from now). Break it out by phase, area, and zone. Keep each activity on their own row plus any subtasks. Track those hand clasps (handoffs). Measure flow and track your perfect handoff percentage.

Remember: this production plan is the base for everything else in Last Planner. It’s already coordinated from the pull plan. It’s already collaborative. You can make changes and logic ties and updates right here. It will export to CPM according to DCMA 14-point checklist. As we say at Elevate, production planning in Last Planner System: pull plan optimizes phase, Intakt repeats across zones, export to Excel and CPM, six-week lookahead, weekly work plan.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What tool is best for pull planning?

Miro is the cheapest and best option because it’s so versatile. After the pull plan, Intakt is the preferred tool of choice. You can get a 30-day free trial at intakt.app.

What must you have at the end of your phase?

You must have gained buffers at the end of your phase for this to work properly. Take single pull plan and repeat through remainder of zones.

What is the lock line?

The lock line is the current date marker. This is next period you want to lock in as part of weekly work plan. Can see activities either by their ID or by their name.

What is the weekly work plan timeline?

Two Fridays from now. Meeting on Tuesday to coordinate, it’s not just to this week’s end Friday, it’s to next week’s end Friday. Breaks out by phase, area, and zone.

How do you measure flow in the weekly work plan?

Little hand clasps are handoffs. These handoffs are how you measure flow and track perfect handoff percentage. Can adjust but these handoffs critical for measuring flow.