What Are The Things To Consider In Production Planning?

Key Things to Consider in Production Planning

In this blog, I want to talk to you about a kind of lost — or maybe never fully developed — art in production planning.

In a typical production plan, you’ll see the different phases of the project laid out with flow, usually in a time-by-location format. We all know the standard elements: an executive summary, milestones, the first 120 days of administrative and mobilization work, and long-lead procurement schedules.

But here’s something you rarely — if ever — see on a production plan: the Trade Partner Preparation Process.

The Trade Partner Preparation Process:

The Trade Partner Preparation Process is about managing the time it takes to get a trade partner through buyout, pre-mobilization, their pre-construction (or preparatory) meeting, and into their first zone of work. Just like procurement, these steps need to be leveled — you can’t stack them all at once. You can’t have 30 pre-mobilization meetings in a single week without overloading your team. This leveling must be managed within your actual production plan.

If you implement this Trade Partner Preparation Process, you’ll be successful on your project because your trades will be queued up and fully supported with everything they need.

Now, let’s dive deeper into what this process looks like.

How It Works:

I walk through how I set this up inside InTakt — a planning tool that’s become one of my favorites (I even like it better than Excel for Takt planning).

If you’ve worked for Hensel Phelps, you might recognize this as a variation of their Six-Step Process. Others call it the Quality Process. Whatever you call it, it’s crucial.

Here’s the basic flow:

• Teeing/Purchasing Phase: This happens before reaching a fully executed contract.
• Pre-Mobilization Meeting: Scheduled within two weeks of signing the contract, ensuring the trade partner has time to prepare submittals, RFIs, and other documentation.
• Pre-Construction (Preparatory) Meeting: Confirm that the foreman and superintendent are 100% ready to begin work. Ideally, this happens two to three weeks after the pre-mob.
• First In-Place Inspection: Conducted as soon as the first work is ready.
• Follow-Up Walks: Continue to monitor the quality and progress.
• Rolling Completion List & Final Walk: Ensure all scopes are completed before trade partners demobilize.

The key pattern here:
➡️ Plan it first.
➡️ Build it right while you’re there.
➡️ Finish as you go.

Using InTakt to Visualize and Manage It:

Inside InTakt, you can visualize the phases: Project Management, Bidding Process, Permitting, and the Trade Partner Preparation (labeled TP3). This helps ensure you have enough time before work starts for all necessary steps: pre-mob meetings, pull planning, pre-construction meetings, and prep work.

For example, if civil work is starting soon, you’ll want to ensure the pre-con meeting is done before that start date — and not have it crammed in last minute.

The beauty of this system is that it not only keeps your production plan flowing, but also lets you level out meetings. If you notice you have too many pre-mob and pre-con meetings scheduled at once (say, 23 meetings in two weeks), you’ll instantly see the bottleneck and can adjust.

Managing the Trade Partner Preparation Process within your production plan prevents overwhelm and keeps the project moving smoothly.

The bottom line: Don’t forget to manage and level your Trade Partner Preparation Process.
If you don’t, your team will get overloaded — especially when submittal reviews and other internal processes layer on top.

Key Takeaway:

In production planning, success isn’t just about scheduling work — it’s about carefully managing and leveling the Trade Partner Preparation Process to ensure trade partners are fully prepared, supported, and ready to perform when their time on-site begins.