Innovative+Strategies+Paper


 * ABSTRACT**

Innovative strategies are examined to determine how effective they are at improving productivity and efficiency in the construction field during tough economical times. The first innovative strategy that is examined is Envista, a computer program that allows users to coordinate utilities, highways, and municipality construction activities on an interactive map. Envista is currently being utilize in multiple cities throughout the United States including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Although Envista requires an initial investment, it provides an effective way to reduce costs during tough times. Another innovative strategy that is identified is the implication of four concepts of running a successful business during a recession. The four concepts are maintaining positive cash flow, maximizing tax deductions, increasing efficiency, and keeping an indication of how the market is doing. The last innovative strategy that is evaluated is lean construction. Lean construction focuses on prodcution management principles that make for better work flow and planning, which therefore enhances productivity. All of these innovative strategies have been proven to be successful when implemented in construction companies; they can help a company survive an economical downturn. Incorporating one or more of these innovative strategies will help improve a company's financial health by reducing overhead costs.


 * Innovative Strategies in Tough Times **

During a recession or tough economic times it is critical to reduce overhead costs and improve productivity to help a company survive. The successful companies use innovative strategies to reduce costs and improve productivity, this paper aims to identify a couple of those innovative strategies that are in use by companies today. It is important to first identify what an innovative strategy is considered and what effect it has on the company's day-to-day operations. An innovative strategy is a cutting edge, state-of-the-art approach to help a company survive during tough economical times. The two innovative strategies that will be discussed in this paper are Envista, a computer tool used by city agencies and financial concepts. This paper will examine innovative strategies found in articles and will identify real examples from students' experience throughout their work history.

The first part of this paper will examine innovative strategies found in research and how they are used in a construction firm. One innovative strategy used is a computer program named Envista; this article was found in Engineering News Record, July 14, 2008. The article was investigating how the San Francisco Department of Public Works uses Envista to view the five-year plan for excavations throughout the city. The article titled, "Choreographing Street Work" describes how information technology can be a critical innovative strategy for the construction field. The system allows the Department of Public Works to schedule all excavations and road closings on a shared network. The computer program allows managers from 30 agencies to coordinate their work (Thilmany 2008). Envista is a user friendly program allowing managers to update their work scheduling electronically instead of having to use whiteboards and phone calls to other departments. This strategy allows the city to be more efficient in scheduling work and saving taxpayers' dollars. A major effect of this innovative strategy is the map that shows conflicts and overlapping of work scheduled for the same day which now is only determined after two groups show up for work on the same day (Thilmany 2008). Taxpayers' dollars and the budget for the Department of Public Works is used more consciously because a crew will not be mobilized unless absolutely needed. Another effect of this strategy is the the public can view the scheduled work and avoid driving through the area which leads to reduced traffic congestion which benefits workers and commuters alike by making work safer and shortening the commute for the public. This innovative strategy could be put to use in a construction firm also with similar results. A similar computer program could be implemented to monitor the scheduling of self-performed work, where laborers are needed and the location of tools and equipment. During tough economical times, using one less worker on a job could be the difference between making a profit or a loss. For construction firms who self-perform work and use equipment, the ability to use your own equipment, schedule it out properly to a job and knowing where all tools and equipment are located by saving money that may have been spent for a new one. Implementing an innovative strategy such as Envista could help a construction firm weather the economic downturn until construction activity picks up again. Also the strategy will continue to pay dividends for the firm even when the demand for construction is high again.

Envista is an up an coming innovative strategy that has already been implemented throughout the United States from San Francisco, California to Baltimore, Maryland. As more and more companies are using this internet-based program they are realizing the benefits of coordinating utilities, highways, and municipality items. Martha Bednarz, Director of Marketing for the Envista Corporation provided several case studies that will be examined to show what Envista has to offer. The initial payment and learning curve associated with Envista may be time consuming but the benefits of doing so outweighs not implementing the program, as you will later see. The program is a subscription annual fee based on population. For example, a city with 6,000 or fewer residents pays $1,000 annually (Johnston). This shows that the initial fee is based on an annual investment, not a huge lump sum price. Allegheny County in Pittsburgh announced they are going to use Envista’s map-driven web application to maintain 810 lane miles of road, more than 520 bridges, and 12,000 acres of parkland. They are paying only $29,500 for the system that will save them an average of $55,000+ per year. Other savings include reducing the carbon footprint by 889 tons of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to 202 cars (Schmitz). With a low initial fee and proven benefits from highly coordinated efforts of the municipality, utilities, and highways Envista is an investment that will save future headaches. In Baltimore, Maryland they are using Envista to protect newly constructed roads through better coordination with utilities for 2,000 miles of roads, 450 miles of alleys, and many miles of infrastructure underground (Municipality). Communication is one of the key elements of Envista. Additionally, the program screen view is user friendly as the map is clearly visible, with a spreadsheet form listed below the map listing all the projects in that view. Furthermore, clash detection is shown by red signs if added utilities conflicts with other utilities. If this occurs it allows you to click on the utility and address the project manager of the problem as showcased to the right (Municipality). In San Francisco the use of Envista has reduced street cuts by 27% and Providence water in Rhode Island is using it to replace 25,000 lead pipes over 15 years. As Kevin Evanto stated, spokesman of the County executive in Allegheny county, “You’ll probably see this snowball [using Envista]…We’re happy to bring it to the region.” In any case there will be some learning curves with the program. Initially getting all the information and daily schedules uploaded might cause some dilemmas, however In the end that is a minor item that can easily be solved proving Envista is the wave of the future for infrastructure cons //Envista improves road construction coordination and Screen view of Envista on left. (Johnston / Municipality)// While computer software such as Envista is very useful, it is also expensive and not applicable to individual construction firms. The basis for getting through tough economic times is to control your finances. There is an article under the "Business Technology and Commercial Equipment Blog" published by LeasingIdeas entitled "Weathering The Storm: Running your construction company in a recession," that explains four main concepts of maintaining company finances. The first main concept identified is for a construction company to stay on top of their cash flow. This concept is emphasized primarily on income and expense control. As suggested by LeasingIdeas, construction companies should try to look at their amount of overhead expenses such as mailings, office equipment and supplies. In addition with this first main concept is controlling expenses going to debt. Debt is best controlled when it is consolidated into a minimal number of sources and communication is clear between the company and the creditors. Similarly to the concept of cashflow is the second main concept identified for construction companies to survive the economic times, and that is maximizing tax deductions. Companies should increase their amount of expenses and decrease amount of income. This can be done typically at the end of the tax year in December by purchasing items needed for January early and allowing individuals or companies that owe money to defer their payment to January instead of being forced to pay in December. The third concept, dealing with clients, identifies the need for project efficiency. To maintain project efficiency a company must look very closely at each cost item in a project. For example a single worker being employed on a site can mean the difference between profit or loss, because companies are sacrificing profit margins simply to gain work. Also a construction company can focus on changing the type of delivery method they are using. There are many firms that are currently switching delivery methods in order to earn jobs and attempt to gain efficiency. Moreover, the fourth concept deals with clients and industry, and that is to keep in touch with the market place. This simple but very important concept is often overlooked. A company should not become so internalized while dealing with efficiency that they forget to watch the market. While watching the market construction companies should also be monitoring trends and be open to other markets, because many construction markets (housing, commercial, industrial, etc.) have a large basis on the growth of other markets such as materials, financing, equipment, etc. Likewise, the Business Technology and Commercial Equipment blog talks about cash flow, tax deductions, and market trends, it also mentions project efficiency and lean construction. In the current economy cut backs and layoffs have been common in the construction industry while still finding a way to maximize profit and productivity. Lean construction, which is based on production management principles, is a new method that tries to reduce waste which is a major drawback of the current mass production method. It was developed by Toyota chief engineer Ohno. His main goal was to eliminate waste generated from production. An engineering company from Sweden used lean construction to construct a full scale bridge. The goal of this case study was to evaluate the effect lean construction would have on industrialization and productivity in construction. In the design and planning phases, thorough meetings involving the designer, contractor, client, and suppliers were held to best anticipate the needs of the project. They discovered that the production time could be cut by 20% while the number of workers could be slashed by nearly 50%. These figures were found using the Last Planner System or LPS and other lean construction tools. The Last Planner System is a method used to shape construction workflow and address project variability. LPS is actually a person or group that is in charge of operational planning. This planning team makes workflow more efficient and has greater control over production. LPS includes many techniques that help improve workflow such as the six week look ahead, reverse phase scheduling, weekly work plan, and daily meetings. “A key for success was that the owner, Contractor and material supplier and designer cooperated during the complete project” (Emborg, 2007). This cooperation and communication from the start of the project seems to be a change from the normal delivery methods which require a lot of rules and specifications on how to communicate with the proper authority. Another key factor in the success of this project was the on-time shipments of equipment and materials. The early and detailed planning led to the accurate deliveries of material which is a vital part of any project. In fact, the precise shipments of the prefabricated reinforcements saved almost a week in onsite production time. The lean construction case study turned out to be a great success, the project was completed in less time and with fewer resources than it could have been completed with using a traditional delivery method. The project showed an approximate profit of 4300 Euros (6,330. 03 US dollars) and 78 man hours saved. While time and money were not the only benefits of lean construction, quality was also improved. An inspection found that the structural quality of the bridge was very high because less re-work was needed. The use of the lean construction method for this project provided an on time completion, owner satisfaction, quality construction, and a high project value. All aspects of the lean construction goals were met which leads this project to be classified as a success.

Moreover, implementing innovative strategies should be an important aspect of any successful business and not viewed as a means of emergency management. Programs such as Envista are making it easier for companies from different cities to coexist without losing that competitive edge. Whereas significantly smaller companies may take a different approach such as utilizing the ideas mentioned in the article "Weathering the Storm: Running your construction company in a recession," or lean construction. The innovative strategies mentioned earlier are just a few ways that companies are working to implement new methods to survive the current economic times. 

**References**
Thilmany, (2008, July 14). Choreographing Street Work. //Engineering News Record//, 261(1), 17. "Municipality Leaders." //Envista//. 2009. Envista Corporation, Web. 17 Sep 2009. < __http://www.envista.com/muni-leaders__ >. Johnston, Stephanie,. "[7] Solutions." //Public Works Magazine// Dec 1, 2008: 2. Web. 17 Sep 2009. < __http://www.pwmag.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=0&articleID=828781&artnum=1__ >. Schmitz, Jon, "Pittsburgh Post Gazette." Computer //Program Maps Construction Projects on Internet// (2008): 1-2. Web. 17 Sep 2009. < __http://images.burrellesluce.com/image/13992/13992_37__ >. Emborg, P. S. (2007, July). //Industrialization in Swedish Bridge Engineering: A case Study of Lean Construction.// Retrieved November Thursday, 2008, 